WEC 2022 - 8 Hours of Bahrain: GT FIA Championships at play
The 6th and final race of the WEC championship will decide the champion team in the GT FIA (LMGTE PRO) category.
GT FIA World Endurance Drivers Championship.
📷 © Luc Warnotte: Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen won the 1.000 Miles of Sebring 2022.
Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen will want to take their revenge on the 2021 GT FIA (LMGTE PRO) championship. They indeed lost the championship in Bahrain during the last hour of the race even though they were leading the drivers’ championship heading to Bahrain.
📷 © Luc Warnotte: Calado and Pier Guidi were co-driven by Serra at the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2022.
This year the situation in the championship is reversed because Calado and Pier Guidi with Ferrari #52 (victories at Francorchamps and Fuji) are currently leading the GT FIA Drivers Championship with 11 points ahead of the Estre-Christensen duo (victory at Sebring with Porsche 911 RSR #92).
It is imperative that the future drivers of the Porsche 963 in Hypercar get Pole AND win the GT FIA (LMGTE PRO) class of this last race to win the championship. Of course, other scenarios are possible should the Ferrari #52 not be in the top 2.
At the BoP level, nothing changes for the Porsche 911 RSR but the Ferrari 488 GTE Evo and the Corvette C8.R will suffer from a reduction in power compared to the last round at Fuji: slight reduction in boost pressure (turbo) for the Ferrari, and reduction of 0.4 mm in the diameter of the air intake restrictor on the Corvette.
📷 © Luc Warnotte: Victory for Bruni and Lietz at 24 Hours of Le Mans 2022.
Gianmaria Bruni (victory at Le Mans) could theoretically make the double after having won the ELMS GTEAM Championship if he wins the Bahrain 8 Hours race AND if Calado-Pierguidi does not end in the top 2.
So the very last race of GT FIA (LMGTE PRO) race will be very interesting, with 3 pretenders for the crown.
It will also be interesting to see how the Corvette interferes in the battle for the title as the Miller-Tandy #63 Corvette has been dominating Le Mans (until the accident) and Monza GT FIA (LMGTE PRO) class. They have nothing to lose and definitively want to end the Championship with a win.
📷 © Luc Warnotte: Milner and Tandy won the LMGTE PRO class at 6 Hours of Monza 2022.
GT Manufacturers FIA World Endurance Championship.
Ferrari (with AF Corse) and Porsche are head to head in the GT FIA Manufacturers Championship. Only one point separates the two.
Many scenarios are possible but if one of the two pretenders (Ferrari and Porsche) wins the race, the 38 points allocated to the winner of the GT FIA (LMGTE PRO) will be crucial for the manufacturers title as the gap with the points given to the second is of 11 points! The gap in points between P3 (23 points), P4 (18 points) and P5 (15 points) is indeed much smaller.
Corvette Racing will play an essential role in the attribution of the Manufacturers title as a victory for the American squad would squeeze the gap in points between each respective position after P1.
So, even with 5 cars in the GT FIA (LMGTE PRO) class, the race will be very interesting and we have seen in previous rounds that those 5 are really close to each other in performance and strategies.
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