Bahrain Thursday Notebook

***Thursday’s disrupted Free Practice 1, which had strong winds followed by a brief rain shower, allowed for a greater carryover of slick tires into the other practice sessions according to Porsche Penske Motorsport managing director Jonathan Diuguid. Penske used the mixed-condition session primarily to get Bahrain rookies Laurens Vanthoor and Dane Cameron their first laps.

***Diuguid told Sportscar365: “We’ll have more tires for FP2 and FP3. I think people are probably going to run all of them but we’ll also going to focus on race prep too as well, which is going to include some partial tire changes and things like that. We’ll get quite high on laps on the tires and we’ll maybe do a quali sim that we normally wouldn’t do with the normal allocation, but in general it’s not going to affect our plan too much.”

***Porsche Penske also opted to run in the wet as Diuguid said there is a “slight chance” of rain for qualifying on Friday.

***The sudden arrival of rain in FP1 surprised many drivers, including Cadillac’s Earl Bamber. “That was very, very odd,” he told Sportscar365. “I’ve seen rain twice in this region with the Dubai 24 and a GP2 race that I did once.”

***Bamber was able to look at the bright side, stating that Chip Ganassi Racing got some use out of the situation: “We haven’t run that much in the rain, so for us, every time we’re learning more. We gathered some good data.”

***The Cadillac has been soft on tire degradation from the early stages of the season and is something the Kiwi is hoping to take advantage of. “I think this is the highest energy track that we go to,” said Bamber. “So I think from that point of view, hopefully it fits us and suits us. But some of our competition have made some good gains forward recently.”

***The Full Course Yellow in the latter stages of FP1 was caused by the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo stopping with an electrical issue, according to the team. The car was towed back to the paddock on a flatbed truck.

***Last month’s prototype convergence meeting ratified the adoption of so-called ‘EVO jokers’ to the LMDh platform, mirroring the re-homologation process used in LMH since its introduction in 2021. Each manufacturer is permitted to use up to five jokers through the homologation period, which is currently set to 2027 for both platforms.

***As previously revealed by Sportscar365, Porsche is working on updates to its car for next year. “We have a list, which we are discussing with IMSA and ACO,” said Porsche LMDh factory director Urs Kuratle. “All of them, we will have ready for the Daytona [IMSA]-sanctioned test in December once they get approved. Whether they get approved we have to discuss with IMSA/ACO.”

***Kuratle told reporters that Porsche is currently pursuing about a dozen updates, although they range in size: “It can be a washer here or a different kind of sensor there. It will not be visible from the outside of the car. There will not be any bodywork changes.”

***The Heart of Racing is still planning for a single-car Aston Martin Vantage LMGT3 entry next year according to team principal Ian James, who has ruled out an expansion to two cars in the WEC. Sportscar365 understands that D’station Racing is likely to field the second Aston should the British manufacturer receive entry confirmation from the WEC selection committee.

***James said that progress continues with The Heart of Racing’s recently announced Aston Martin Valkyrie LMH project, which will debut in the WEC and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in 2025.

***He told Sportscar365: “The design phase is with Aston and AMPT and Multimatic and all of those guys, so we don’t have to be that involved right now. We are involved to a certain extent but our role ramps up next year.”

***The 2024 season will “probably” be James’ final year as a driver, with the Bronze-rated pilot set to be part of Heart of Racing’s LMGT3 roster in WEC. James said the increased commitments with the Hypercar/GTP program will likely have him focusing exclusively on his team principal role.

***Bronze-rated drivers will be required to qualify their cars in LMGT3 next season, carrying over a rule from GTE-Am. Driver lineup composition is also unchanged, with each lineup requiring a Bronze driver and either a further Bronze or a Silver.

***Toyota will apply its normal rules of engagement despite both of its crews going up against each other for the Hypercar drivers’ world title. “We want the faster car in front without stupid risks,” said technical director Pascal Vasselon. “This is valid in any situation. And probably [positions are] frozen at the last pit stop.”

***D’station driver Casper Stevenson feels that his upgrade from FIA Silver to Gold status for 2024 could have implications on his future racing prospects. “It’s a career-damaging decision, which is life-changing,” said Stevenson, who said that his options have dried up for next year’s program.

***Corvette Racing sealed the GTE-Am title at Monza but there is a close battle for second in the drivers’ standings. The Iron Dames trio of Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting and Sarah Bovy are on 79 points, six ahead of AF Corse’s Davide Rigon, Francesco Castellacci and Thomas Flohr.

***The No. 33 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R is again carrying the most success ballast in GTE-Am, although its additional 25 kg load is still 5 kg less than what it had at Fuji. The Fuji class-winning No. 54 AF Corse Ferrari is carrying an extra 20 kg this weekend.

***Christian Ried says he has not yet received confirmation from Porsche that Proton Competition will be able to expand to a two-car 963 operation in WEC next year. “I have a meeting here, I don’t know yet,” Ried told Sportscar365.

***Ried also stated that there has been no contact between Proton and Jenson Button about a Hypercar drive. The 2009 Formula 1 world champion previously stated that he has a “couple of options” to join the WEC grid next year.

***Michelin Motorsport endurance racing manager Pierre Alves is keen to see how the Hypercar teams approach tire strategy in Sunday’s race. “Expect all the Hypercar teams to fit the hard compound for the start of the race, but it will be interesting to see when the ideal moment comes to switch to the medium without comprising either performance or consistency,” he said.

***All current Hypercar manufacturers will stay on for a Michelin tire test at Bahrain International Circuit next week. Cadillac was initially set to miss the session, designed to evaluate options for Michelin’s 2025 range, but the American manufacturer delayed its freight departure in order to be present.

***Cadillac team manager and strategist Stephen Mitas said: “That’s the first stage of our 2024 prep. We’re testing in Spain in December and obviously there’s a lot of work to be done in Sebring and Daytona in December and February.”

***Porsche Carrera Cup Middle East is the sole support series this weekend. The series kicks off its season with a pair of 30-minute races, one on Saturday and one on Sunday.

***Friday’s track action, which includes qualifying, starts with Free Practice 3 at 12 p.m. local time (5 a.m. EDT).

John Dagys and Davey Euwema contributed to this report