WEC 2022 - 8 Hours of Bahrain: Hypercar Championships at play
The 6th and final race of the WEC championship will decide the champion team in the premier category: hypercar class.
Hypercar World Endurance Drivers Championship
📷 © Luc Warnotte: Toyota #8 and Alpine #36 at 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps and Monza 2022.
Before heading to Bahrain, two teams are at equal points (121) in the Hypercar World Endurance Drivers Championship: Toyota #8 with Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa, Sebastien Buemi, and André Negrao, Matthieu Vaxivière, Nicolas Lapierre with Alpine #36.
Buemi - Hirakawa - Hartley won at Le Mans (read more here) and Fuji.
Lapierre - Negrao - Vaxivière won at Sebring (read more here) and Monza
As the difference of points attributed after the race is at least 3 points between each position, the first of the two will clinch the Hypercar WEC Drivers Championship; the point allocated for pole in qualifications will not be enough to make the difference.
Alpine drivers have a great opportunity to win the race especially since, with the new Hypercar BoP adjustments, the Alpine will be able to count on an increased power peak (+4 kW to 403 kW) as well as a significant increase of 11 MJ in the energy allocated per relay.
Toyota #7 drivers Jose Maria Lopez, Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway are 26 points behind the two leaders. For them to be WEC champions would require none of the two leading teams starting the race AND the Toyota #7 winning the race OR ending second (behind a Peugeot, which would be very surprising) AND getting pole in the qualifications session. This comes to writing that the title race is lost for them.
📷 © Luc Warnotte: Toyota #7 at 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps 2022.
📷 © Luc Warnotte: Peugeot 9X8 at 6 Hours of Monza 2022.
The Peugeot 9X8 lineups did not participate in the 3 first WEC rounds and the Glickenhaus was not at Fuji and will not be at Bahrain. None of those drivers are at play in Hypercar WEC Drivers Championship.
Hypercar World Endurance Manufacturers’ Championship (WEC)
📷 © Luc Warnotte: Toyota #8 at 6 Hours of Monza 2022.
As Toyota has two WEC Hypercars, the result of the first of the two per race is added to the Toyota points in the WEC manufacturers’ Championship. With 3 wins this 10th season (Francorchamps for Toyota #7 (read more here), Le Mans and Fuji for Toyota #8), Toyota count 147 points versus 121 for Alpine (Sebring and Monza wins).
📷 © Luc Warnotte: André Negrao, Matthieu Vaxivière, Nicolas Lapierre with Alpine #36 winning the 6 Hours of Monza 2022. (read more here)
Toyota leads the way with a 26-point advantage over Alpine in the Hypercar World Endurance Manufacturers' Championship (WEC) standings. It would require none of the Toyota starting the race and the Alpine squad winning or finishing second AND getting pole.
📷 © Luc Warnotte: Both Peugeot 9X8 did spend long time in pit during the 6 Hours of Monza 2022.
Peugeot Hypercar still has a small chance of getting on the third step of the podium if they win the (WEC) Barhrain race as they are currently 4th, 36 points behind Glickenhaus who will not participate in the 8 Hours of Bahrain.
Moreover, with Hypercar BoP adjustments, Peugeot 9X8 will benefit from a reduced minimum weight of 12 kg (total 4 kg less than the Toyota). The Toyota will lose 3 MJ of energy allocated per relay, more than the Peugeot and will also have to do with reduced power up to 4 kW depending on the power curve.
If the Peugeot 9X8 shows reliability (which was not the case in previous races), they now have a chance to clinch their first victory.
📷 © Luc Warnotte: Glickenhaus #708 was in the neck during the 3 first rounds. Here at 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps 2022.
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Romain Dumas with #708 Glickenhaus 007 LMH did set the fastest time in today’s session, 0.618 sec. ahead of #36 Alpine.
Brendon Hartley (Toyota GR010 Hybrid) set the fastest time at Le Mans 2022 Hyperpole.
Frist Pole for Glickenhaus Racing as Oliver Pla did set the fastest qualification time with Glickenhaus 007 LMH #708.
