Bahrain Friday Notebook
Photo: Julien Delfosse/DPPI
***Toyota scored its first FIA World Endurance Championship pole position since last year’s Bahrain finale courtesy of Kamui Kobayashi, who led a front-row sweep for the Japanese manufacturer in the No. 7 GR010 Hybrid ahead of Brendon Hartley’s No. 8 car. It marks the third year in a row that Toyota has locked out the top two positions in qualifying at the circuit.
***Kobayashi scored his 18th pole — and his first since last year’s Sao Paulo race — to move ahead of Paul Dalla Lana to take second on the all-time pole list across all classes. Pedro Lamy leads the way on 21 poles.
***Finn Gehrsitz made it a double pole for Toyota-owned brands by topping LMGT3 qualifying in the No. 78 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F GT3, making Lexus only the fourth brand to claim more than one pole position in the class. The German driver joins Sarah Bovy and Eduardo Barrichello in the exclusive club of multiple LMGT3 pole winners.
***Antonio Giovinazzi described himself as satisfied with his Hyperpole effort in the championship-leading No. 51 Ferrari that put him seventh on the grid. “I think our best possible position was P5,” Giovinazzi told Sportscar365. “I did a small mistake in the last corner, but besides that it was a good qualifying. We are ahead of our main competitors for the championship, and our race pace is maybe a bit better than our qualifying. We just need to focus on ourselves and have a clean race.
***Giovinazzi added that Toyota’s strength could ultimately benefit Ferrari’s title chances, as the marque could deny Porsche and Cadillac the chance of the major points they need to overhaul the Prancing Horse. “Toyota are too strong this weekend,” he said. “Since FP1 we have seen that they are in another category, on race pace as well. But for us it’s ok. If they win, it’s good for our championship.”
***Robert Kubica admitted that 12th on the grid in the satellite No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari was about as good as he could have hoped for considering the team did not do a full qualifying simulation in Thursday evening’s second practice session.
***The Polish driver told reporters: “It’s the first time this year I didn’t make Hyperpole this year, which is nothing to be proud of, but from what we had, and especially as we didn’t do a qualifying simulation this weekend, it was a decent lap. Yesterday evening [in FP2] we used mixed compounds, so it was my first time with four medium tires with this car here, and you only get one lap [in qualifying]. But I don’t think is the reason we didn’t go to Hyperpole. We still executed a good qualifying with what we had.”
***Aston Martin driver Ross Gunn admitted he “overdrove” during Hyperpole and will therefore only line up ninth for the season finale. Aston’s Valkyries had shown strong pace throughout the event and Gunn headed a 1-2 for the British manufacturer in the opening qualifying session.
***Gunn told Sportscar365: “I made two mistakes on the first push and then couldn’t recover the tires for the second push so performance wasn’t there. A lot of that was on me just pushing a little bit too far.”
***Without those errors, Gunn reckoned a top-three result was possible. “A 46.8 [Kamui Kobayashi’s pole time] was probably a little bit too good for us if we got everything together but, nevertheless, to have the car 1-2 in quali was a nice statement to end the year,” he concluded.
***Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA driver Alex Lynn was delighted to qualify his Cadillac V-Series.R fifth, despite the car having faced a reduction in power and increase in weight for the Bahrain event amid the latest Balance of Performance revisions. In contrast, the sister No. 38 car of Earl Bamber will start 14th.
***Lynn told Sportscar365: “I think that was the maximum and I was proud of the lap. Obviously, coming off the back of three poles this year [I wanted more] – but it was good and really fun, and the car was great.”
***Lynn is now seeking to try to maintain that position in the race. “We’re good but there are some cars that are definitely better on long-run pace,” he said. “If we can stay there, that would be amazing.”
***Penske Racing President Jonathan Diuguid admitted prior to qualifying that he’d be “pleasantly surprised” if one of the Porsche Penske Motorsport entries made Hyperpole, with the No. 5 Porsche 963 of Julien Andlauer qualifying eighth, with Diuguid predicting another race of tire strategy, which sees Michelin’s Medium and Hard compounds available to Hypercar teams, and the likelihood of teams mixing and matching the compounds.
***Diuguid told Sportscar365: “I think like every year in Bahrain, tires are going to win the race. Track position is going to be pretty important for us with our raceability right now. That will be our goals, to try and figure out, how we can continue to gain and maintain track position.”
***Speaking to reporters last month at Motul Petit Le Mans, Porsche Motorsport boss Thomas Laudenbach said he has no regrets for choosing to go the LMDh route for its top-class prototype, stating that it was “the right decision at that time.”
***Laudenbach added: “If you look back, for us, it was very clear that to do so, we wanted to race in the U.S. and in the WEC. At that time you had to build a LMDh. At the same time we were very committed to finding a solution to do it with feasible budgets and it was the right decision. That probably now after nearly three years, it hasn’t worked out in any aspect, yes, that’s true. But by saying, ‘Did we take the wrong decision?’ I would say no.”
