Due to the ongoing Covid-19 Pandemic, Round 5 of the 2021 FIA WEC couldn’t be held in Japan last month, with the 6 Hours of Fuji becoming the 6 Hours of Bahrain, which will be held on Saturday 30 October.  Round 6, which was original scheduled for the end of November, has been moved to Saturday 6 November, with the 8 Hours of Bahrain bringing the 2021 season to a conclusion.

ROUNDS 5 & 6 HIGHLIGHTS 

• The two races in Bahrain will feature a grid of 32 cars, with the entry list for the 6 Hours of Bahrain being released.
   
• The grid will feature 3 x Hypercar entries, 11 x LMP2 entries, 4 x LMGTE Pro entries and 14 LMGTE Am entries.
   
• With a maximum of 65 points on offer across both races, 26 points in Round 5 and 39 in Round 6, there is still all to play for in the various championships.
   
• With two wins each, the inaugural driver champions in the Hypercar class will be decided in Bahrain. Jose Maria Lopez, Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway are on 120 points, 9 points ahead of their teammates Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima, who are on 111 points.  Andre Negrao, Matthieu Vaxiviere and Nico Lapierre are on 90 points in the no36 Alpine ELF Matmut A480-Gibson and have a mathematical shot at the title.
   
• The fight for the world title in LMGTE Pro will be between the no51 Ferrari of 2017 champions Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado and the no92 Porsche of reigning champion Kevin Estre and 2016 LMP1 champion Neel Jani. The Ferrari duo are currently on 124 points, 12 ahead of their rivals.
   
• Ferrari hold a 16-point lead in the Manufacturers Championship with the Italians on 203 points and Porsche on 187 points.
   
• The LMP2 title race couldn’t be tighter with seven cars still in contention and the top three split by just 8 points. The no28 JOTA Oreca leads on 89 points, one point ahead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans winners Team WRT on 88 points, with the no 38 JOTA Oreca in third on 81 points.\
   
• AF Corse hold a comfortable lead in the LMGTE AM title race with the no83 Ferrari on 102 points and the no33 TF Sport Aston Martin on 65.5.
   
• Newly crowned European Le Mans Series champion Robert Kubica, who came close to winning this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans with WRT, will make his WEC debut driving for High Class Racing.
   
• Katherine Legge will replace Michelle Gatting in the FIA Women in Motorsport-supported no85 Iron Lynx Ferrari, joining Rahel Frey and Sarah Bovy.

A LOOK BACK AT 24 HOURS OF LE MANS 

The no7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercar took a comfortable victory in 89^th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Jose-Maria Lopez, Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway t ook their first Le Mans win after several years of near misses, becoming the first winner of the Hypercar era. They finished 2 laps ahead of the #8 Toyota GR010 and 4 laps in front of the third-placed #36 Alpine Elf Matmut A480.

The #51 AF Corse Ferrari of James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Come Ledogar took the LMGTE Pro victory, with the Italian team also taking the double with victory in the LMGTE Am. 

The #31 Team WRT Oreca of Robin Frijns, Ferdinand Habsburg and Charles Milesi took a dramatic last gasp win in LMP2 on La Sarthe debut after sister #41 car retired from the lead on final lap of race. Frijns was forced to defend from charging #28 JOTA car of Tom Blomqvist, with the two cars separated by just 0.7s as chequered flag is waved.

Reigning FIA WEC LMGTE Am champions AF Corse took their first class win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with Francois Perrodo, Nicklas Nielsen and Alessio Rovera taking maximum points to open a large gap in 2021 FIA WEC points standings. 

CHAMPIONSHIP LEADERS AFTER ROUND 4

DID YOU KNOW?

• The longest 6 Hour race was held in 2016 with the no8 Audi R18 completing 201 laps, the first time the race distance had exceeded 200 laps. In 2019 the race duration was extended to 8 hours and in 2020 the no7 Toyota TS050 completed 263 laps or 1423.36km.
   
• Audi won in 2012 and 2016, Toyota in 2013, 2014, 2017, 2019 and 2020, and Porsche in 2015.
   
• ORECA have won seven of the eight LMP2 races: Pecom Racing in 2012, G-Drive Racing in 2013 and 2016, KCMG in 2014, Rebellion Racing in 2017, United Autosports in 2019 and Jackie Chan DC Racing in 2020. Ligier won in 2015 with G-Drive Racing.
   
• Ferrari won LMGTE Pro four times, from 2012 to 2014 with Toni Vilander winning all three events. The Finn won in 2012 with Giancarlo Fisichella and in 2013 and 2014 with Gianmaria Bruni. In 2017 Davide Rigon and Sam Bird won for the ‘Prancing Horse’. Porsche won in 2015 with victory for Patrick Pilet and Fred Makowieck and in 2020 with Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre, while Aston Martin were victorious in 2016 and 2019 with Nicky Thiim and Marco Sorensen.
   
• Ferrari have never won in LMGTE Am in Bahrain with Porsche and Aston Martin sharing the LMGTE Am class honours with four wins each. Porsche won in 2012, 2016, 2019 and 2020, while Aston Martin took the class win in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017.
   
• Mike Conway, Nicki Thiim and Sam Bird are the only drivers to win the race in Bahrain in two different classes. In 2013 Conway won LMP2 with G-Drive Racing. In 2014 he won in LMP1 with Toyota. Thiim won the LMGTE Am category in 2013 and 2014 and the LMGTE Pro class in 2016 and 2019, all with Aston Martin Racing. Sam Bird won LMP2 in 2015 with G-Drive Racing and LMGTE Pro with AF Corse Ferrari in 2017.
   
• The current fastest race lap record is held by Lucas Di Grassi (Audi) who set a 1m41.511 in November 2016.
   
• There was no race held in Bahrain in 2018 during the 2018/19 ‘Super Season’, with the race in the Middle East returning to the calendar in 2019 and featuring twice on the 2019/20 calendar.
   
• Drivers who have won in Bahrain three or more times

TIMETABLE – 6 Hours of Bahrain

TIMETABLE – 8 Hours of Bahrain

FIA OFFICIALS

FIA WORLD ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP CLASSIFICATIONS

The provisional classifications for all the championships can be found HERE.