The 8 Hours of Bahrain will conclude the World Endurance Championship (WEC) season next Saturday, with much still to be decided – including the overall title.
The race awards 38 points to the winners and one point for the pole position, so there are mathematically four cars in contention. The Toyota #8 of Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa, and Sébastien Buemi leads with just 15 points more than the Toyota #7 of Kamui Kobayashi, José María López, and Mike Conway – winners of the last two rounds.
Still in the fight are the AF Corse Ferraris. The #51 of Alessandro Pier Guidi, Antonio Giovinazzi, and James Calado – victorious in Le Mans – are still seeking a return to the podiums, with the most difficult task as they are 31 points behind the top. Even more challenging is the task of the #50 of Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, and Nicklas Nielsen, with a 36-point deficit.
In LMP2, the battle is between three, but with a clear advantage for the current leaders: the Oreca #41 of Team WRT, with Louis Delétraz, Robert Kubica, and Rui Andrade, has only finished outside the class podium once and has 33 points more than the second-placed Inter Europol Competition, which won in Le Mans and features Albert Costa, Fabio Scherer, and Jakub Smiechowski. United Autosports also has mathematical possibilities with Frederick Lubin and Phil Hanson. Filipe Albuquerque completes the trio, but since he missed two races, he can only help his teammates in the conquest.
The only title already awarded is in the LMGTE Am category. The class bids farewell here – making way for the LMGT3 next year – and the champions will be Ben Keating, Nicky Catsburg, and Nicolás Varrone. The Corvette Racing trio has an 85-point advantage in a year where they only finished outside the top two once (they were fourth in Monza).
