The 6 Hours of Bahrain on Saturday evening will be the 50^th race since March 2012 when the new era of endurance racing began in the USA with the 12 Hours of Sebring.

Out of the 449 drivers who have taken part since the first race, only three can claim to be ever-present in the WEC. 

Darren Turner (Aston Martin Racing), Christian Ried (Dempsey - Proton Racing) and Andre Lotterer (Porsche LMP1 Team) have competed in all of the 49 races held before this weekend in Bahrain.  They will all line up on the grid to complete the magic 50 race starts on Saturday.

Of the victors, Porsche and Audi are tied on 17 wins apiece, so the Weissach marque could become the most successful manufacturer should they take a farewell victory this weekend.

In the LMGTE category Aston Martin are kings as they have notched up a remarkable 36 class wins (14 in PRO and 22 in AM), with Ferrari just two behind with 34 successes. 

The LMP2 class sees G-Drive Racing as the most successful team with 19 victories.

449 drivers have taken part in WEC races with 40 countries represented. France has had the most drivers compete in the 49 WEC races with 93 racing under the Tricolor.

The next chapter will begin with the FIA WEC Super Season in 2018-19, with race number 51 being held in Belgium at Spa-Francorchamps in May 2018.

This time it was the no8 Toyota TS050 which set the fastest lap thanks to Kazuki Nakajima’s 1m40.095 lap time, which was 2.2 seconds quicker than the best time in the earlier session and 0.598s ahead of the no7 TS050 with Jose Maria Lopez posting a 1m40.693. 

The two Porsche 919s were only just behind the no7 Toyota with the no2 919 of Brendon Hartley setting a 1m40.773, just 0.08s behind the second placed TS050, with the no1 car less than a tenth behind their teammates.

In the LMGTE Pro class it was an Aston Martin 1-2 in the final race weekend for the Vantage V8.  The 24 Hours of Le Mans winning no97 Vantage was the quicker of the two cars with Darren Turner setting a 1n57.014, 0.406s ahead of their Danish teammates in the no95 car and 1.5 seconds quicker than the best time set in FP1. 

It was Ferrari 3^rd and 4^thfastest with no71 ahead of the championship leading no51 F488 with lap times of 1m57.925 and 1m58.366 respectively.

After finishing last in FP1 the championship leading no31 Vaillante Rebellion Oreca went quickest in FP2 with Bruno Senna posting a 1m47.664, 0.5 seconds ahead of their teammates in the no13 Oreca, with Nelson Piquet Jr setting a 1m48.238. 

Championship challengers in the no38 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca were third quickest, with Thomas Laurent posting a 1m49.022 lap, 1.5 seconds adrift of the best time set by their only rivals for the 2017 LMP2 title.

The no66 Clearwater Racing Ferrari was the quickest of the five LMGTE Am cars with Matt Griffin getting a good run to set a 1m59.773, 0.432s ahead of the no54 Spirit of Race F488 with Francesco Castellacci posting the best time.

The no98 Aston Marin Racing Vantage was third fastest with Pedro Lamy once again quickest of the three drivers with a 2m00.525, 0.7s behind the leading Ferrari.

The third and final Free Practice session of the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship will take place tomorrow morning.  The 60-minute session is due to get underway at 11:20 local / 09:20 CET.

Jani and Tandy’s combined average time was a 1m39.383, 0.263s ahead of the no7 Toyota TS050 of Mike Conway and Jose-Maria Lopez, which had held the top spot for most of the session until Tandy jumped back into the car to take the honour of starting at the head of tomorrow’s 6 Hours of Bahrain grid.

The no2 Porsche was third fastest, with the 2017 world champions Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard finishing the session 0.6 seconds behind their teammates and 0.7 seconds ahead of the no8 Toyota of Kazuki Nakajima and Anthony Davidson.

