Motorsport: Neel Jani on the brink of world championship title

Actually, only an accident involving Neel Jani, Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb or an irreparable technical defect on their Porsche 919 Hybrid can prevent this trio from winning the drivers' championship. They have a 17-point lead over Toyota drivers Kamui Kobayashi, Stéphane Sarrazin and Mike Conway. If they win, a fifth-place finish in Saturday's 6-hour race on the Bahrain GP circuit will be enough for Jani to become the third automotive world champion from Switzerland after Marcel Fässler (2012) and Sébastien Buemi (2014) in the same discipline.

For the Porsche works driver, who traveled directly from his short vacation in the Seychelles to the Arab Emirate on Tuesday, it won't be a race like any other: "Now it's all about everything. The only goal in Bahrain will be to finally win this title, no matter how." Of course, the soon-to-be 33-year-old from Biel doesn't want to get into the feeling of a world champion just yet. But he is aware of its importance: "The world championship with three manufacturers has never been as strongly contested as it is this year and won't be in the next few years either. That's why a season with a Le Mans victory and world championship title would be perfect."

Farewell race of Mark Webber and of Audi
For his retiring Porsche colleague Mark Webber, it will be the last race as a professional, as well as for Audi in the WEC. Whether and when Marcel Fässler will be seen on this stage again is uncertain. His teammate André Lotterer is switching to Porsche. Together, they have set themselves another big goal: "After Le Mans, we had a car that was basically capable of winning, but unfortunately many incidents prevented this. We're highly motivated once again and want to give Audi a farewell victory."

Eurosport 1, which is free to air in Switzerland, will broadcast the second half of the race and the podium ceremony live from 5 to 8:10 p.m. on Saturday.

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Photos: Archive