WEC: What's still at stake in Bahrain?

Text: Rick Kiewiet

Images: Rick Kiewiet, WEC

This weekend it's time for the penultimate round of the FIA WEC championship with the BAPCO 6 hours of Bahrain. The final is scheduled a week later. What's still at stake in the different classes? Here's all you need to know.

Hypercar

The fight for the Hypercar drivers World Championship is still a three way battle. As Glickenhaus is not present in Bahrain, all contenders still have a chance to win the title. The dance is led by Mike Conway, José Maria Lopez and Kamui Kobayashi, the winners of the 24 hours of Le Mans, in the #7 Toyota GR010. They've gathered a total of 120 points. Teammates Buemi, Nakajima and Hartley in the #8 follow at 5 points distance. The crew of the #36 Alpine, André Negrão, Nicolas Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxivière have scored a total of 90 points, but we've seen in races besides Le Mans that the blue grandfathered Rebellion is a serious force to be reckoned with on 'normal' tracks. With 65 points still up for grabs in the upcoming two races (25 and 38, plus 2x 1 point for pole), the Alpine crew still has a shot.

GT Pro

In GT Pro, victories this season are evenly spread amongst Ferrari and Porsche: both have scored two. Pier Guidi and Calado won in Portimão and of course Le Mans for Ferrari, while Estre and Jani were victorious for Porsche in Spa and Monza. As Portimão and Le Mans were longer races than Spa and Monza, Pier Guidi and Calado lead the Porsche crew 124 over 112. This means the decision will come in the last race no matter what, even if the Ferrari wins and the Porsche retires.

LMP2

The tightest battle will possibly be within the LMP2 category. The leaders in the #28 JOTA car, Sean Gelael, Stoffel Vandoorne and Tom Blomqvist only have one point advantage over their closest rivals: Robin Frijns, Charles Milesi and Ferdinand Habsburg in the #31 WRT: 89 over 88. The other JOTA car, the #38, follows closely as Davidson, Felix da Costa and Rodriguez have gathered a total of 81 points. Mathmatically, Phil Hanson in the #22 United Autosports car, and the #34 InterEuropol-crew also still have a chance to win the title.

GT Am

With a 36.5 points advantage, the GT Am championship is the only one that can be officially decided in the first of two races in Bahrain. The #85 Ferrari driven by Nicklas Nielsen, Alessio Rovera and Francois Perrodo leads the #33 TF Sport Aston Martin of Ben Keating, Felipe Fraga and Dylan Pereira.