Ferrari Take Final Pole of 2017

The no71 F488 of Sam Bird and Davide Rigon took the final pole position of the 2017 season in Bahrain, their fourth pole of the year.

The average lap time of 1m56.033 was three tenths quicker than the second fastest GTE car, the no97 Aston Martin Racing Vantage and is a new qualifying lap record at Bahrain for the LMGTE category, beating the previous best by 0.9 seconds.

Of the three main contenders for the FIA World Endurance GT Drivers Championship title, the no67 Ford GT was top, with Harry Tincknell and Andy Priaulx taking third place of the GTE grid, 0.430s behind the leading Ferrari. 

The championship leading no51 Ferrari F488 of James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi was fourth quickest, the no91 Porsche GT Team 911 RSR of Fred Makowiecki and Richard Lietz was 6^th fastest behind the no95 Aston Martin Racing Vantage of outgoing champions Nicky Thiim and Marco Sorensen.

LMP2: Signatech Alpine Secure Extra Point for Outside Title Chance

The no36 Signatech Alpine of Gustavo Menezes and André Negrão took the final championship point for pole position in the 2017 season with an average lap time of 1m47.227, which closes the gap slightly to the leading no31 Vaillante Rebellion Oreca. 

The main championship contenders in the title race, the no38 Jackie Chan DC Racing was second fastest, with Ho Pin Tung and Thomas Laurent were +0.385s behind the leading car but more importantly were ahead of the no31 Vaillante Rebellion Oreca of Bruno Senna and Julien Canal, with Canal posting a last gap effort to claim 3^rd on the grid, just 0.109s behind their rivals.

Aston Martin Racing on GTE Am Pole for Seventh Time in 2017

The no98 Aston Martin Vantage of Pedro Lamy and Paul Dalla Lana took their seventh pole of the 2017 season, having secured the fastest qualifying time in every race except for Mexico and Japan. 

The Portuguese-Canada duo posted a 2m00.111 average lap, finishing 0.174s ahead of the no61 Clearwater Racing Ferrari of Weng Sun Mok and Matt Griffin, who in turn were 0.110s ahead of the no77 Demspey-Proton Racing Porsche.

The no86 Gulf Racing Porsche took no part in qualifying as the mechanics were still working to repair the damage caused by the small engine bay fire in Free Practice 3 earlier in the day.

The Bapco 6 Hours of Bahrain will take place on Saturday 18 November at 16h00 (local) / 14h00 CET.

A hat-trick of FIA World Endurance Championship Drivers’ and Teams’ titles since 2015 has underlined a stellar campaign for the LMP1 Hybrid design and all of its notable achievements over the last four seasons.

Having gone through an exhaustive testing and development programme in 2012 and 2013, the first Porsche factory prototype campaign since 1998 began in 2014.   By the end of the first season a debut victory was forthcoming at Interlagos for Neel Jani, Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb.

The 2015 season saw a brace of victories as Mark Webber, Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard swept all before them, with wins at Nürburgring, COTA, Fuji and Shanghai.

The success continued in 2016 as the other trio of Porsche drivers took their turn in the limelight. Jani, Lieb and Dumas took an unforgettable win in the dying moments at Le Mans and then sealed the Drivers title towards the end of the season.

The final successes came this season with a third straight Le Mans triumph for Porsche with Hartley, Bernhard and their new teammate and 2015 Le Mans winner, Earl Bamber at the wheel. The Drivers’ and Teams’ titles were also claimed with a race to spare at Shanghai earlier this month.

Porsche brought a clinical and professional approach to the Porsche 919 Hybrid program and it is one which showcased ground-breaking technology. 

Above all though, the Porsche 919 Hybrid brought some tremendous battles with Audi and Toyota; fights that are sure to go down in history as among the most entertaining and thrilling of any sportscar era.

On Saturday evening it may be farewell to Porsche LMP1, but let’s not forget that Porsche will remain with the WEC as one of the contenders in the equally competitive GT category.