Toyota claimed another 1-2 finish in the Le Mans Hypercar class this evening in Bahrain, capping off a perfect season in which the Japanese OEM, with its brand new GR010 HYBRIDs, won every race. Behind though, there was plenty of action and many talking points have emerged as the season came to a close.
The biggest headline of the race came in GTE Pro. The Driver’s and Manufacturers titles were settled in controversial circumstances, after a door-to-door duel between the two title-challenging cars from Porsche and AF Corse. After a dull, predictable six-hour race last weekend, this time round it was a dramatic encounter, with on-track battles, strategy gambles, a final-hour tussle, controversy, and a result that leaves us not knowing at the time of writing, if the title has been decided.
Let’s set the scene first. A BoP change before last weekend’s race cost Ferrari a shot at a win, on pace at least. The team’s pair of 488s finished a distant third and fourth. This and a pole for the #92 yesterday meant the top two driver pairings headed into the final race on equal points. A revised BoP, in favour of Ferrari, before the finale, meant it would be a dogfight today between James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi in the No. 51, and Kevin Estre and Neel Jani (joined by Michael Christensen for this race) in the #92.
It was shaping up to be a grandstand from the opening lap, as the two rival cars were glued together for almost the entire contest, trading places for the lead nine times through seven hours of racing. Into the final hour, it was clear that one last on-track battle was going to decide it. Strategy gambles by both teams set up a tantalising situation: AF Corse’s crew on the pit wall decided to change just rear tyres in the penultimate stop on the #51, while Porsche double-stinted their final set to get track position with the #92. This left Christensen (trusted to take the car to the flag) ahead and tasked with fending off Pier Guidi. The Italian gradually reeled him in and was eyeing up a move late in the race. But the pair came together while being lapped by United’s ORECA at the final turn with 12 minutes remaining, Pier Guidi tapping Christensen into a spin.
This handed the #51 the lead and prompted an investigation. The stewards quickly ordered Pier Guidi to give the place back but as he slowed down to let Christensen through, the Dane pitted the Porsche for a final splash. It meant Pier Guidi was unable to give the place back and went on to take a splash of his own on the next lap.
After the stops Pier Guidi rejoined the race in front of Christensen again and opted not to give the place back in the dying minutes, finishing 3.2 seconds ahead of the #92, taking the Driver’s title and winning Ferrari the Manufacturer’s title too. Confusion reigned at the end, as Pier Guidi did victory donuts, while the Porsche crew in the pit lane were left stunned that AF Corse decided not to hand the lead back.
Before the podium, Jani had words with Pier Guidi and later refused to take his cap off on the podium for the Italian national anthem. It was a messy end to the season, to say the least. As it stands, Pier Guidi and Calado appear to have won the title, but it could change if the stewards opt to take any further action.
“I understand this is not the way we would like to see the end of the race,” said Pier Guidi, “but I couldn’t do anything. I was blocked, he braked so hard, I didn’t expect anything. I was waiting to give the place back but he pitted, I couldn’t do anything. I really couldn’t do anything. I am sorry for them, but I really couldn’t do anything.”
Toyota ends the year on a high, Nakajima bows out in style
In the Le Mans Hypercar class during this one, first being the #7 crew taking the Driver’s title by five points after a season-long duel with the sister car. Jose Maria Lopez, Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi didn’t put a foot wrong in this one and had a relatively comfortable run to second. They went unchallenged by Alpine, and were under no pressure to beat the No. 8, which raced off into the lead and aside from a small shifter problem. It was an easy ride.
“Double champions and Le Mans this year, it’s a really nice season. Congrats to car 8 too, they fought us hard all the way through. It hasn’t sunk in yet,” Mike Conway said after he, along with his teammates, claimed the first Le Mans Hypercar class title.
The second storyline was Kazuki Nakajima taking a win in his final race as a Toyota factory driver in the WEC. The 36-year-old Japanese driver, who is walking away from his role to spend more time with family, has enjoyed a hugely successful career since joining Toyota’s sportscar programme. Three Le Mans overall wins, a WEC title and a 17th overall win today capped off a remarkable career.
“It was a beautiful end. It was a tough race for us, but this week we had more pace than last week. I am really happy to be part of this team and I am happy to have won at the end,” said Nakajima after the race.
