The 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship will reach its conclusion with a title-deciding bout in Bahrain this weekend with both the Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ Hypercar crowns still up for grabs
Following more than 11,000km of racing across four continents over the opening seven rounds, everything now comes down to an eight-hour daylight-into-dark blast around Bahrain International Circuit, which has hosted FIA WEC on no fewer than 12 previous occasions, delivering some breathtaking battles and memorable moments against the backdrop of a dramatic desert landscape.
The demanding 5.412km, 15-turn layout asks a lot of drivers and cars alike, with as many as 54 gear changes per lap and top speeds approaching an eye-watering 300km/h down the four long straights. As much as 60 per cent of the lap is spent at full-throttle, with its wide nature encouraging audacious overtaking maneuvers. Its abrasive surface is also to be noted, placing a keen emphasis on tire preservation, particularly in the current WEC field, where even the slightest error of judgment can spell the difference between victory and a non-score.
With six different Hypercar winners so far this season, the action has been unpredictable to say the least, but the commendable consistency of Porsche Penske Motorsport – in just the second campaign of the German-American alliance – sees André Lotterer, Kévin Estre, and Laurens Vanthoor head into the finale within touching distance of championship glory.
The #6 Porsche 963 crew are the only drivers to have triumphed more than once this year. Allied to three further podium finishes, that has carried them 35 points clear of their closest rivals in the hunt for honors – with 39 remaining in play. That means that whatever else happens, they need just an eighth-place finish this weekend to seal the deal – but in endurance racing, rarely is anything ever that straightforward.
“Considering the championship standings, one might think everything is wrapped up, but that’s definitely not the case!” cautioned Vanthoor. “It looks promising, but with one-and-a-half times as many points awarded in Bahrain (due to the race’s longer distance), it’s still wide open.
“Last year, we weren’t particularly strong in Bahrain, but we’ve understood exactly why that was. We have an incredibly exciting weekend ahead of us, and winning the championship would be an absolute dream come true for everyone in the team.”
The situation is somewhat tighter in the Manufacturers’ table, where Porsche leads Toyota by ten points, with Ferrari 17 points further in arrears. It is Toyota Gazoo Racing – winner of the last five WEC titles – that boasts the most impressive record in Bahrain, with an astonishing 75 per cent strike rate, and the Japanese outfit’s current GR010 HYBRID has never been beaten at BIC. Those are the kind of statistics to give the team confidence following a disappointing outing on home soil at Fuji that yielded just a tenth-place finish.
In a year in which it successfully defended its 24 Hours of Le Mans success courtesy of a second consecutive triumph, Ferrari AF Corse likewise remains in the mix, with its #50 499P piloted by Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, and Nicklas Nielsen 35 points adrift of the #6 Porsche crew and well aware that only victory this weekend will do. The trio reached the rostrum in third place in Bahrain 12 months ago, and all three are former winners at the track in GT competition, with Molina never having finished off the podium there.
Behind the headline-grabbing championship clash, there is additionally a fierce fight brewing for fourth in the overall classification, with little to choose between Alpine and BMW after both sped to season-best results last time out in Japan.
Peugeot and Cadillac are still in contention as well, with the latter bringing Sébastien Bourdais back into the fold for Bahrain as the four-time Champ Car champion rejoins regular duo Alex Lynn and Earl Bamber. The American carmaker is eager to make good upon the promise it showed with pole position and a trophy-challenging performance at Fuji.
The runner-up spoils in the FIA World Cup for Hypercar Teams are also at stake, as Hertz Team JOTA – which cemented first place at Fuji – now bids to make it a one-two in the ‘privateer’ rankings. There is a similar scenario in LMGT3, where Manthey PureRxcing has already sealed the deal with its #92 crew of Klaus Bachler, Aliaksandr Malykhin, and Joel Sturm but a six-way scrap rages for second.
The on-track sessions will begin with free practice on Thursday, 31 October, followed by qualifying – and the all-important Hyperpole – from 16:00 local time (14:00 CET) on Friday, 1 November. The eight-hour race will get underway at 14:00 local time (12:00 CEST) on Sunday, 2 November.
The day after the race, drivers and teams will return to the track for the traditional end-of-season Rookie Test, featuring a number of intriguing line-ups – including nine-time MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi in BMW’s M Hybrid V8 Hypercar.
