WEC Bahrain: Two Swiss aim for world championship title 🎥
FIRST OF TWO FINAL RACES The 2021 World Endurance Championship will come to an end over the next two weekends in Bahrain. For Sébastien Buemi (Toyota) and Neel Jani (Porsche), the championship titles in their categories are at stake.
The emirate on the Persian Gulf is hosting the first double event in the history of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
The fifth race of the season on October 30 lasts six hours and is run in daylight, while a week later an eight-hour distance with a finish in darkness is on the agenda.
Toyota ahead of first title with the hypercar
Toyota Gazoo Racing has traveled to the Bahrain International Circuit with a 100-percent winning record so far this season. With a 51-point lead over Alpine and 65 points still up for grabs in the final two races, a third-place finish on Saturday will be enough to successfully defend the title.
There is an exciting three-way battle among the drivers. The first hypercar world champion will probably not be decided until after the final round on November 6. Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López are in the lead in the number 7 GR10 Hybrid thanks to their victory at the Le Mans 24 Hours in June.
Their teammates Sébastien Buemi (gallery below left), Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley in the GR010 Hybrid #8 are only nine points behind. This trio has also won two of the four races of the season and will start from pole position on Saturday. The Alpine drivers who finished third in qualifying and in the standings, including Nicolas Lapierre from Geneva, are also still in the championship race.
Porsche against Ferrari
Like Toyota, Porsche celebrated a one-two finish at last year's eight-hour final round in Bahrain. If the Stuttgart-based company manages to build on this, Neel Jani could secure his second world championship title after 2016 with the 919 Hybrid, this time in the 911 RSR with partner Kevin Estre from France (center gallery in free practice).
However, Ferrari is slightly ahead in the Constructors' World Championship after its triumph at Le Mans, as is their better duo Pier Guidi/Calado in the Drivers' Championship. In qualifying, Estre set the best possible starting position with the fastest time.
The man from Biel likes the track and the environment in Bahrain.
Neel Jani: "It's a duel between our car and the number 51 Ferrari. Let's see how the competitors go into the two races. It could be that the first race serves as strategic preparation for the second, in which a lot of points will be at stake once again at the end. Let's wait and see."
Fabio Scherer wants to win again
Fabio Scherer (gallery, right) only has a theoretical chance of winning the title in the LMP2 class. The absence in Portugal (positive coronal test) and the bad luck at Le Mans can hardly be made up for despite the two wins at Spa and Monza. Team-mate Phil Hanson also scored once more (Portugal) and could at best be crowned sole world champion.
The personal objective of the Lucerne native is therefore different.
Fabio Scherer: "I want to win the last two races and thereby help United Autosports to win the LMP2 classification among the teams. At the moment we're in 4th place, 13 points behind, so if we manage a similar performance to Spa or Monza, where we won in superior fashion, it should be possible to make up this gap."
Live in full length
The free-to-air TV station Eurosport 1 will broadcast both endurance races live in full with German commentary. The broadcast on Saturday, October 30, starts at 9:45 a.m. and ends after the podium ceremony at 4:30 p.m.
The much shorter highlights can be seen the same day from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. and 10:30 to 11:55 p.m., and on Sunday from 8:10 to 10 p.m.
