Toyota, Ferrari Handed BoP Boost for Bahrain

Toyota and Ferrari have both been handed Balance of Performance breaks as they bid to wrest the FIA World Endurance Championship title away from Porsche in this weekend’s title-decider in Bahrain.

According to the BoP bulletin published by the FIA, the Toyota GR010 Hybrid and the Ferrari 499P will go into the 8 Hours of Bahrain with lower minimum weight and higher maximum power than they had for the previous round at Fuji in September.

Toyota has been given the biggest weight break of all eight Hypercar manufacturers heading to Bahrain at 5 kg, bringing the GR010 down to 1065 kg, although this still makes the Japanese car the heaviest in the field.

Its power has been increased by 6kW to 499kW, including a 4.2 percent Power Gain above 250km/h (155.3 mph), a 1.2 percent reduction compared to Fuji.

Ferrari meanwhile has dropped 2 kg to a minimum weight of 1053 kg, while also receiving a 10KW power boost to 510kW, albeit with a -2.2 percent Power Gain.

The changes follow a difficult race at Fuji for both manufacturers, with Ferrari taking a best finish of ninth and Toyota scoring just a single point for tenth on home turf.

Porsche, which leads both the drivers’ and manufacturers’ title races going into Bahrain, has been handed the largest weight increase in the Hypercar field, with its 963 now set to run at 1056 kg, up by 7 kg compared to Fuji.

This is partially offset by a 2kW increase in power, bringing the German car to 514kW.

Also with weight increases for Bahrain are the Alpine A424 (+4 kg/1046 kg), Cadillac V-Series.R (+2 kg/1038 kg) and Peugeot 9X8 (+1 kg/1031 kg), while the BMW M Hybrid V8 has been reduced by 1 kg to 1036 kg.

Only the Lamborghini SC63’s weight remains unchanged at 1030 kg, the lowest figure allowed by the regulations.

The Lamborghini has taken the biggest loss in power compared to Fuji with a 5kW reduction, with Cadillac losing 3kW and BMW and Alpine 1kW each. Peugeot’s maximum power has gone up by 7kW to the upper limit of 520kW.

Weight Penalties for Porsche, Aston Martin in LMGT3

Porsche and Aston Martin have been penalized in the latest BoP released for the LMGT3 class, with both marques receiving weight increases for Bahrain.

Aston Martin’s Vantage GT3 Evo is the worst-affected of the nine cars in the class, with an increase of base weight to 1355 kg, up by 10 kg from Fuji, twinned with a two percent reduction in maximum power.

The Heart of Racing Aston Martin has an additional 15 kg success penalty from its victory at the Circuit of the Americas, and will therefore run at 1370 kg.

Meanwhile, the Porsche 911 GT3 R has seen its base weight upped by 5 kg to 1350 kg, which means that the title-winning No. 92 Manthey PureRxcing car will be the heaviest car in the field at 1385 kg when success ballast is applied.

However, the Porsche is one of four LMGT3 marques to see no change in its power level compared to Fuji, along with Ford, Lamborghini and Lexus.

Three cars have seen one percent increases since the last race, namely the BMW M4 GT3, Ferrari 296 GT3 and McLaren 720S GT3 Evo, while the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R has been given a one percent reduction.

Besides the Aston Martin and Porsche, all of the other cars in LMGT3 will run at an unchanged minimum weight before success ballast is applied.