The first day of on-track running ahead of the 8 Hours of Bahrain was a fairly quiet one, but that still meant there were some fairly interesting things happening around the paddock.
The cars returned to the track for the first time since the conclusion of the 24 Hours of Le Mans last September, with a field of 24 cars, the lowest amount to ever take part in a World Endurance Championship event.
One of those cars was the #98 Aston Martin Vantage AMR, which topped the timing sheets thanks to Ross Gunn.
It has been a hectic couple of days for the Gaydon outfit, as the positive COVID-19 test for Le Mans winner Alex Lynn meant that the GTE Am crew needed a driver. After Richard Westbrook was called up to partner Maxime Martin, Paul Dalla Lana and Ross Gunn needed a new driver.
As he revealed on Thursday, Dalla Lana did not have to look very far to find Westbrook’s replacement. In a moment of remarkable coincidence, the Canadian gentleman driver explained that he was having dinner with friend and longtime co-driver Pedro Lamy in Monte Carlo when he received a phone call from Aston Martin to tell him that Westbrook was being moved to the GTE Pro team.
The call was made on very short notice, with Lamy apparently only learning of the news on Wednesday. The switch was so last-minute that the Portuguese former Formula One racer had no time to bring his own helmet.
With Aston Martin not able to prepare a racing overall either, the team has confirmed that Pedro Lamy has been kitted out in the helmet and overall Augusto Farfus used in his two appearance with the team.
Neveu gets a goodbye gift
The season finale of the 2019/20 FIA World Endurance Championship will be the last for both Toyota’s TS050 Hybrid, but also the last event for Gerard Neveu as CEO of the championship.
To mark the occasion, Toyota Gazoo Racing presented Neveu with a fitting farewell gift: a scale model of the TS050, placed on a signed piece of bodywork from the real car.
