24h Le Mans
The 2015 season of the World Endurance Championship (WEC) will come to a close again in Bahrain with a race that will end once night has fallen, like the Texan round. With 32 competitors at the start, it is one of the most loaded fields of the year as most of the title, trophies and cups are still up for grabs.
As Porsche has already clinched the title World Endurance Constructors Champion title following the one-two in Shanghai, the race is still open for the drivers title, even though the contenders are only six. Indeed, only Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber for Porsche and Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer for Audi are still in the running, knowing the first three hold a leadd of 12 points over the others, 2012 World Endurance Champions.
Though no changes within the driver line-ups are indicated from the constructors, the same cannot be said within the private outfits since Rebellion Racing, ensured the Driver and Team trophies, will be able to count on the return of Nick Heidfeld in the No. 12 R-One and of Daniel Abt in the sister No. 13 car.
In LM P2, Tom Dillmann will continue in the Alpine after the win at Shanghai, as the start of Pegasus Racing, entered solely in China, was rewarded by the entry of a B R01 for the AF Racing outfit, formerly SMP Racing, for Nicolas Minassian, Mikhail Aleshin and David Markozov, who all took the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans this past June.
As in LM P2, the cups have not been decided in LM GTE Pro with, for now, a Ferrari advantage in the Constructors title and Richard Lietz (Porsche) in the Drivers. On the other hand, Aston Martin is no longer in the race even though the British marque will be able to count on the return of the third Vantage entrusted to the Danish trio.
In LM GTE Am, Roald Goethe will rejoin Aston Martin after having missed the preceding round for professional reasons, like Kristian Poulsen in Larbre Compétition's Corvette C7.R. Last but not least, Patrick Dempsey will not head to the Middle East since he is filming elsewhere. The actor who claimed the second step on the podium in the class at this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans, will be replaced by the head of the Proton Competition team, Christian Ried, who will go from the No. 88 Porsche to the sister No. 77 car. The vacant spot will be taken by Marco Mapelli in a class in which the trophy will reach out to SMP Racing, winner at Le Mans.
The start of the 6 Hours of Bahrain will be given on Saturday, November 21st at 3:00 p.m., noon in the U.K.
Cécile Bonardel / ACO - Translation by Nikki Ehrhardt / ACO
PHOTO: SAKHIR (BAHRAIN), BAHRAIN INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT, 6 HOURS OF BAHREIN, SATURDAY NOVEMBER 15 2014, RACE. Porsche started from pole position at the 2014 edition of the 6 Hours of Bahrain.
