The 2023 Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain was an endurance sportscar racing event held on 4 November 2023, as the seventh and final round of the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship. It was the twelfth running of the event, and the fifth running in an extended 8 hours format.
Background
On 26 October 2023, the FIA published the Balance of Performance (BoP) for the Hypercar and LMGTE AM classes. In Hypercar, the Cadillac and Porsche both lost 7 kilograms of weight. They also both lost 1 MJ of maximum stint energy. For all other cars in the class, the BoP remained the same as it was during the Fuji round.[1] In LMGTE Am, the Aston Martin received a fuel tank increase of 2 litres and an 0.04 increase in engine power. The Corvette received a fuel tank decrease of 2 litres, and a decrease of 0.6 mm for the maximum size of the air restrictor. For the Porsche and Ferrari, the BoP remained the same as it was during the Fuji round.[2]
Entry list
There were 36 cars entered into the event: 12 Hypercars, 11 LMP2 cars, and 13 LMGTE Am cars. In Hypercar, Ryan Briscoe replaced João Paulo de Oliveira in the No. 4 Floyd Vanwall Racing Team machine.[3] Furthermore, Nico Müller returned to the No. 94 Peugeot TotalEnergies machine, after missing the Fuji round due to an injury.[4]
In LMP2, Mirko Bortolotti returned to the No. 63 Prema Racing machine, and Tom Blomqvist returned to the No. 23 United Autosports machine.[4] In LMGTE Am, Franck Dezoteux joined the No. 21 AF Corse machine,[4] with Liam Talbot replacing Satoshi Hoshino in the No. 777 D'Station Racing machine.[5] Furthermore, Esteban Masson joined the No. 57 Kessel Racing machine, replacing Ritomo Miyata, whilst Daniel Serra also returned after missing the previous two rounds.[6]
Schedule
| Date | Time (local: AST) | Event |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday, 2 November | 12:15 | Free Practice 1 |
| 17:30 | Free Practice 2 | |
| Friday, 3 November | 12:00 | Free Practice 3 |
| 16:15 | Qualifying - LMGTE Am | |
| 16:40 | Qualifying - LMP2 | |
| 17:05 | Qualifying - Hypercar | |
| Saturday, 4 November | 14:00 | Race |
| Source:[7] | ||
Free practice
- Only the fastest car in each class is shown.
| Free Practice 1 | Class | No. | Entrant | Driver | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hypercar | 7 |  Toyota Gazoo Racing
|
Kamui Kobayashi
|
1:49.856 | |
| LMP2 | 22 |  United Autosports
|
 Filipe Albuquerque
|
1:54.100 | |
| LMGTE Am | 777 | D'Station Racing
|
Tomonobu Fujii
|
1:59.516 | |
| Free Practice 2 | Class | No. | Entrant | Driver | Time |
| Hypercar | 7 | Toyota Gazoo Racing
|
Kamui Kobayashi
|
1:46.851 | |
| LMP2 | 22 | United Autosports
|
Filipe Albuquerque
|
1:52.850 | |
| LMGTE Am | 57 |  Kessel Racing
|
 Daniel Serra
|
1:58.246 | |
| Free Practice 3 | Class | No. | Entrant | Driver | Time |
| Hypercar | 2 |  Cadillac Racing
|
Alex Lynn
|
1:49.512 | |
| LMP2 | 23 | United Autosports
|
Tom Blomqvist
|
1:53.661 | |
| LMGTE Am | 56 |  Project 1 – AO
|
 Matteo Cairoli
|
1:58.214 | |
| Source:[8][9][10] | |||||
Qualifying
Pole position winners in each class are marked in bold.
