Nyck de Vries leads the FIA World Endurance Championship’s season finale, the 8 Hours of Bahrain with a quarter of the race gone, with the #7 Toyota driver enjoying a small gap over the #51 Ferrari of Alessandro Pier Guidi.
De Vries’ teammate Mike Conway started the #7 machine on pole and has led the majority of the race. He and teammate Brendon Hartley, in the sister #8 Toyota, were 1-2 for the entirety of the first hour, from the #94 Peugeot of Loic Duval.
When the Hypercar pitstops started, Hartley pitted first and did not tyres for the #8 car, double stinting the rubber on a track known to be notoriously hard on tyres. Conway pitted soon after and did change all four corners, giving him an advantage over the length of the stint.
Hartley then led the race as his stop was quicker, but he soon dropped to second behind Conway as he struggled his older, worn rubber. He later said on the TV broadcast that this was the plan from the start, putting the #8 on the alternate strategy and giving them new tyres for the end – the same strategy they used to win a year before.
Behind, Antonio Giovinazzi, who started the race in the #51 Ferrari, had got past Duval and was into third. He later took second off Hartley, too, but as we know, the #8 car is playing the long game in the Middle East.
So, with de Vries having a small 3 second gap on Pier Guidi, Hartley’s teammate Buemi, now in the #8, is third, around 2 seconds behind Pier Guidi.
The #93 Peugeot of Jean-Eric Vergne is fourth, while the #50 Ferrari of Miguel Molina is fifth. Sixth is the first of the Aston Martins, Roman de Angelis in the #009 Aston Martin Valkyrie. Seventh is Theo Pourchaire in his WEC race debut in the #94 Peugeot 9X8.
Eighth is Robert Kubica in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari. Ninth and tenth are Alex Lynn in in the #12 Cadillac, and Kevin Estre in the #6 Porsche, making his way through the field after a poor qualifying on Friday. All three cars are in the hunt for the drivers’ championship, but title leaders the #51 Ferrari crew look to have a solid grip on that at the moment, running in second.
In LMGT3, Petru Umbrarescu is leading in the #87 Akkodis ASP Lexus. His teammate in the sister car, Arnold Robin, started on pole in the #78 car, but is currently in the garage after technical issues has delayed them.
Second in LMGT3 is Martin Berry in the #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG, around 9 seconds off Umbrarescu. Third is Ian James in the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage, a further 2 seconds off Berry.
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