日: 2022年11月10日

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WEC’S HYPERCAR TITLE SHOWDOWN
It’s tight at the top in the Hypercar class heading into the season-finale, with the Hypercar World Endurance Drivers Championship seeing two squads enter the final race equal on points.

Both the #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 – Hybrid of Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa and the #36 Alpine Elf Team A480 Gibson of André Negrão, Nicolas Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxivière are tied on 121 points, with the #7 Toyota of for Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José Maria Lopez also in contention.

The Hypercar World Endurance Manufacturers’ Championship is a little less open, with Toyota on 147 points, 26 more than from Alpine. The Japanese manufacturer needs only for one of its Hypercars to be classified in order to take the title from the sole Alpine entry. 

Alpine won at Sebring and Monza, while Toyota came out on top in Spa-Francorchamps, Le Mans and last time out in their home Fuji event. 

Historically, Toyota has been on form in Bahrain, with a seven-win tally since the start of WEC. Buemi has recorded three race wins over this period. Alpine does have a podium-finishing record with two third places accrued in 2021 at Sakhir.

FERRARI VS PORSCHE FOR FINAL FIGHT IN LMGTE PRO
After a history as long as the FIA WEC itself, time came for the final outing for the LMGTE Pro category. It’s Ferrari heading Porsche for the final outing, with both marques able to win the title, plus Corvette in the mix for race glory too.

In the GT Manufacturers FIA World Endurance Championship, it’s just one point between the contenders, with 216 points to Ferrari and 215 to Porsche.

For the GT FIA World Endurance Drivers’ Championship, the AF Corse #51 line-up of reigning champions James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi are in the plum position heading into the race, with 120 points on board. Eleven points adrift it’s the #92 Porsche 911 RSR – 19 pairing of Kévin Estre and Michael Christensen. Gianmaria Bruni is also right in the mix, with 106 points on the board in the #91 Porsche.

JOTA ON TARGET AND IN TARGET IN LMP2
The LMP2 class heads into the finale with a clear leader in the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Teams.

With an unchanged season-long line-up of Roberto Gonzalez, Antonio Felix da Costa and Will Stevens, the squad head into the 8 Hours of Bahrain with 28 points leads in both the teams’ and drivers’ championships.

For JOTA, victory this season will mean its first FIA Endurance Trophy, but there are still five other teams in with a mathematical chance of taking the title.

With 39 points available this weekend, JOTA’s 28-point lead is significant, but the team still need to finish in the season’s second-longest race.

WTCR ALL SET TO SERVE UP A BAHRAIN MIDDLE FEAST
WTCR joining WEC on the bill of the weekend held at Bahrain International Circuit is the series’ maiden event in the Middle East. It takes place at an exciting stage of the season as the penultimate round and with the battle for the title intensifying.

BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse’s Mikel Azcona leads the standings by 35 points ahead of Honda-powered ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport driver Néstor Girolami. But with 130 points still up for grabs between the events in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, the title chase is wide open, while the WTCR − FIA World Touring Car Cup for Teams is also far from settled.

Azcona, a three-time winner in 2022, has never been crowned King of WTCR but can count on the support of his team-mate Norbert Michelisz, title winner in 2019.

Mathematically, Michelisz, who is eighth in the provisional standnigs, can still prevent Azcona from being crowned. However, Girolami, third-placed Rob Huff (Zengő Motorsport) and Audi-powered Comtoyou drivers Gilles Magnus and Berthon, currently fourth and fifth respectively, stand a greater chance of preventing the Spaniard from clinching the cup.

World Endurance Championship

WEC8 Hours of BahrainWTCRWECSEASON 2022SportCircuit1SportWorld Endurance ChampionshipCircuitWECSEASON 2022WEC8 Hours of BahrainWTCR01Thursday, November 10, 2022 – 2:11pmThursday, November 10, 2022 – 2:11pm

FORUM8 Rally Japan is go with the FIA World Rally Championship stars delivering plenty of action on the Kuragaike Park superspecial stage this evening.

Eight-time world champion Sébastien Ogier was fastest in the dark in his Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 to lead the WRC season finale heading into Friday’s first full day of competition. However, Craig Breen is just 0.1s behind as 0.6s covered the top five crews at the completion of the 2.75-kilometre stage.

Ogier, with Vincent Landais co-driving for the first time, was the 10th driver to tackle the stage but made no mistakes as the factory Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT squad made a strong start to its home round of the world championship.

After completing the all-Tarmac stage, Ogier said: “It’s been an intense recce, but Vincent is doing a good job. It was already a good test tonight and so far, so good. Tomorrow the real stuff is starting.”

Breen, who was second quickest in an M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1, is also working with a new co-driver after James Fulton was recruited to replace Paul Nagle, who retired last month after making 102 WRC starts.

Ott Tänak, who is in a battle with Hyundai Shell Mobis World Rally Team team-mate Thierry Neuville to finish runner-up in the final world championship standings, gained an early advantage by outpacing the Belgian through the opening stage. The Estonian was 0.2s slower than Ogier but, crucially, 0.1s faster than Neuville, who was fourth fastest. 

Kalle Rovanperä, who became the youngest world champion in history last month aged 22 and one day, was fifth fastest for the factory Toyota team. The Finn described his run as “a normal start, nothing special”, adding: “Friday will be a really long day with some tough and narrow stages. It’s something we haven’t really experienced before so it will be a brand-new challenge.”

Behind sixth-placed Elfyn Evans, home hero Takamoto Katsuta was seventh in his Toyota and full of enthusiasm at the stage finish: “It feels very comfortable but it’s going to be a big challenge. This was a proper tricky stage and it’s going to be a big weekend. I’ll try to push.”

Gus Greensmith reported trouble seeing where he was going in the dark at the wheel of his Puma Rally1 on his way to the eighth quickest time, 2.2s slower than Ogier’s best effort. 

Dani Sordo was ninth in the third factory Hyundai i20 N Rally1 but 3.1s off the pace after a challenging run. “It’s a tricky rally and it’s special to start with this kind of stage,” said the Spaniard. “There were a lot of crests and surface changes, so it’s already a tricky stage to start the rally.”

Emil Lindholm boosted his bid to win the WRC2 title with the joint fastest time in the category for Rally2 cars. The Finn was 10th overall and 2.8s quicker than arch-rival Kajetan Kajetanowicz. Lindholm’s effort of 2m11.0s was matched by his compatriot Sami Pajari. 

WRC2 drivers Grégoire Munster and Teemu Suninen completed the stage with damage, Munster struck a kerb, while Suninen nudged an Armco barrier in his identical Hyundai i20 N Rally2. 

The stage was stopped when Japanese rallying legend Toshi Arai, a two-time Production world champion, crashed and blocked the road.

The Kuragaike Park SSS followed a spectacular start ceremony held inside the Toyota Stadium. Thousands of fans were treated to Japanese drums and a special Samurai performance. Several dignitaries were in attendance, while the many volunteers working in support of the event were celebrated with a special photocall. 

Earlier in the day, Neuville and Evans had posted the joint fastest time on the 2.80-kilometre Kuragaike Park Reverse stage to mark the first time Rally1 cars had been put through their competitive paces in Japan, which is hosting the WRC for the first time since 2010.

The provisional classification can be consulted here.

World Rally Championship

Rally JapanWRCSEASON 2022SportRallies1SportWorld Rally ChampionshipRalliesWRCSEASON 2022Rally Japan01Thursday, November 10, 2022 – 12:50pmThursday, November 10, 2022 – 12:50pm

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