| Pos | Class | No. | Team | Time | Gap | Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hypercar | 8 | Toyota Gazoo Racing
|
1:46.564 | - | 1 |
| 2 | Hypercar | 7 | Toyota Gazoo Racing
|
1:47.053 | +0.489 | 2 |
| 3 | Hypercar | 2 | Cadillac Racing
|
1:47.265 | +0.701 | 3 |
| 4 | Hypercar | 6 | Porsche Penske Motorsport
|
1:47.712 | +1.148 | 4 |
| 5 | Hypercar | 50 | Ferrari AF Corse
|
1:47.739 | +1.175 | 5 |
| 6 | Hypercar | 51 | Ferrari AF Corse
|
1:47.828 | +1.264 | 6 |
| 7 | Hypercar | 5 | Porsche Penske Motorsport
|
1:47.946 | +1.382 | 7 |
| 8 | Hypercar | 99 | Proton Competition
|
1:47.964 | +1.400 | 8 |
| 9 | Hypercar | 38 | Hertz Team Jota
|
1:48.555 | +1.991 | 9 |
| 10 | Hypercar | 93 |  Peugeot TotalEnergies
|
1:48.987 | +2.423 | 10 |
| 11 | Hypercar | 94 | Peugeot TotalEnergies
|
1:49.502 | +2.938 | 11 |
| 12 | Hypercar | 4 |  Floyd Vanwall Racing Team
|
1:50.682 | +4.118 | 12 |
| 13 | LMP2 | 23 | United Autosports
|
1:52.290 | +5.726 | 13 |
| 14 | LMP2 | 36 | Alpine Elf Team
|
1:52.561 | +5.997 | 14 |
| 15 | LMP2 | 31 |  Team WRT
|
1:52.898 | +6.334 | 15 |
| 16 | LMP2 | 10 | Vector Sport
|
1:52.903 | 6.339 | 16 |
| 17 | LMP2 | 22 | United Autosports
|
1:52.992 | +6.428 | 17 |
| 18 | LMP2 | 9 | Prema Racing
|
1:53.033 | +6.469 | 18 |
| 19 | LMP2 | 34 |  Inter Europol Competition
|
1:53.086 | +6.522 | 19 |
| 20 | LMP2 | 63 | Prema Racing
|
1:53.191 | +6.627 | 20 |
| 21 | LMP2 | 28 | Jota
|
1:53.320 | +6.756 | 21 |
| 22 | LMP2 | 41 | Team WRT
|
1:53.580 | +7.016 | 22 |
| 23 | LMP2 | 35 | Alpine Elf Team
|
1:54.023 | +7.459 | 23 |
| 24 | LMGTE Am | 85 | Iron Dames
|
1:58.692 | +12.128 | 24 |
| 25 | LMGTE Am | 777 | D'Station Racing
|
1:58.982 | +12.418 | 25 |
| 26 | LMGTE Am | 25 |  ORT by TF
|
1:59.161 | +12.597 | 26 |
| 27 | LMGTE Am | 57 | Kessel Racing
|
1:59.162 | +12.598 | 27 |
| 28 | LMGTE Am | 33 | Corvette Racing
|
1:59.412 | +12.848 | 28 |
| 29 | LMGTE Am | 98 |  NorthWest AMR
|
1:59.683 | +13.119 | 29 |
| 30 | LMGTE Am | 54 | AF Corse
|
1:59.761 | +13.197 | 30 |
| 31 | LMGTE Am | 77 | Dempsey-Proton Racing
|
2:00.063 | +13.499 | 31 |
| 32 | LMGTE Am | 83 | Richard Mille AF Corse
|
2:00.279 | +13.715 | 32 |
| 33 | LMGTE Am | 56 | Project 1 – AO
|
2:00.446 | +13.882 | 33 |
| 34 | LMGTE Am | 86 | GR Racing
|
2:01.275 | +14.711 | 34 |
| 35 | LMGTE Am | 60 | Iron Lynx
|
2:01.547 | +14.983 | 35 |
| 36 | LMGTE Am | 21 | AF Corse
|
2:02.646 | +16.082 | 36 |
| Source:[11] | ||||||
Race
The minimum number of laps for classification (70% of overall winning car's distance) was 174 laps. Class winners are in bold and ‡.
References
- ^ "WEC 2023 Decision 60 - Hypercar BOP" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 26 October 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
- ^ "WEC 2023 Decision 59 - LMGTE BOP" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 26 October 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
- ^ "Briscoe joins Vanwall for Bahrain WEC finale". Motorsport.com. 17 October 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
- ^ a b c "2023 FIA World Endurance Championship - Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain Provisional Entry List" (PDF). FIA WEC. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
- ^ "DSC's Daily Notebook (17/10/2023)". dailysportscar.com. 17 October 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
- ^ Grangier, Dorian (30 October 2023). "Première en WEC pour Esteban Masson, avec Kessel Racing à Bahreïn". AutoHebdo (in French). Retrieved 30 October 2023.
- ^ "2023 Bahrain - FIA World Endurance Championship". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
- ^ "2023 Bahrain FP1 results - FIA World Endurance Championship" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
- ^ "2023 Bahrain FP2 results - FIA World Endurance Championship" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
- ^ "2023 Bahrain FP3 results - FIA World Endurance Championship" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
- ^ "2023 8 Hours of Bahrain- Qualifying- Final Classification - FIA World Endurance Championship" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 3 November 2023. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
- ^ "2023 Bahrain Race results - FIA World Endurance Championship" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
Recent Comments