The competitors in the FIA World Endurance Championship set off at 1600 hours for the 6 Hours of Bahrain, sixth round of the season, under a scorching sun and a suffocating heat relative to that of the past few days. That, however, didn’t prevent two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winners Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer from emerging ahead of the rest of the field with the No.1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro at the finish.
The first row was a 100% Audi affair following Allan McNish’s pole position in the No.2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro. The Scot made a good start, unlike Marcel Fässler in the sister car who was passed at the first corner by a very in-form Alex Wurz at the wheel of the No.7 Toyota Racing TS030 Hybrid. The Austrian driver hadn’t finished with the German constructor’s drivers either as, on the 7th lap, he managed to pass Allan McNish to lead the race.
Unfortunately the Japanese prototype had to come into the pits while it had a firm hold on the race because the light which illuminated the car’s number on the sidepods wasn’t working. After re-entering in the pack, Nicolas Lapierre drove like crazy to catch up to the Audis, knowing that the Race Director had asked the No.2 Audi to make a stop because one of its headlights wasn’t working. Allan McNish and Tom Kristensen’s car therefore lost ground to the No.1 car, current leaders of the Drivers’ championship chase. The German-Japanese battle came to an end when the Toyota retired after Lapierre went off following contact with a slower competitor.
The victorious trio, who also stood on the top step of the podium at the 6 Hours of Silverstone, didn’t have any further issues to the end, apart from a nose change, while the No.2 car had to be once again content with second place after losing too much time in the pits. The misfortune of some contributing to the happiness of others, Strakka Racing climbed onto the third step of the podium of the overall race winners after Toyota Racing’s retirement.
The No.21 HPD-Honda, driven by Jonny Kane, Nick Leventis and Danny Watts was holding a solid fourth place thanks to a faultless performance by Watts until the No.12 Rebellion Racing Lola-Toyota had problems. They had to cede their long-held fourth place to the 100% British team who claimed third overall and first among the LMP1 Privateers, but Strakka were unable to dislodge Rebellion Racing from first place in the standings for the LMP1 Endurance Trophy.
In LMP2, the trio of Pierre Kaffer, Nicolas Minassian and Luis Perez-Companc in the No.49 Pecom Racing Oreca 03-Nissan took their first victory in the World Championship. It was a clear, flawless win, two laps ahead of the No.23 Signatech Nissan Oreca 03-Nissan, in the hands of Jordan Tresson, Olivier Lombard and Franck Mailleux, and the No.44 Starworks Motorsports HPD-Honda who remain leaders in the LMP2 Championship. Stéphane Sarrazin, Tom Kimber-Smith and Enzo Potolicchio were ahead at the start of the fifth hour, but lost four minutes in the pits following a technical problem, leaving the way free for the Argentinian Pecom Racing team and the French Signatech Nissan squad, both of whom have had bad luck since the beginning of the year.
While Audi carried off the LMP1 Constructors’ title at the 6 Hours of Silverstone, there’s still all to play for in the Drivers’ classification, the Audi No.1 trio currently holding a lead of 13.5 points over the No.2 pairing. Also to be settled is the LMP1 Privateers Trophy and that of the LMP2 entrants. Can the Japanese round, the 6 Hours of Fuji which takes place on 14th October, decide these, or do we have to wait until the final race of the season in Shanghai on 28th October?
CLICK HERE for the results from the Race
CLICK HERE for the Championship Classification after Round 6
Marcel Fässler - nr1 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18 e-tron quattro: "It’s great that we won the race. We made no mistakes. The pit stops were good too. We had to change the car’s nose once because we’d lost an aerodynamic component. Because we had less downforce and more understeer as a result, we changed the front bodywork for safety reasons. The race went a bit in our direction because the Toyota, and unfortunately our team-mates too, had various problems."
André Lotterer - nr1 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18 e-tron quattro: "First and second place is a top result for Audi. In the beginning it wasn’t an easy race for me. I drove a double stint and managed to catch up with the Toyota again. I was able to close the gap up to twelve seconds but was very exhausted then. But we exerted pressure. Maybe our rivals took a higher risk as a result and in the end retired due to a mistake. It went superbly. A brilliant performance by the team and by my team-mates."
Benoît Tréluyer - nr1 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18 e-tron quattro: "That was a pretty tough race - even a bit tougher than we’d expected. In the first phase, André drove two consecutive stints but that was too difficult and he was hardly able to really concentrate through to the end. That’s why afterwards we only drove single stints. Our pace was good. We lost a small part on the front end which caused the car to understeer. That’s why we changed the front bodywork to be on the safe side. Our car was fantastic and the mechanics did a perfect job."
