Track action At Bahrain International Circuit started on Thursday with 90 minutes of Free Practice in the evening.
Friday morning sees the second Free Practice session first thing in the morning, another 90 minutes as the heat builds, then FP3 and qualifying.
There are two changes to confirm to the entry list for this weekend’s 6 Hours of Bahrain: The #46 Team Project 1 Porsche is a withdrawal from the GTE AM class, the team are pushing to confirm a driver line-up for next weekend’s 8 Hour season finale.
And Gabriel Aubry is fulfilling a ‘supersub’ role once again joining Sophia Floersch and Betske Visser in the #1 Richard Mille racing Oreca for this weekend’s race.
Tatiana Calderon will rejoin the team for the race next weekend after racing this weekend in Super Formula in Japan.
The Toyota GR010 Hybrids and Alpine A480-Gibson grandfathered LMP1 car will both revert to their start-of-the-season minimum weights this weekend.
The Toyota will run at 1040kg and the Alpine at 930kg – a reduction of 26 kilos for the Toyota and 22 kilos for the Alpine from the weights which applied at Portimao in June.
There is a reduction though in the Hypercar’s stint-length energy allocation, effectively restricting the fuel they can use, a measure implemented to equalise the fuel stint lengths for these very different cars.
The Alpine is allocated 816 Megajoules here, compared to 918 MJ at Monza. Toyota get 909 Megajoules in Bahrain and had 964 MJ earlier in the season.
There is a minor tweak or two for the Ferrari 488 GTE Evos in GTE Pro with 4 litres less fuel and a turbo boost adjustment compared to previous rounds, the change for the Ferraris outside the regular Auto BoP process, a matter which has not been received well!
Temperatures are set to be into the 30 degree plus range all week here, a challenge for drive era and team members alike. Norman Nato arrived in the paddock with a significant limp, an injury to his left leg that will see him: “braking with my right foot for the first time in my career!”
Temps for the second week look set to be a degree or so cooler, but still very warm.
Signs are very positive for full-season numbers in the FIA WEC in 2022 with some aspirant entrants reporting recently to DSC that they had been given an indication that the entry list is likely full for the coming season.
Four drivers were affected by penalties after being found to be equipped with non-compliant garments after declaring they were legal by regulations (presumed at present to be fireproof underwear to the previous regulations) The drivers and cars affected are: Andre Negrao #36 Alpine, Phil Hanson #22 United Autosports Oreca, Ben Keating #33 TF Sport Aston Martin, and Alessio Rovera #83 AF Corse Ferrari.
Each received a 1000 Euro fine though the penalty for the indiscretion was up to a 20 minute stop and hold.