***Ferrari’s head of global endurance Antonello Coletta suggested the Italian marque is likely to go into the 2026 season with unchanged driver lineups in its two factory cars, following the recent news of James Calado’s multi-year contract renewal.
***Coletta told reporters on Friday morning: “Normally we will define the lineups after the last race, but all the Ferrari drivers are confirmed [as factory drivers]. I think the lineups will stay more or less the same, but we will see after the end of the championship. Frankly speaking, we are very happy with our drivers and this is a matter that we will consider after the race.”
***Asked specifically about the status of Alessandro Pier Guidi, whose last contract renewal was announced in January 2024, Coletta clarified that the Italian’s current deal with Ferrari will stretch into 2026. “The agreement was signed for many years,” said Coletta. “He is part of our legacy.”
***Coletta downplayed suggestions that Alessio Rovera could join the lineup of the satellite No. 83 AF Corse entry in 2026, with Rovera due to test the car in Sunday’s rookie test. “At the moment this is not on the table,” Coletta said. “But if some issue changes during the winter, why not? He is one of the most important young drivers in Ferrari.”
***JOTA Sport co-owner Sam Hignett revealed that the decision on Jenson Button’s replacement in the Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA lineup has been made. Jack Aitken is widely regarded as the favorite for the drive, meaning the Anglo-Korean driver is in line for double duties with his program in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for 2026 now confirmed.
***While Hignett wouldn’t be drawn on Aitken’s status, he did reveal that JOTA alumnus Callum Ilott was never in the frame to replace Button, despite speculation earlier in the year surrounding Ilott’s future in the NTT IndyCar Series with Prema Racing.
***Hignett explained the decision to use both Aitken and Ricky Taylor in Sunday’s rookie test was down to a desire for one driver from each of Cadillac’s WeatherTech Championship teams, Wayne Taylor Racing and Action Express Racing, to sample the JOTA machine. “It’s so they can try the WEC car, get a feel for where we are at, and improve the cross-learning between the teams,” said Hignett.
***He also revealed that rising NASCAR star Connor Zilisch, had he been eligible to drive in the test, would have driven in addition to Aitken and Taylor.
***Mathieu Jaminet has produced a special helmet to mark the end of his decade-long spell as a Porsche driver featuring a list of key achievements during his time with the Weissach marque, beginning with his Porsche Carrera Cup France title in 2015 and culminating with this year’s IMSA GTP title that he sealed together with Matt Campbell.
***Jaminet told Sportscar365: “I felt after such a journey, it was appropriate to celebrate it with a helmet. I wanted to show how thankful I am to Porsche, for the ten years I have done with them. It is a tribute to everything we have been through together.”
***Both the Porsche 963 and Cadillac V-Series.R LMDh cars are celebrating their 50th race starts this weekend, when combined between WEC and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition. Both cars, along with the BMW M Hybrid V8 and Acura ARX-06, made their debuts in the 2023 Rolex 24 at Daytona.
***Porsche, meanwhile, bows out of factory Hypercar competition with the most successful LMDh car in the WEC, with three wins, 15 podiums, three pole positions, and two fastest race laps, including the 2024 drivers’ world championship for Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Andre Lotterer.
***Since its debut in the 1000 Miles of Sebring in 2023, the factory squad’s cars have covered a total of 78,289 racing kilometers (48,646 miles) in the WEC, plus another 36,754 kms (22,837 miles) in official practice and qualifying sessions on race weekends.
***Legendary British motorsport engineer Peter Wright has died at the age of 79. Best known for his pioneering work in Formula 1 with Team Lotus, Wright later made a major contribution to sports car racing by working with FIA President Max Mosley on introducing the concept of Balance of Performance to the FIA GT Championship in 2005.
***Paying tribute to Wright, SRO Motorsports Group founder and CEO Stephane Ratel said: “It’s very sad. He was a great man both on a personal and professional level who achieved so much throughout his career. The Formula 1 achievements will naturally take center stage but his legacy as the father of BoP along with Max Mosley has likely had a much wider impact on motor racing globally. Without it there would be no GT3, GT4, Hypercars or TCR. The sport owes him a debt of gratitude.”
***The 8 Hours of Bahrain is due to begin Saturday 2 p.m. local time (6 a.m. ET) with live coverage on the WEC’s Official App as well as the full race streamed on HBO Max in the U.S. featuring the commentary team of Martin Haven, Anthony Davidson and Graham Goodwin in the booth, with Bruce Jouanny and Alex Legouix in pit lane.
***Radio Le Mans will offer live coverage as well, led by the team of John Hindhaugh, Jonny Palmer and Peter MacKay, available for free on RS1.
John Dagys & Stephen Lickorish contributed to this report
Source: Sports Car 365