Nicki Thiim was exhausted but delighted to have taken victory in an ultra-close GTE Pro battle during the Bapco 8 Hours of Bahrain, stating that the race was won more on strategy rather than pace.
The #95 Aston Martin Vantage AMR of Thiim and Sorensen took victory by beating the #71 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of Davide Rigon and Miguel Molina by racing on a different strategy ultimately proved sufficient to take their second race of the season.
"Must be Santa involved here, I don’t know. Wow, what a tough race," Thiim told Motorsport Week after the podium ceremony. "From the outside, obviously, we’re just driving around, but it’s eight hours flat out, and especially with two drivers today, it was really super tough.
Ferrari and Porsche kept us on our toes, I think everybody is completely destroyed. But it’s worth it standing here. Definitely didn’t have the fastest package here all weekend, but now we’re standing here with the biggest trophy and I’m just super proud of Marco and the whole team, because we did it on strategy and not on pace."
The Dane explained that tyre choice played a massive role in the outcome of the race, pointing out how worn out tyres caused huge troubles at the end of his second stint. He also hinted that that was an area of improvement for the victorious Aston Martin Racing crew.
"Obviously the tyres were the game, the game plan today from everyone," Thiim continued. "As you could see in my second stint, I struggled massively in the end basically trying to keep everyone behind so they didn’t get a gap on me, because the tyres were just destroyed at that point.
That was where we definitely lost out today. So we need to go home, get all the information and see if we can improve for Sebring, which is another big one and it’s super important to get those two wins, it gets you extra points for the championship."
The battle for victory in the ultra-competitive GTE Pro class was decided when Molina was forced to serve a drive through penalty after spinning the wheels of his Ferrari as he exited the pitbox. When asked about the moment the team received that news, Thiim replied:
"I was not in the car, I was already on the bed, screaming in pain. Obviously, Marco got the information. Everyone is trying to get the maximum out of every opportunity they have.
You see, it’s an eight hour race and jesus christ, we’re fighting inside one second in the last hour, it was absolutely amazing. I’m just proud to be part of the show, and this team and this class, especially this class. It’s the best racing, I really enjoy myself doing it."
