Toyota continues, Rebellion and Porsche let go mid-race

Toyota Gazoo Racing remains firmly anchored in the lead of the 8 Hours of Bahrain at the halfway mark. Porsche has let go somewhat in GTE Pro.

Published on 14/12/2019 à 17:19

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Toyota continues, Rebellion and Porsche let go mid-race

Both Toyota TS050 Hybrid from Toyota Gazoo Racing are still leading the peloton at the halfway point of the 8 Hours of Bahrain.

The internal hierarchy of the Japanese team has not changed since the start since the n°7 of Mike conway - Kamui Kobayashi – José Maria Lopez, who immediately took control of the event after contact between the Ginetta G60-LT-P1 n°5 – Team LNT and the Rebellion R13 n°1 – Rebellion Racing, is ahead by more than one minute n°8 of Sébastien Buemi - Brendon Hartley - Kazuki Nakajima.

Remember that Buemi had lost several positions at turn no. 2, being the collateral victim of the incident between the no. 5 Ginetta and the no. 13 R1.

The main event of the race since the two hours of running occurred with the return to the pits of the No. 13 R1, following a gearbox problem having immobilized the Swiss LM P1 for more than five minutes in its box.

Since then, it is the #5 Ginetta which is on the third step of the podium but more than three laps behind the two Toyota TS050s.

At loggerheads

If in LM P1, the Toyotas have a good lead, the suspense remains intact in GTE Pro, even if Porsche seems to have lowered the flag. The fight for victory was until recently between almost the entire peloton in the category, but the two official Porsche 911 RSRs were delayed by mechanical problems, including a puncture for the No. 91 of Bruni – Lietz.

On a slightly offbeat strategy, theAston Martin Vantage GT3 n°95 of Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim currently dominates the standings ahead of both Ferrari 488 n°71 and n°51 – AF Corse. The #91 Porsche was relegated to two laps, as was the #92 of Estre – Christensen.

United Autosports continues its solo lead in LM P2, with the No. 07 Oreca 22 of di Resta – Albuquerque – Hanson, which has a lead of more than 50″ over the No. 07 Oreca 38 – JOTA Sport of Gonzalez – Davidson –Felix da Costa.

Jackie Chan DC Racing completes the provisional podium with the n°07 Oreca 37 of Aubry – Tung – Stevens, ahead ofAlpine A470 n°36 – Signatech Alpine by Laurent – negrao – Rages.

The #911 Porsche 57 RSR – Team Project1 of ten Voorde – Keating – Bleekemolen dominates the GTE Am category ahead of the #98 Aston Martin Vantage – Aston Martin Racing of Gunn – Turner – Dalla Lana.

Shortly before halfway, a Full Course Yellow was deployed following a deviation from the trajectory of the No. 911 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 88 RSR.