Words and Photos by Gavin Oliva
It's round four of the FIA WEC, and this time the series takes us to the desert island of Bahrain. The festivities kicked off with a grand barbeque held in the paddock on the first night that included a ton of food, drinks, and entertainment.
At our last stop in Shanghai, the Rebellion team made FIA World Endurance Championship history by becoming the first privateer team to take the overall win. Team Rebellion was in high spirits coming into this next race in Bahrain and perhaps the favorites after taking first place yet again in qualifying and taking pole position. Unfortunately, it was not to be with a string of trouble plaguing the Rebellion team throughout the race that started with being sent into a spin by Robertson in the #6 Ginetta on turn #2 of the first lap. The mishap dropped the Rebellion car to the back of the pack from which they were never able to recover.
Toyota dominated the rest of the race, never looking back. Conway, Kobayashi, and Lopez took the top LMP1 and overall honors in their Gazoo Racing #7 car followed by their #8 sister car a lap behind for a 1, 2 victory.
The win in the LMP2 class went to the United Autosports #22 car driven by Hanson, Albuquerque, and Di Resta. Thim's and Sorenson in the Aston Martin #95 car claim the win in the LMGTE-Pro class. While last but not least, Team Project 1 #57, Porsche drove to LMGTE-AM class victory by Keating, Ten Voorde, and Bleekemolen.
In other news - Gérard Neveu, CEO of the WEC, went over the 2020 -2021 season provisional calendar during the pre-race press conference. Many changes made to include the elimination of Shanghai and two new stops added in Monza, Italy, and Kyalami, South Africa. We'll also be returning to Bahrain. The rest of the stops in Silvertone, Fuji, Spa, Le Mans, and Sebring remain on the calendar.
That wraps up 2019 for the WEC, but stay tuned. We'll be coming to you from Texas at COTA in a few months in February 2020.