Members of the Porsche Penske Motorsport Team pit crew waiting by pitlane.

11/3/2023

Thrilling opener: The 8 Hours of Bahrain Qualifying

LMGTE Am: To the top

A day ahead of the final FIA World Endurance Championship race, all teams entered the grid in their respective classes for the Qualifying. The island state boasted a comparatively pleasant 86° Fahrenheit (30° Celsius) air temperature, though it was beginning to fall in the evening hours. This left the asphalt at 95° Fahrenheit (35° Celsius) - enough to still heat up the slicks.

The LMGTE Am teams opened the Qualifying for the 8 Hours of Bahrain. After the Free Practice sessions, the Customer Racing Porsche 911 RSR lap times were in the middle of the rankings. The Iron Dames still were in a good position to win a spot on the podium in the team championship as they were on third rank and precious points would only come in for the Qualifying and the race itself.

The Qualifying for the GT vehicles went off without a hitch, but was thrilling all the same. Sarah Bovy chased the Porsche 911 RSR #85 across the track for the Iron Dames and achieved the best lap time early on in a still active grid. And even though the Belgian woman spun off the track in her third lap, she maintained her top position. Pole position for the Iron Dames.

The Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR #85 on the Bahrain International Circuit.

Hypercar: Off for a tough start

The Qualifying went quite well at first for Neel Jani in the Proton Competition Porsche 963. For a few moments, he could even hope for a pole position. But the following laps of the opposing teams caught up with him. Felix Antonio da Costa in the Hertz Team JOTA vehicle also performed well.

For Porsche Penske Motorsport, Dane Cameron stepped into the #5 and Kévin Estre steered the no.7. The latter broke off his first lap and restarted. And it went according to plan: his achieved lap times scored him the fourth starting position. Team colleague Dane Cameron completed his laps fairly quickly and was outlapped by the competition. Still, the Porsche 963 #5 would start into the 8 Hours of Bahrain from the seventh spot in the grid.

The Porsche 963 #6 chasing past flickering lights.

And with that, the Porsche Penske Motorsport Team and the Porsche Customer Racing Teams will be starting from the following positions:

Hypercar:

4. Porsche Penske Motorsport #6 (Kévin Estre, André Lotterer, Laurens Vanthoor)

7. Porsche Penske Motorsport #5 (Dane Cameron, Michael Christensen, Frédéric Makowiecki)

8. Proton Competition #99 (Neel Jani, Gianmaria Bruni, Harry Tincknell)

9. Hertz Team JOTA #38 (Felix Antonio da Costa, William Stefens, Yifei Ye)

LMGTE Am:

1. Iron Dames #85 (Sarah Bovy, Michelle Gatting, Rahel Frey)

8. Dempsey-Proton Racing #77 (Christian Ried, Mikkel Pedersen, Julien Andlauer)

10. Project 1 - AO #56 (PJ Hyett, Gunnar Jeannette, Matteo Cairoli)

11. GR Racing #86 (Michael Wainwright, Riccardo Pera, Ben Barker)

12. Iron Lynx #60 (Claudio Schiavoni, Matteo Cressoni, Alessio Picariello)

The 8 Hours of Bahrain will start on November 4, 10.00 a.m. CEST.

WEC