Rebounding from a loss at Lemans, the Toyota team wins the final race of the year and the WEC championship, too.
SHAKIR, Bahrain—November 14th. He might have lost Lemans and the lead in the World Endurance Championship just weeks ago. Still, Mike Conway, along with co-drivers Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez, regained their composure Saturday evening at the Bahrain International Circuit by taking the Eight Hours of Bahrain race. By just over a minute, they beat their Toyota rivals Sebastian Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima, and Brendon Hartley.
The victory gives the Briton and his Japanese and Argentinian teammates the world championship over their Toyota rivals by a margin of s seven points.
The race for the LMP 1 title was uneventful as Conway took the lead initially, and he and his teammates never relinquished their lead all eight hours of the event.
But while the LMP 1 competition was uneventful, the LMP 2 was nowhere near that outcome.
The Racing Team Nederland entry was third with Frits Van Eerd, Giedo Vand Der Garde Nyck de Vries driving. The Dutch squad fought off a challenge by the French Signatech Alpine squad for the last hour of the race, but the Alpine driver, Thomas Laurent, broke off the challenge with half an hour left and came into the pits.
The United Motorsports Team, led by Philip Hanson, Filipe Albuquerque, and Paul Di Resta, took the class championship back in September at Lemans.
Porsche led the GTE Pro class charge from the start as Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre finished a Porsche 1-2, fighting off early challenges.
GTE AM class had the most exciting of all eight hours as the lead changed many times. But at the end of the event, Team Project 1 with Egidio Perfetti, Larry Ten Voorde, and Jorg Burgmeister finished ahead of the Ferrari AF Corse title-winning car of Francois Perrodo, Emanuelle Collard, and Nicklas Nielsen. Finishing third was the Dempsey-Proton entry of Khaled Al Qubasi, Jaxon Evans, and Marco Holzer.
With the tough 2020 season now over, the LMP 1 and 2 cars will be eliminated to a newer class, and some teams will not return to compete next year. As many as eight races will be on next season’s calendar with the FIA’s media delegate Fiona Miller and President Gerard Neveau leaving the sport.
It all adds up to this: next year could be different.
