WEC - Thirty One Cars for Round 4 in Bahrain

After a year away the FIA World Endurance Championship makes a welcome return to the Bahrain International Circuit for the first 8 Hour race of the 2019/20 season. An additional entry in the LMP2 category by former class champions G-Drive Racing brings the total number of cars entered for the race up to thirty-one for the Bapco 8 Hours of Bahrain on Saturday 14 December.

After winning in China last month, Rebellion Racing head to the Middle East on a high note but know that a repeat of their victory will be made more difficult due to the changes made under the success handicap rules (CLICK HERE for the latest Endurance Committee bulletin). The no1 Rebellion Racing R13-Gibson will face the two Toyota Gazoo Racing TS050-hybrids and the two Team LNT Ginetta G60-AERs for overall honours at the 8 Hours of Bahrain in what promises to be a closely fought battle in the desert.

LMGTE Pro has seen Aston Martin and Porsche both take victories so far this season, with Ferrari winning Shanghai, only to be disqualified following post-race Scrutineering. With two wins under Porsche’s belt, the German manufacturer will be looking to score a hat-trick in Bahrain to cement its position at the top of the leaderboard.

However, Bahrain has fared well for Ferrari in recent years with the Italian manufacturer having taken four out of six wins in LMGTE Pro and securing the 2017 FIA World Endurance GT Manufacturers title in the season finale at the Middle Eastern circuit. Can they make it a fifth win this year?

2015 FIA WEC LMP2 and 2018 ELMS Champions, G-Drive Racing, will field an Aurus 01-Gibson car – the same machine that the Russian-based team used to finish runner-up in this year’s European Le Mans Series. Driving the no26 Aurus will be ex Formula 1 driver Jean-Eric Vergne, who completed a full WEC campaign back in 2017. Joining Vergne at the wheel will be 2015 FIA WEC LMP2 Champion Roman Rusinov and 2018 ELMS LMP3 Champion Job Van Uitert, the young Dutch driver already with a WEC pole position and podium finish to his credit with Racing Team Nederland at Silverstone in September.

G-Drive’s entry increases the highly-competitive LMP2 field to nine in Bahrain – the biggest of WEC Season 8 so far and includes two tyre manufacturers (Michelin and Goodyear) and four different chassis providers – ORECA, Alpine, Dallara and Aurus. Three different teams, Cool Racing, Racing Team Nederlands and JOTA have stood on the top step of the podium in the three races held so far this season. Will it be a fourth different team celebrating victory at the end of the 8 Hours of Bahrain?

A total of 11 teams will battle it out in LMGTE Am as category leaders TF Sport will be eager to continue its recent success after winning the two previous rounds with the Aston Martin Vantage AMR. Only three points behind TF Sport, however, is AF Corse as the Ferrari 488 GTE Evo took the round one victory at Silverstone followed by a second place at Fuji. Who will come out on top in Bahrain this time round?

for the entry list for the Bapco 8 Hours of Bahrain

for the timetable for Round 4 of the 2018/19 FIA World Endurance Championship