Connect with us

FIA WEC

Giovinazzi Out Front After Drama-Filled Opening Hour in Bahrain

Frantic start to FIA World Endurance Championship title-decider in Bahrain…

Photo: Toyota

The No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 499P of Antonio Giovinazzi led with one hour completed in an incident-filled start to the 8 Hours of Bahrain that included drama for the world championship-leading No. 6 Penske Porsche 963.

Giovinazzi held a ten-plus second gap over the No. 12 Hertz Team JOTA Porsche of Will Stevens, who slotted into second with a move around the No. 99 Proton Competition entry of Julien Andlauer late in the opening hour.

It came prior to the No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid of Mike Conway passing the Frenchman for third, with Andlauer appearing to struggle at the close of his opening stint.

The pole-sitting No. 8 Toyota of Sebastien Buemi led from the start although initially dropped to seventh on Lap 9 after getting hit by the No. 82 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Hiroshi Koizumi.

Koizumi received a five-second stop-and-hold penalty for incident responsibility.

The incident put the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari into the lead after a frantic start for Laurens Vanthoor, who had contact between the No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari of Miguel Molina and an Alpine A424 in Turn 4 that sent the Belgian down the running order.

Vanthoor, who started sixth, was 12th at the end of the opening hour.

A handful of cars, including the No. 50 Ferrari, had made their routine first stops just prior to the top of the hour.

LMGT3 was paced for much of the hour by the pair of United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3s, which saw class pole-sitter Josh Caygill out ahead of teammate James Cottingham.

However, it was the No. 81 TF Sport Corvette of Charlie Eastwood that was credited with the lead at the one-hour mark, ahead of Joel Sturm’s No. 92 Manthey PureRxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R in second.

There was drama for the No. 78 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F GT3 of Arnold Robin, who appeared to have a rear suspension issue and was taken to the garage for repair.

It was the only car to face significant issues in the race so far.

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John

Click to comment
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

More in FIA WEC