Bahrain 2 Hours: Toyota 1-2; Porsche on top in LMGTE Pro

In LMGTE Pro, the No.92 Porsche heads the class while Team WRT pushes to the front in LMP2 after early heroics by Giedo van der Garde in Racing Team Nederland car.  

The No.98 Aston Martin Racing entry takes No.83 AF Corse Ferrari for lead in LMGTE Am.

Below are the main headlines following the first two hours of racing.

Hypercar – Leader: No.7 Jose-Maria Lopez, Toyota Gazoo Racing 

• No.8 Toyota Gazoo Racing pole-sitting car driven by Sebastien Buemi leads early stages but is overtaken by sister No.7 car of Mike Conway 
• Position swap again before first round of stops as No.7 elect to keep Conway aboard while No.8 team change from Buemi to Brendon Hartley 
• Both Toyotas take left-hand side tyres only but a small delay for No.7 on tyre changes ensures that Hartley enjoys 2.5 second advantage in second stint 
• But Conway fights back and is able to reclaim the lead on track and starts to open gap at the front.  
• At two hours of racing a full-course yellow for debris on track as No.8 is in pits and Kazuki Nakajima emerges with 12-second deficit to Lopez 
• Alpine suffers several time-consuming issues including contact with No.88 Porsche and a small throttle pedal issue 
• Nicolas Lapierre takes over in cockpit after first stint and places third as first FCY is deployed but makes up time in FCY period and is just four seconds from Nakajima 

33° air temp, 42° track temp but 31 aces keeping cool in to T1. 6 hours on the clock, let’s go racing!#WEC #6HBahrain @ROLEX pic.twitter.com/cUgPYmTzyB

— WEC (@FIAWEC) October 30, 2021

LMGTE Pro - Leader: Neel Jani, Porsche GT Team 

• No.92 Porsche GT Team converts LMGTE Pro as Kevin Estre leads throughout first two hours 
• Gimmi Bruni tracks Estre in No.91 Porsche and gets extra lap of fuel and stays within 1.5s of the lead 
• AF Corse Ferraris third and fourth as they look to try and maximise tyres to get back on terms with Porsches over duration of race 
• Alessandro Pier Guidi and Miguel Molina complete first two stints with No.51 car reclaiming third in second hour after Molina briefly holds position

#WEC - 95 minutes into @FIAWEC #6HBahrain, @kevinestre in the No. 92 #Porsche #911RSR is leading the GTE-Pro ranks with @GianmariaBruni in sister car No. 92 only 0.7 seconds behind @BAH_Int_Circuit pic.twitter.com/WsAKTWX58b

— Porsche Motorsport (@PorscheRaces) October 30, 2021

LMP2 – Leader: Robin Frijns, Team WRT 

• Action packed first lap sees Giedo van der Garde blast through from sixth on the grid to take a sensational lead for Racing Team Nederland 
• Dutch ace leads majority of first two hours managing tyres expertly  
• Alex Brundle stars in second hour for Inter Euopol Competition as he maximises fresh tyres and rises from fifth to second in class 
• Brundle eventually takes lead as van der Garde hands over to Fritz van Eerd 
• Team WRT emerges in strong position as Ferdinand Habsburg drives excellent second stint to ensure Robin Frijns is able to take second position and start chase of Brundle 
• United Autosports with Phil Hanson initially run third before Filipe Albuquerque takes over from third stint onwards. Portuguese consolidates third position as third hour arrives and then takes second from Van Eerd 
• JOTA has tricky and conservative start to race as Sean Gelael is nudged into a spin by No.98 Aston Martin and loses time 
• Pole-sitter Tom Blomqvist takes over and runs fifth, while sister No.38 JOTA car started by Roberto Gonzalez is sixth after Antonio Felix da Costa takes Realteam Racing’s Esteban Garcia 

The highlights of the first 60 minutes of racing in Bahrain. Five hours to go!#WEC #6HBahrain pic.twitter.com/0Rq8wJih7B

— WEC (@FIAWEC) October 30, 2021

LMGTE Am – Leader: Marcos Gomes, No.98 Aston Martin Racing 

• Rino Mastronardi leads from pole in No.60 Iron Lynx Ferrari 488 GTE Evo 
• However, a gearbox issue sees Italian make pit stop and fall out of contention 
• Mastronardi also had contact with AF Corse driver Francesco Castellacci in opening exchanges 
• Aston Martin come to the fore as first D-Station and then TF Sport surge to the front and take turns in the lead through Satoshi Hoshino and Ben Keating 
• But No.83 AF Corse then hits the front as Alessio Rovera takes the cockpit from Francois Perrodo 
• Rovera comes under huge pressure from No.98 Aston Martin with Augusto Farfus at the wheel after taking over from Paul Dalla Lana who started 
• After FCY comes driver changes are triggered and Perrodo goes back in the cockpit, while Aston changes from Farfus to Marcos Gomes 
• As green flag waves Gomes takes lead for No.98 car 
• Third in LMGTE Am is Ben Barker in No.86 GR Racing Porsche as team take advantage of clean opening stint by Mike Wainwright