WEC 2022 - 8 Hours of Bahrain: FIA Endurance Trophy for GTE AM Drivers and teams
The 6th and final race of the WEC championship will decide the champion team in the GTE AM category.
FIA Endurance Trophy for GTE AM Drivers.
📷 © Luc Warnotte: #33 TF Sport and #98 Northwest AMR at 1.000 Miles of Sebring 2022.
The battle for the FIA Endurance Trophy for GTE AM Drivers will be between the two Aston Martin teams: Ben Keating and Marco Sorensen are currently first (123 points), 20 points ahead of David Pittard, Nicki Thiim and Paul Dalla Lana (103 points).
📷 © Luc Warnotte: TF Sports #33 at 24 Hours of Le Mans 2022.
The drivers of the #98 Aston Martin (Pittard, Thiim and Dalla Lana) need to win to reverse the order of the GTE AM Championship unless the #33 Aston Martin drivers (Keating, Sorensen and Chaves) do not end the race.
Henrique Chaves who drives with Ben Keating and Marco Sorensen since the 2nd round at Francorchamps is third, with 95 points.
📷 © Luc Warnotte: Porsche #77 at 6 Hours of Monza 2022.
Christian Ried, Harry Tincknell and Sebastian Priaulx are fourth, with 77 points. Being 26 points behind Chaves, the best they could achieve is ending second in the GTE AM Drivers Championship if Aston Martin #39 drivers do not end the race and the #77 Porsche drivers win the class. A P2 would also make it if the Aston Martin #39 does not get pole, but one knows Ben Keating and Sarah Bovy are the fastest in the GTE AM class for that exercise.
📷 © Luc Warnotte: The Iron Dames ended second at the 6 Hours of Monza after dominating many laps.
Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting and Sarah Bovy are fifth with 69 points. The best for the ladies would be to end fourth in the Drivers Endurance Trophy.
FIA Endurance Trophy for GTE AM Teams.
The battle for the FIA Endurance Trophy for GTE AM teams will be between the two Aston Martin teams: TF Sport is currently first, 20 points ahead of Northwest AMR. The same counts for the Teams Trophy as for the Drivers Trophy. Read above.
📷 © Luc Warnotte: Rahel Frey at the 24 Hours of Le Mans 2022 with Iron Dames Ferrari 488.
Since their gold class victory in the last 24 hours of Francorchamps, there was a click for the Iron Dames. Since then, a pole at Monza and two second places at Monza and Fuji (and a victory at Portimao in ELMS) in GTE AM class show a regularity that puts the Iron Dames among the top performers of the post-Le Mans races. The Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting and Sarah Bovy objective is clear: to win this last round in Bahrain. A victory would leverage them to P3 of the FIA Endurance Trophy for GTE AM Drivers, ahead of Dempsey-Proton Racing (currently third - 8 points ahead of the Iron Dames). Even a P2 is possible if Northwest AMR Aston Martin #98 does not end 7th or better!
It is too early to speculate more about P2 and P3 in the GTE AM Teams trophy as the Balance Of Performance (BoP) might play a role. The qualification session will be of interest to get a better grip on the positioning of the 4 teams in play for the trophies.
Related Articles
Christian Ried, Harry Tincknell and Sebastian Priaulx with Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche #77 won the 6 Hours of Monza 2022: read more here.
Tincknell brings Porsche #77 on top of LMGTE AM podium together with Christian Ried and Sebastian Priaulx: read more here.
#98 Northwest AMR of David Pittard, Nicki Thiim and Paul Dalla Lana winning the 1.000 Miles of Sebring GTE AM class: read more here.
