Will Stevens explained after qualifying for the Bapco 8 Hours of Bahrain that the team sacrificed a better qualifying result in favor of using a single set of tyres.
Stevens shared the #37 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA 07 Gibson during the Friday session with Gabriel Aubry. Together, the pair set an average time of 01:45:649, which was good enough to take second behind polesitters United Autosports.
“We all want to have pole,” Stevens told Motorsport Week after the session. “I don’t think either of us had a very clear lap. My sector 1 wasn’t great and he [Aubry] locked up into turn 10 on his best lap, so I think both of us had a little bit of a scruffy qualifying but overall we’ve been confident all weekend. We’ve had a good car since we arrived, so I think we compromised qualifying a little bit by only using one set of tyres between me and Gabriel, so overall I think we’re in a strong position for the race.”
The Bahrain round of the FIA World Endurance Championship is longer than the three previous rounds, which were four and six hours. Stevens doesn't think the extra hours of racing will bring any changes to his approach.
"I think it's always the same thing, you know: stay out of trouble. Obviously it's a much longer race, so you take less risks at the start," he continued.
"The same thing applies: stay out of trouble, make sure we stay in the hunt throughout and then try and take advantage of any safety cars or full course yellows and see where we end up. As I said, we've got a good racecar and let's hope we are near the front by the end."
