8 Hours of Bahrain Finale - 3 Up 3 Down For Hypercar, LMGT3
After those eight hours of racing, all we can say is...Bravo WEC. BRA-VO. This truly is the Golden Age of Endurance Racing.
An unbelievable Eight Hours of Bahrain capped off a sensational 2024 WEC season and in the aftermath we're already counting down to the days to February 28 for the Qatar 1812 km, yet before we get too far ahead of ourselves we need to cover the 3 Up 3 Down race recap and give props to the drivers and teams that earned their championship trophies, or to highlight the ones that will be relieved to turn the page on 2024 and look ahead to 2025.
Hypercar 3 Up
No. 8 Toyota Gazoo Racing -
An absolute stunner in the last hour of the action, there's no other way to put it. TGR managed to pull off exactly what they needed to steal away the manufacturers' title from Porsche Penske even after the No. 7 was retired due to a myriad of issues. The brain power at TGR absolutely nailed the race strategy as they were set up on fresher tires in the last 45 minutes to give Sebastian Buemi the ability to hunt down Matt Campbell and pass him (with a little bumpin') on the inside. There was no penalty that came of the move and in the aftermath he pulled away into the desert night eventually building a 29-second lead to close things out. It's elation for Toyota and a huge disappointment for Porsche as they miss out on being champions by just two points.
No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport -
Although they missed out on the manufacturers' title, Porsche Penske Motorsport didn't fumble the bag with the drivers' title. It was a wildly inconsistent day for the No. 6 and an ultimate P10 finish, but none of that mattered because at the end of the day because the other two championship contenders had an even worse day on the track. The trio of Kévin Estre, André Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor posted wins at Qatar and Fuji to go along with three other P2 finishes, giving them a ton of breathing room to play with as the eight hours of racing unfolded. There was a lot of sloppiness on the track throughout and I'd imagine that no one in the car would say that it was their best display ever, but again, the cushion coupled with the misfortune of the No. 7 and the No. 51 hands Porsche Penske their first title in the new Hypercar era.
No. 93 Peugeot
That's why we wait until AFTER post-race technical inspection to post the 3 Up 3 Down!! In what could be a program-saving turn of events, the No. 93 Peugeot 9x8 was elevated to their first podium in 2024 after the No. 51 was stripped of their P3 finish due to a tire-allocation penalty. For most of the day both the No. 93 and No. 94 struggled to fight inside the points, which wasn't helped by their poor qualifying time slotting them P15 and P18 - dead last for the No. 93. Their day seemed sunk once the No. 94 died on the track with just under two hours remaining, and if you were like me, I was waiting for the No. 93 to follow right behind with some sort of bastardized issue wiping out the vibes. Instead, the No. 93 managed to claw their way back through the last pit stop cycle and found themselves in P1 and then ultimately to P3 after the cars shuffled about on track. Inside the last 45 minutes of action Mikkel Jensen fought for that P3 finish before being overtaken by the No. 51 with just 14 minutes to go. Well, in the aftermath, NOT SO FAST MY FRIEND! The trio of Jensen, Nico Muller and Jean-Éric Vergne and all of the Peugeot fans were lamenting missing out on the podium, yet we all still felt really good about the 9x8 digging REAL deep to challenge inside the top five. Well, due to the shenanigans of Ferrari we have that P3 finish in the bag and Peugeot FINALLY has something good to build on as the program turns the page to a very important 2025 season.
Alpine Endurance Team -
It's amazing how well Alpine closed out their first season in the Hypercar class to the tune of three-straight double-points finishes for the Nos. 35 and 36 at COTA, Fuji and Bahrain. From how things started to where they ended with yesterday's P4 finish for the No. 35 and P9 finish for the No. 36, Alpine can feel real good about laying legitimate groundwork for a better 2025. For the standings they finished fourth in the Manufacturers' race with 70 points, best of the middle-pack teams. Things were rocky to begin the year, lowlighted by their double-retirement at Le Mans, but they came on strong to end the season and have great vibes heading into next season.
Honorable Mention - No. 15 BMW M Team WRT
Running strong all throughout the eight hours of action, the No. 15 avoided the pitfall that befell the sister car to battle and eventually claim a P5 finish. For four solid hours both BMWs were running near the top of the pack, yet the No. 20 was garaged with 4:14 to go on the clock and ultimately retired. There was a brief moment where both BMWs were inside the top-five and I won't lie, I had visions of a double-podium finish on the mind. About 20 minutes after having that thought the No. 20 went behind the wall, good call by me.
Hypercar 3 Down
No. 5 Porsche Penske Motorsport -
Right from the jump on the opening lap things didn't go well for the factory Porsches, and although the No. 6 claimed the Drivers' championship, you just know PPM are lamenting the fact that they missed out on the Manufacturers' title by just two points to their rival. Toyota deserves all the credit in the world for taking everyone's best shot in 2024 and still managing to defend their reign at the top for the sixth-straight season. The No. 5 was running P1 inside the last hour of the action and it looked like the double-championship finish was a foregone conclusion. But Buemi was equipped with fresher tires in the final stint and once he got around Matt Campbell with a bit of a nudge around the corner there was no looking back. The 963 has been amazing through the first two years of its existence, yet Toyota still lays claim atop Prototype Mountain.