Tom Kristensen - nr2 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18 e-tron quattro: "An outstanding one-two result in the desert in really tough conditions. It was a big challenge for our competitors and for us. Car number 1 delivered a perfect performance - congratulations on that. Unfortunately, we had to change the hood three times and suffered a puncture. Before I got into the car we were already one lap behind. Considering this, second place is a good result. And after all, we’re the best driver squad to finish with only two drivers! The mechanics did a fantastic job of converting the ultra into the e-tron quattro as well during the event."
Allan McNish - nr2 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18 e-tron quattro: "Congratulations to Audi on positions one and two in Bahrain. That was a hot race not only with respect to the temperatures. In the beginning, we had a temperature problem on the rear brakes. In addition, we lost a lot of time due to changing the front body parts. But in the end we drove good times again but the gap to the sister car was already too large. Of course that’s a bit disappointing when you start from pole. Now we’re concentrating on Japan."
Nick Leventis - nr21 Strakka Racing HPD ARX 03a-Honda: “Our strategy of single-stinting certainly gave us the edge today and our car ran perfectly. It’s been an incredible team effort and I’m immensely proud of every member of the team for all their hard work in achieving this result. My stint was unfortunately cut short because of pain in my leg – it’s a problem we’ve suffered with at times this year, I think it’s belt-related, and this time I fell foul of it. It was the most painful driving stint I’ve ever done in a racing car. After a short while I had no feeling in my right foot at all; it was okay when I was pressing down on full throttle, but I had no sensation in my lower right leg, so regulating movement was impossible. I knew I’d need help getting out of the car and that I’d struggle helping Danny get strapped in, and the pit stop ended up being a catalogue of errors! We lost forty seconds but luckily it all came good in the end.”
Danny Watts - nr21 Strakka Racing HPD ARX 03a-Honda: “It’s a fantastic achievement to finish third overall, but of course we weren’t really racing the works Audis and Toyota and we were very focused on trying to win the Privateers’ battle. We’re a small team, all the guys put in a huge amount of work to make sure the car is fast and reliable and the conditions this week have been extremely difficult, not just for the drivers, but also for all the team members working on the car. They deserve all the credit for this race result and it will give us the confidence to go to Japan knowing exactly what dedication and hard work can actually achieve.”
Jonny Kane - nr21 Strakka Racing HPD ARX 03a-Honda: “Our pace has been really good all season, the competition in the P1 Privateers’ category is very close and this time we came out on top. We’ve had a good car underneath us all season, and it’s a fantastic achievement to not only win the Privateers’ award, but to also stand on the third step of the overall podium – it just shows what a great team effort this was. I had a little coming together with the #7 Toyota. Its transponder wasn’t working, so we didn’t know it was following me, but where it tried to overtake I don’t really think was the right place because they have a massive straight-line speed advantage over us and could have safely overtaken on a straight. At the end of the day it was just a racing incident, but it gave us a puncture, damaged a side pod and upset the balance of the car so it was sliding about a lot. Luckily we were able to continue at a fairly good pace and finish the race.”
Luis Perez Companc - nr49 Pecom Racing Oreca 03 – Nissan: “We have a very good car, a very good team and finally we’ve achieved victory. At the start of the year we always had some trouble, we’d be having a good race and then something would happen. By mid season we started to have some good races, some podiums and now we have a win. For the team this is very important, they do a great job and we now have a golden package for the last two races of the season.”
Pierre Kaffer - nr49 Pecom Racing Oreca 03 – Nissan: “LMP2 racing is very close and if you look around you need to be very precise and our Pecom crew they did every pitstop perfectly, we didn’t lose anytime. Luis and Nicolas did a perfect job also and the key to this victory was the fact we didn’t have any problems. It has been a difficult season so today was a good day for us, it was a great battle and I think we deserve it.”
Nicolas Minassian - nr49 Pecom Racing Oreca 03 – Nissan: “The safety car didn’t help us, but we proved this weekend we had the fastest car. We didn’t win by luck, we were the best today, the drivers, the crew, everyone; it is good to win like this, it wasn’t given to us, we made it ourselves. We made a big step in this race and we are in a good position to push hard in Japan.”
Fiona Miller
Photo: SAKHIR (BAHRAIN), BAHRAIN INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT, 6 HOURS OF BAHRAIN, SATURDAY 29TH SEPTEMBER 2012, RACE. The winning No.1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro.
