In a very rich vein of form at present is Swiss ace Neel Jani in the #14 Porsche 919 Hybrid. The Porsche Team driver has been instrumental in the last two pole positions in the FIA World Endurance Championship and will start this afternoons 6 Hours of Bahrain at the head of the field. The 30 year old was confident that the race today should turn out to be another classic duel as he and his team mates Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb endeavour to score a debut FIA WEC LMP1-H win for Porsche.
“Pole position is nice to have and has some prestige for sure but we know that the big challenge is the race today,” he said. “We have improved the car since china in respect of helping the tyres last longer which will again be crucial here. We are not sure if it will be enough to race the Toyotas over a full six hours but if we can stay somewhere in the window then we can be there and make life difficult for them with the pressure.”
Jani is revelling in his new life as factory Porsche driver in the FIA WEC and is impressed by the progress made by the team in 2014.
“Our hybrid systems are super and it has been fascinating as a driver to be part of the first year of this new technology. The challenge for us is on the mechanical side as apart from here at Bahrain we have no hard data for set-up and development. This is coming with every lap and we are catching up. The step forwards though are there for everyone to see now and we are real contenders. Next year there will be more so the real good times are not too far away for us I am sure.”
Jani is convinced that although Toyota have one hand on the 2014 titles’ and may be looking to collect the points necessary to confirm them this weekend, they will still be striving to score a third consecutive race win at Bahrain.
“For sure Toyota is not going to give a race win to anyone so we have to fight, fight, fight as usual,” he says. “They maybe will not race at ‘high risk’ and there could be some management but I think they are professional to make these calls. We will have big pressure on them and who knows how they respond if we are in that window to go for a win. We will see today!”
As ever there are so many questions marks and intrigue throughout the 27 car field as they get ready to race through daylight, dusk and under the stars at Bahrain International Circuit today.
Watch all the action from 15.00 local time via the official FIA WEC App here - http://www.fiawec.com/app.html
Sam Smith
