As the example of Audi in 2016, Porsche was expecting to score a victory to have a good send-off for the Porsche 919 Hybrid and for the LMP1 program as a whole, but not only Toyota did an excellent job with the No. 8 TS050 Hybrid, but also lots of problems hit the crowned FIA WEC champions. Also, Rebellion Racing, AF Corse and Aston Martin left Sakhir with a lot to celebrate in their classes.
It was a Porsche 1-2 from the go but it wasn’t like the Toyota cars were just watching the Germans take the lead, with the No. 8 doing the early combat. The Porsches were opening a bit until the fifth minute of racing, when the Safety Car neutralized the field to take a broken bollard out of the track, and it just need a restart for the No. 8 and the No. 7 to split the No. 1 from the No. 2 Porsche, which stopped to have another part of the bollard taken out, as it was stuck in the underbody.
From the 30 minute mark, the No. 1 Porsche had its area full of Toyotas as the No. 8 attacked first and took the lead and the No. 7 started to put pressure. Things were also pretty even in the other classes, as the No. 36 Signatech Alpine was overtaken by the No. 25 Manor Oreca, with the rest of the class field being just about 10 seconds behind.
The following hour saw the Toyotas switching positions from time to time due to different tire strategies, but the No. 8 still had a good advantage. In LMP2 there was a multi-car scrap that somehow propelled the No. 38 DC Racing Oreca to the lead, but the fight was still open between Manor, Signatech and the Chinese squad. It was around this moment that a cat almost crossed the track, which caused a brief Yellow Flag period.
Dealing with traffic is part of the game in endurance racing, and Kamui Kobayashi in the No. 7 Toyota dealt with it badly as contact sent the No. 92 Porsche with Michael Christensen to the gravel, while the Japanese car suffered damage and a puncture in the left rear corner, going straight to the garage for repairs. Same fate wrote off the chances of the No. 1 Porsche as a penalty was given due to heavy contact with the No. 86 Gulf Racing Porsche.
It took around an hour for the LMP2 fight to narrow between the No. 38 and the No. 31 and 13 from Vaillante Rebellion, but it was in the final quarter of racing that the Swiss team took their 1-2 in class, thanks to some mistakes of the No. 38, but loss of power steering in the No. 31 gave a bit of hope the No. 38 crew needed, but it wasn’t enough to take the win from The No. 31 Rebellion Oreca. In the main class, the No. 8 Toyota simply outclassed the Porsches in the final portion of the race and won without problems.
AF Corse did a 1-2 with the Ferraris No. 71 and 51 in LMGTE-Pro in what was a rather smooth race after early fights, and the No. 98 Aston Martin got a hard fought win in LMGTE-Am, overcoming the No. 61 Clearwater Ferrari which was in an incredible day.
From the titles that were still open, the No. 31 Rebellion crew took LMP2 honors in drivers and teams stats with Julien Canal and Bruno Senna, Ferrari and AF Corse got everything in LMGTE-Pro, with Alessio Pier Guidi and James Calado being the champion drivers, and in LMGTE-Am, Aston Martin with Mathias Lauda, Pedro Lamy and Paul Dalla Lana got the drivers and teams titles.
PHOTO: Toyota Motorsport
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