Bahrain Wednesday Notebook

***The FIA World Endurance Championship season will conclude with Saturday’s 8 Hours of Bahrain, which will be contested by the regular cast of 36 full-season entries.

***In Hypercar, both Porsche Penske Motorsport and Heart of Racing Team are back to full strength after contesting the previous race at Fuji with two-driver lineups. WEC rookie Laurin Heinrich joins the lineup of the No. 5 Porsche 963, while Matt Campbell returns to the lineup of the sister No. 6 car. Ross Gunn and Ross De Angelis meanwhile return the cockpits of the No. 007 and No. 009 Aston Martin Valkyries, respectively.

***The only other change to the entry list from the previous race at Fuji is the arrival of Theo Pourchaire in the No. 94 Peugeot 9X8 in place of Stoffel Vandoorne. The fact Vandoorne is missing the Bahrain owing to his initial plans to leave the team in favor of a switch to Genesis Magma Racing that later fell apart.

***As announced by Peugeot on Tuesday, Vandoorne is now staying at the team in 2026, with Mathieu Jaminet emerging as the favorite to take over the vacancy at Genesis.

***Despite heading into this weekend with only two test sessions at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in the Porsche 963, Penske Racing President Jonathan Diuguid has a “high level of confidence” that Heinrich will rise to the occasion in the No. 5 entry in what will mark the 24-year-old German’s prototype racing debut. Heinrich replaces Michael Christensen, who has been absent from the squad since the last round at Fuji.

***Diuguid said: “An opportunity arose to give Laurin a race drive before the end of the year and we took it. We have all the highest confidence in the world. A large portion of the PPM driver lineup is a direct product of a strong GT background. We’ve had success with that model and process before. Even if it was just two tests, he did show strong at these two tests and has been putting in significant amount of work in the simulator as well to make sure he’s prepared.”

***Ferrari drivers James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi take a lead of 13 points into Saturday’s finale, in which 38 points are on offer for the winning crew. It means that second place would be enough to guarantee them the crown, even if the No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari of Robert Kubica, Phil Hanson and Yifei Ye wins the race from pole.

***The only two other driver crews in mathematical contention for the championship are Porsche duo Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor, who are 21 points behind and so cannot win the title if the No. 51 Ferrari finishes on the podium, and Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA drivers Alex Lynn, Will Stevens and Norman Nato, who would be ruled out if the No. 51 car is in the top eight on Saturday.

***Ferrari’s advantage in the manufacturers’ title race is larger, with the Prancing Horse 39 points clear of nearest rival Porsche with 66 up for grabs this weekend. It means that a second-place finish for either works car (or third if one of the top two finishers is the No. 83 AF Corse car) would be enough to seal the deal. Cadillac meanwhile is still barely in contention, 61 points behind Ferrari.

***In LMGT3, the title will be fought between three crews: Ryan Hardwick, Richard Lietz and Riccardo Pera in the No. 92 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R; Francois Heriau, Simon Mann and Alessio Rovera in the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3; and Rui Andrade, Charlie Eastwood and Tom van Rompuy in the No. 81 TF Sports Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R that won last time out at Fuji.

***Connor Zilisch, a former LMP2 class winner in the Rolex 24 at Daytona and Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, was due to join Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA for Sunday’s rookie test but has been ruled out due to not having enough points to earn a top-class FIA license, which is required to drive in Hypercar, after missing out on the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship despite scoring a season-high ten wins.

***Instead, the 19-year-old will make his LMDh debut in next weekend’s IMSA-sanctioned test at Daytona International Speedway at the wheel of Action Express Racing’s Cadillac, which also was part of his original testing plan. The WeatherTech SportsCar Championship has no such licensing requirements, and has even seen the likes of Bronze-rated Ben Keating previously take part in the Rolex 24 in a GTP class entry.

***Zilisch, who will be promoted to FIA Gold rating next year, wouldn’t have been the the first Silver-rated driver to get behind the wheel of a Hypercar in the Bahrain rookie test, as Valentino Rossi turned laps in Team WRT’s BMW M Hybrid V8 last year. Additionally, Lilou Wadoux, also Silver-rated, is due to test the No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari 499P on Sunday for the second time.

***This weekend marks the one-year anniversary of Rossi’s first, and only test to date, in the BMW M Hybrid V8, which the nine-time motorcycle world champion admits he feels is better suited to his driving style than a GT3 car. “I’m happy if I have the chance to drive another time or to race with the Hypercar,” he said. “But I don’t know if it will happen. Anyway, I’m happy with the GT3. But for sure the Hypercar is the dream for everybody.”

***Rossi is coming off his first-ever Intercontinental GT Challenge victory in last month’s season-ending Indianapolis 8 Hour, which helped give BMW its maiden manufacturers’ title in SRO Motorsports Group’s globe-trotting GT3 series, with the drivers’ championship going to Rossi’s LMGT3 co-driver Kelvin van der Linde.

***Michelin has brought the Medium and Hard tire compounds to Bahrain for this weekend’s finale, in line with its selection from last year, while Goodyear has the Eagle Hard compound back in use for the third time this year. Bahrain will mark the final race for Michelin’s current top-class tire offerings prior to the debut of the Pilot Sport Endurance line of tires in next year’s Rolex 24.

***Felipe Nasr is serving as Porsche Penske Motorsport’s on-site reserve driver for the team’s WEC Hypercar swansong this weekend.

***Mopar, the American car parts, service, and customer care division of the former Chrysler Corporation, is going global next year, having announced a partnership with Peugeot Sport for the 2026 WEC season. Mopar has become the “reference brand” for original parts and accessories across all Stellantis brands.

***Stellantis Motorsport Senior VP Jean-Marc Finot said: “We are proud to welcome Mopar into the dynamics of motorsport as the official partner of Team Peugeot TotalEnergies. Mopar’s technical expertise and know-how in terms of performance and reliability are major assets for our endurance program. This partnership perfectly illustrates the synergy between Stellantis brands and reinforces our shared ambitions on the international stage.”

***One of only six Chevrolet Corvette C8.Rs in existence has gone up for sale on Hemmings, the world’s largest online collector car marketplace. Chassis No. 005, which was used in both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and FIA World Endurance Championship between 2020-23, was driven by the likes of Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor, Tommy Milner Nicky Catsburg and Nick Tandy. The asking price for the GTE-spec car, which is on display this week at the SEMA Show, is $1.5 million USD.

***Heart of Racing Team drivers, including Harry Tincknell, Tom Gamble, Alex Riberas, Marco Sorensen, as well as Ross Gunn, Roman De Angelis and Zachary Robichon, are fresh off a team vacation in the Galápagos Islands. The drivers posted breathtaking photos and videos of the underwater scenery on social media during the trip, which is believed to have been hosted by team owner Gabe Newell.

***Support action this weekend is provided by the Porsche Carrera Cup Middle East, which has two 30-minute races slated for Friday and Saturday respectively.

***Italian racing driver Andrea de Adamich died at the age of 84 on Wednesday. Best known for his Formula 1 exploits with teams including McLaren and Ferrari, de Adamich also had a lengthy affiliation with Alfa Romeo, representing the brand in major endurance races around the world. He won two World Sportscar Championship rounds in 1971 and secured podium finishes in the Twelve Hours of Sebring and Targa Florio, as well as a fourth-place finish in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1972.

***WEC track action commences on Thursday with Free Practice 1 at 12:15 p.m. local time (4:15 a.m. ET), with Free Practice 2 following at 5 p.m. (9 a.m. ET).

John Dagys & Davey Euwema contributed to this report