Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) will today host this year’s FIA WEC Bapco 6 Hours of Bahrain, and Toyota Gazoo Racing have secured a front-row lockout for the endurance racing spectacle.
The Japanese manufacturers’ #8 crew of Sebastien Buemi-Kazuki Nakajima-Brendon Hartley will start from pole after topping the qualifying timesheet yesterday at the Sakhir circuit.
They had a best lap time of one minute 47.049 seconds in their GR010 Hybrid Hypercar, beating out teammates Kamui Kobayashi-Mike Conway-Jose Maria Lopez in their #7 challenger by just 0.398 seconds.
The 6 Hours of Bahrain is scheduled for an 11am start today, with the chequered flag scheduled to come down near sunset at 5pm. The podium ceremony will follow right after.
The race marks the fifth and penultimate round of the 2021 WEC season.
Set to start behind the leading pair in the Hypercar category will be Alpine Elf Matmut’s Andre Negrao-Nicolas Lapierre-Matthieu Vaxiviere in their #36 Alpine A480-Gibson. They had their fastest qualifying lap of 1:48.003.
In the WEC’s other race categories, JOTA’s Sean Gelael-Stoffel Vandoorne-Tom Blomqvist will head the Le Mans Prototype (LMP) 2 class in their #28 Oreca 07-Gibson. They had a fastest lap of 1:49.885 for pole in class.
United Autosports USA’s #22 crew of Felipe Albuquerque-Philip Hanson-Fabio Scherer will start second in their category while JOTA’s Antonio Felix Da Costa-Roberto Gonzalez-Anthony Davidson in the #38 car are third.
Meanwhile, Porsche and Ferrari shared the spoils in the two Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance (LMGTE) categories.
After leading all three practices this weekend, the Porsche GT Team pairing of Kevin Estre-Neel Jani steered their #92 Porsche 911 RSR-19 to first in class with a best qualifying lap time of 1:56.144.
Teammates Gianmaria Bruni-Richard Lietz followed in the #91 car, while the #52 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of AF Corse’s Miguel Molina-Daniel Serra will start third amongst the LMGTE Pro runners.
In the LMGTE Am category, the Iron Lynx trio of Rino Mastronardi-Andrea Piccini-Matteo Cressoni in their #60 488 GTE EVO took the leading position. They had a best lap time of 1:58.687.
Paul Dalla Lana-Augusto Farfus-Marcos Gomes of Aston Martin Racing qualified second in class in their #98 Aston Martin Vantage AMR, while third are Team Project 1’s Egidio Perfetti-Matteo Cairoli-Riccardo Pera in their #56 911 RSR-19.
Tickets for today can be purchased online or at the gate. They cost just BD5 for adults (BD8 for both WEC event weekends) and BD2.5 for children aged three to 12 years old (BD4 for both events). Kids under three can enter free, whilst there are also further discounts available for students, those with special needs and senior citizens.
Ticket prices offer one of the most affordable ways to witness a World Championship motorsport event. Full details are available at bahraingp.com.
Spectator entry policy for the races will be in line with Bahrain’s prevailing Covid-19 traffic light system. Under the current green conditions, entry is permitted to all.
The Bapco 6 Hours of Bahrain will be followed on November 5 and 6 by the championship finale, the FIA WEC Bapco 8 Hours of Bahrain.
Earlier yesterday, Toyota Gazoo Racing were already setting the pace, topping the overall times in the weekend’s last two practices.
Kobayashi-Conway-Lopez steered their Hypercar to first place after 90 minutes in FP2 with a best lap of 1:49.063—just 0.030secs quicker than Buemi-Nakajima-Hartley.
Leading the LMP2 class were Gelael-Vandoorne-Blomqvist with a fastest lap of 1:50.199. The LMGTE Pro category had Jani-Estre in front with a best lap of 1:56.411, while Team Project 1’s Perfetti-Cairoli-Pera were the frontrunners amongst the LMGTE Am competitors with a time of 1:58.015.
In FP3, Kobayashi-Conway-Lopez clocked a fastest lap of 1:48.978 as they finished 0.711s ahead of Buemi-Nakajima-Hartley.
Gelael-Vandoorne-Blomqvist topped the LMP2 class with a fastest lap of 1:50.696, Jani and Estre led the LMGTE Pro category with a best lap of 1:58.230, and Dempsey-Proton Racing’s #77 crew of Matt Campbell-Christian Ried-Jaxon Evans were first amongst the LMGTE Am runners with a 1:59.502 mark.
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