No. 51 Ferrari AF Corse -
We had to change up a lot with editing this recap following Ferrari's mind-numbing penalty. A P2 finish wiped off the board due to - I mean how does this even happen?? - 'exceeding tire allocation.' WHAT, DID THEY JUST FIND EXTRA TIRES LYING AROUND AND DECIDED TO THROW THEM ON THE CAR?? Did someone forget to mark the highlighter pen with the correct number on said tires? Something like that, as Ferrari explained that the mistake happened when the team mixed together tires from qualifying and the race, or something. The blunder cost Ferrari dearly and sees the 2023 Le Mans winners close out the season with results of RET/RET/P14.
No. 63 Lamborghini Iron Lynx -
With so much uncertainty surrounding the future of the SC63 we were hoping for a performance that Lamborghini could use as baseline to build on for next season. Instead, the No. 63 was racing around the bottom of the running order for much of the eight hours and ultimately succumbed to a retirement after 200 laps completed. The DNF serves as their third of the season and second in a row, and now the attention and speculation turns to the Iron Lynx program and the myriad of changes that are rumoured to be coming.
LMGT3 3 Up -
TF Sport No. 81 and 82
Without a doubt the best result we've seen the new Corvette lock down in the WEC. The final two-plus hours were an absolute boxing match between the GT cars inside the top 10 as multiple lead changes took place with plenty of argy-bargy going down. Both Vettes, both Vista AF Corse Ferraris, the Heart of Racing, the Iron Dames and your Uncle Joey down the block were all battling for position, and at times the two cars were yo-yoing up and down the running order as far down as outside the points. Yet through it all they continued to rebound back with great race pace and both TF Sport machines navigated the grid to ultimately acquire the double-podium finish. AMERICA.
No. 55 Vista AF Corse -
A sneaky-consistent season was wrapped up with a race victory for the No. 55, and the win vaulted the crew up the table to snatch away a third-place finish in the LMGT3 standings from Team WRT. We should've seen it coming as the No. 55 and the two Manthey Porsches were the only GT cars to not experience a race retirement all season, and the crew of Simon Mann, François Heriau and Alessio Rovera scored a points finish in seven of the eight rounds. Someone had to come out on the other side of all the mayhem that went down in the final stages of the race, and it was the No. 55.
No. 60 Iron Lynx -
A super surprising result from a car that has struggled for a majority of the season. The Iron Lynx were on a stretch of four-straight non-points finishes before claiming P4 out of nowhere, although they were certainly aided by teams ahead of them faltering (more on that below). Through all of the uncertainty that's forecasted for the Iron Lynx racing program, securing a top-five finish in the season finale is a strong way to close out the year when not a whole lot went right for the No. 60 gang.
LMGT3 3 Down
No. 85 Iron Dames -
Just a brutal penalty under a late VSC from Rahel Frey that dropped the Dames from the front of the pack down to P12 with just over an hour to go. The Dames had fought their way to the front and were firmly in the muck going up against the United McLaren's, the Heart of Racing, both Ferrari's, and both Corvette's, and the battles made for some great viewing, but the drive-through penalty was an absolute killer and ended their ability to compete for a race win, ultimately finding a P10 finish. In keeping with the insane run of bad luck and ill-timed mistakes, it might just be the last cruel hand dealt to the Iron Ladies as they prepare to move on from Lamborghini and back to Porsche after just one season.
No. 77 and No. 88 Proton Fords -
It was a rough go of things for both Mustang GT3s as both succumbed to seemingly the same fate, a blown engine that left them dead on the side of the track at different points of the race. With 2:34 remaining on the clock the No. 88 bit the dust while the No. 77 blew out with 1:15 remaining. For most of the day the two cars ran in the bottom half of the LMGT3 table, and the retirement wraps up a mostly-down season for both cars that was punctuated by an absolute outlier of events in the form of the No. 88s P3 finish at Le Mans. Otherwise, the No. 88 finished 13th in the final standings, and the No. 77 settles down at 17th.
No. 78 and No. 87 Akkodis -
The only other team that was worse off than the Fords were the Akkodis Lexuses. The No. 78 was retired after trying to power through rear suspension damage, while the No. 87 was running P18 for much of the race and nearly found the finish line but finally died on the side of the track with 1:14 remaining on the clock. The No. 78 finishes the season P16 with only 19 points scored, while the No. 87 managed to score just eight points. Will Akkodis return for a second season with the RC F in the last year of the car's life cycle? Who knows, but if they do ideally they can find better results.
(photo via toyotagazooracing.com)
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