JOTA on target and in target in LMP2 decider
Five can win, but #38 car has 23 points lead ahead of Bahrain
The LMP2 class of the FIA World Endurance Championship heads into the 2022 season finale with a clear leader in the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Teams with the #38 JOTA clear favourites in the Oreca 07 – Gibson runners.
With an unchanged season-long line-up of Roberto Gonzalez, Antonio Felix da Costa and Will Stevens, the squad head into the Bapco 8 Hours of Bahrain with 28 points leads in both the LMP2 teams and drivers’ championships.
For JOTA, victory this season will mean its first FIA Endurance Trophy, but there are still five other teams in with a mathematical chance of taking the title. With 39 points available this weekend, JOTA’s 28-point lead is significant, but the team still need to finish in the season’s second-longest race.
In second place, the Sebring-winning #23 United Autosports USA car sits on 86 points to the #38’s 114. Third is the #41 RealTeam by WRT on 80 points, two ahead of its sister Spa-Francorchamps and Fuji winning #31 WRT car. Prema Orlen Team with the #9 car are the final runners in with a shout, albeit a very long call 38 points away from the top spot.
If the #38 car finishes in sixth place, it takes the title regardless of what the others do, but there are a variety of finishing permutations as well as plenty of practice, qualifying and a full eight hours of racing yet to happen.
Second place in the standings is a closer fight, with the #23 line-up of Oliver Jarvis, Josh Pierson and Alex Lynn with just a six-point advantage over the #41’s Rui Andrade, Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen and Norman Nato. Just a further two points back, and sure to be fast, is the #31 car with Sean Gelael, Robin Frijns and René Rast.
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Two-way tussle in LMP2 Pro-Am, but three can take it
It’s a dicing duo for LMP2 Pro-Am honours with the #83 AF Corse car just eight points ahead of the #43 Algarve Pro Racing car in the LMP2 Trophy for LMP2 Pro/Am Teams with the #35 Ultimate car racing the ultimate challenge, 37 points off the lead.
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With unchanged driver line-ups across the three squads, the #83’s François Perrodo, Nicklas Nielsen and Alessio Rovera have 139 points on the board from #45’s Steven Thomas, James Allen and René Binder. It’s 102 points apiece for Jean-Baptiste Lahaye, Matthieu Lahaye and François Heriau in the all-French #35.
François Perrodo could become the most successful driver in the FIA WEC across all categories in Bahrain if the #83 car does win as it will be a fourth victory for him, the first in a prototype, which would be added to his three FIA Endurance trophies in LMGTE Am.