For Alpine behind it was a day to forget. After Nicolas Lapierre snatched the lead up the inside at Turn 1 at the start, it looked like the French team might have been able to push for a win. But a gear selection issue later in the opening hour forced Lapierre in for repairs which cost the team five laps and any chance of an upset. Instead of challenging Toyota, Lapierre, Andre Negrao and Matthieu Vaxiviere spent the rest of the race fighting back through the field, eventually finishing fourth overall.
WRT’s dream debut season ends with yet another win
LMP2 was dominated and won, by Belgian outfit WRT. Charles Milesi, Ferdinand Habsburg and Robin Frijns stormed to the front at the end of the third hour, and from there was the class of the field once again. With a third win in a row, the trio were crowned champions in what was an outstanding maiden WEC season for WRT. This should come as no surprise though, as Vincent Vosse’s team has an outstanding reputation, built on race and title wins across Europe in GT racing.
Behind, it was a fight to the finish, as the #28 JOTA ORECA took second, but only after Antonio Felix Da Costa made a bold move up the inside of Tom Blomqvist in the sister car to take second just minutes from the end.
The dive by Da Costa handed Anthony Davidson a second place finish in his final race as a pro driver. A teary-eyed Davidson enjoyed his final race, and his final stint behind the wheel after a storied career that featured stints in Formula 1 and as a factory driver in sportscar racing with Peugeot and Toyota.
“It is emotional, it’s strange because the race is going on and we’re in a fight,” said Davidson after his final stint in the second half of the race. “But I loved every minute of the double stint, I soaked up every moment. Every time I had oversteer and a lockup, I thought ‘I won’t miss that’, then every time I nailed a corner I thought ‘I will miss that’. It hasn’t sunk in, there will be tears. On my in-lap, I said ‘let’s go get them’.”
United Autosports came close to the podium, but after taking pole on Friday, Filipe Albuquerque, Fabio Scherer and Phil Hanson had to settle for fourth, finishing a few seconds behind the #28 JOTA that finished on the third step of the podium.
Racing Team Nederland, which as usual, threw a cat among the pigeons in the opening hour with a trademark Giedo van der Garde charge to the front, finished fifth and claimed the LMP2 Pro/Am title in the process. A real achievement for Frits van Eerd, who has stayed consistent this season en route to the title.
“It’s unbelievable,” exclaimed van Eerd. “I cannot believe it. I am so happy, I couldn’t be happier. I need lots of drinks I think!”
TF woes make life easy for AF Corse in AM
The GTE Am title was decided before the race truly got going. TF Sport needed a big result and some poor luck to strike AF Corse to snatch the title, but two collisions put Ben Keating and co’s challenge to rest. The first came on the opening lap at Turn 3 when Paul Dalla Lana in the #98 Aston made contact with Keating, which the Texan believed he had no way to avoid.
“You start the race side-by-side, we go through Turn 1 side-by-side, I don’t know why Paul thought it would be single file by the third corner,” Keating said. “He thought he could go for the apex without me being there. He turned into me, I couldn’t bailout, it was a pretty hard hit, my front tyre to his rear tyre, blew them both out, and spun both of us out. It’s another lost opportunity, very disappointing. I wish it didn’t happen, but there’s nothing I can do.”
The hit forced both cars to take an extra stop. That delay was bad enough, but later in the race, Keating again found himself in the wars while attempting to fight back. This time though, it was Keating that made the error, hitting Thomas Flohr’s #54 AF Corse Ferrari at T1, breaking the steering rack, forcing the car into the garage and into retirement.
This made it a relatively easy final race for the #83 crew, who despite the woes for TF Sport handing them the title with a DNF, produced a champions drive, claiming the win in what was a topsy-turvy encounter in GTE Am between multiple cars.
“It’s been the perfect season, out of six races we won four, we finished with a lot of points,” said a jubilant Perrodo who has three Am titles to his name now. “It’s been fantastic. Driving with Alessio and Nicklass is a dream. We can’t wait to move to LMP2 next year, it will be a new challenge. But for now, we are soaking up every minute.”
Behind the #83, after an almost race-long battle with the pole-sitting Cetilar Ferrari, the #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche took second, finishing ahead of the #56 Project 1 Porsche that finished a tenth behind. The Cetilar Ferrari, after taking pole and leading big chunks of the race, a podium finish wasn’t meant to be, and the Italian crew came home fourth.
The race season is over for the WEC teams, but there is still track action to come, with the post-season Rookie Test set to take place tomorrow at the Bahrain circuit.
