Tactics, teammates key to WEC title battles at Bahrain finale

The FIA WEC season finale is upon us, with track action now underway at the Bahrain International Circuit. At the head of the field in Hypercar, the spotlight is on the championship battles. After Pure Rxcing clinched the LMGT3 honors last time out, the Hypercar drivers’ and manufacturers’ titles are set to be awarded on Saturday night after one final showdown under the lights in Sakhir.

A glance at the headline Hypercar points standings tells you it’s Porsche’s to lose, but nobody in the Penske garage believes it will be a stroll in the park. “That’s not how motorsport works,” noted Urs Kuratle, the head of Porsche’s factory LMDh program.

So what’s the situation?

In the drivers’ standings, the leaders in the No. 6 Porsche — André Lotterer, Kévin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor — became the first trio to win two races this year last time out in Japan and, as a result, find themselves with one hand each on the trophy, 35 points clear at the top. With a maximum score of just 39 points now available, all they need is an eighth-place finish or better to seal the deal.

Porsche’s No. 6 crew have executed consistently well, but there’s still eight tricky hours to go before they can count their mission accomplished JEP/Motorsport Images

The pressure is still on, though. One silly error or mechanical hiccup during the eight-hour race and it’ll be game on, bringing Ferrari’s Le Mans winning No. 50 crew of Miguel Molina, Antonio Fuoco and Nicklas Nielsen or Toyota’s full-season No. 7 duo of Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries back into play. Ferrari’s crew are 35 points back, while Toyota’s is 37. The mountain they must climb to turn things around is steep, but not insurmountable.

“You’re never comfortable until you win it. We are not getting carried away with our lead, we just have to keep our heads down and not think about it,” Lotterer told RACER. “We have to just tackle the tasks in front of us — there’s no reason to change the approach to it, we just need to manage mistakes and risks.

“We have improved our car for this circuit quite a bit compared to last year, as last time our setup was not ideal. So we hope to be OK.”

In the immediate aftermath of the race at Fuji, where both Ferrari and Toyota’s efforts faltered after the No. 50 499P tumbled down the leaderboard to ninth in the closing stages and the No. 7 GR010 crashed out, the mood in both camps was understandably downbeat. Ferrari’s head of endurance race cars, Ferdinando Cannizzo, even came out and admitted to reporters that he felt the title battle was “all but over.”

But with time to reflect and prepare for the final race, there is still the belief that the deficit can be overcome, particularly at Ferrari. This is because it expects that the “Joker” update introduced for the 499P in Brazil to improve brake cooling and aero efficiency will give it a leg up this weekend.

While the notoriously abrasive track surface will still present a huge tire management challenge to its drivers, the car should be better suited to dealing with the ambient temperature, which is expected to hover between 77 and 86 degrees F all weekend.

Ferrari is hopeful the updates to its 499P introduced in Brazil will provide a leg up in Bahrain. JEP/Motorsport Images

“We want to win the championship as well as Le Mans, and we know doing both is difficult,” said Nielsen. “The chances are quite small, but we have nothing to lose — we want to give it our best shot.”

“Early in the race in Bahrain is tough when it’s hot, it’s going to be about managing the tires. Usually, our car gets faster when the temperature drops, so hopefully we can be there at the end.”

In the manufacturers’ title race, it’s a different story. Porsche’s advantage is just 10 points over Toyota and 27 over Ferrari.

This is where the performance of the sister cars could prove to be vital. The No. 5, No. 8 and No. 51 crews from Porsche, Toyota and Ferrari respectively, will need to be dialed in, as they have a real opportunity to play their part despite being out of the hunt for driver honors.

While Toyota’s No. 7 maintains slim hopes in the driver’s standings, the marque is still well placed in the manufacturers’ race heading into Saturday’s finale. Motorsport Images

“We go into the last race with the destiny of the manufacturers’ world championship still in our control,” Toyota’s team principal & driver Kamui Kobayashi points out. “We know that a win will give us the title so that is our target, and everyone will give their maximum to achieve it. We need a perfect weekend and we’re ready for the challenge.”

Nevertheless, the level of both confidence and expectation is high at Porsche, as it should be. 2024 has been a spectacular turnaround year for the Porsche Penske Motorsport operation on both sides of the Atlantic. It has gone from soul searching to trophy hunting in a matter of months and finds itself on the brink of a clean sweep of Hypercar and IMSA GTP titles.

“Our team converted the penalty kick in the IMSA title fight. Now, we also want to win the FIA WEC championship,” said Thomas Laudenbach, the vice president of Porsche Motorsport. “We’ve improved considerably in the second year of our global program and unfailingly made the most of our opportunities. I expect nothing less at the upcoming race weekend in Bahrain.

“If we approach our mission with the same concentration and consistency as in the previous rounds, then we’ll achieve our goal: 2024 world champions in the manufacturer and driver categories.”