Bahrain Wednesday Notebook

Photo: MPS Agency

***Wednesday’s event preparations for the FIA World Endurance Championship season finale took place against a backdrop of roaring jet engines as fighter aircraft and more performed aerobatic maneuvers for the Bahrain International Airshow. The 10th edition of the show is taking place at Sakhir Air Base, which is located directly east of Bahrain International Circuit.

***Those present in the paddock, including drivers, were seen craning their necks skywards to see various planes fly near the circuit, including display teams from the United Arab Emirates and British Royal Air Force, as well as a U.S. Air Force F-16 and a Gulf Air Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.

***The Airshow is taking place on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

***Toyota Gazoo Racing has undergone an engineering shakeup this weekend, in the first race since Jakob Andreasen’s departure to United Autosports as the LMP2 team’s new technical director. Manager of vehicle operations Mathieu Galoche has been assigned to Andreasen’s former place on the No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, while Marco Fuga has remained as the No. 7 car’s race engineer.

***It comes amid Saturday’s title decider which sees the No. 8 crew of Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa tied for the lead of the world drivers’ championship with Alpine’s Nico Lapierre, Matthieu Vaxiviere and Andre Negaro.

***Buemi told Sportscar365: “It’s not ideal I have to say but [Mathieu is] very experienced and knows everything. We know him so it should be OK.”

***Toyota technical director Pascal Vasselon revealed the initially unclear performance gap between the Nos. 7 and 8 Toyotas at the 6 Hours of Fuji was due to a “uniquely” weather-related difference in setup between the two cars, with the No. 7 car going into more “oversteer factors” after higher than anticipated ambient temperatures in the race.

***The 8 Hours of Bahrain marks the final WEC race for an LMP1 car, as the Alpine A480 Gibson will not be eligible for a third season of grandfathering against LMH and LMDh machinery. Every WEC race since 2012 has included at least one LMP1 car on the grid.

***Starting next year, the prices of LMP2 cars and parts will be indexed, or automatically linked, to inflation as stated by the International Monetary Fund for G7 countries. The WEC will notify teams of the rate. Currently, the IMF inflation rate stands at 7.2 percent.

***TF Sport plans to continue with two Aston Martin Vantage GTEs next season. Team boss Tom Ferrier indicated that the British squad has identified a lineup to replace the one formed around Bronze driver Ben Keating, who is switching to Corvette Racing.

***TF Sport will aim to wrap up the GTE-Am championship with the same Aston Martin that it ran at Fuji. The Fuji car was a late replacement for the chassis that was damaged in Henrique Chaves’ airborne accident at Monza. It’s understood that the crashed vehicle has now been fully repaired.

***Toyota technical chief Vasselon ruled out seeing a third GR010 Hybrid at the 24 Hours of Le Mans next year, with the team’s 2023 driver lineup set to be announced in January as part of the Japanese manufacturer’s group motorsport event. At least one change will be made, with Formula 1-bound Nyck de Vries likely needing to be replaced as the team’s test and reserve driver.

***When asked by Sportscar365 if Sebastien Ogier, who remains “part of the [Toyota] family” could be the reserve driver, Vasselon said: “This kind of answer will be given in the beginning of January.”

***Gunnar Jeannette and PJ Hyett, who is set for his WEC debut in the No. 56 Team Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR-19, are coming off last weekend’s HSR Classic Daytona presented by IMSA driving a 2018 model Porsche 911 RSR that Hyett purchased from Juan Gonzalez, which was the only car in period to get sold to a customer without any professional race mileage.

***The American duo, who took part in a two-day test at Paul Ricard in a Project 1 RSR-19 in preparation for this weekend’s outing, replace Brendan Iribe and Ollie Millroy, in what’s currently a one-off drive. Bronze-rated Hyett has contested a variety of series this year including Michelin Le Mans Cup, Fanatec GT World Challenge America powered by AWS and Porsche Carrera Cup North America presented by The Cayman Islands.

***Jeannette, who is making his first WEC start since Sebring 2019 with Larbre Competition, told Sportscar365: “Coming to something like this, the level of driver is very, very high, the same with the team and overall car prep and that kind of stuff. In some regard, there’s much less to worry about in doing this!”

***Maxime Oosten is participating in Sunday’s WEC rookie test with Project 1 as a reward for winning the BMW M2 Cup, which appears on the DTM support package. Oosten will be promoted to the GT4-based DTM Trophy with Project 1 next year. The German squad runs all cars in the M2 Cup.

***Tommy Milner will be departing Bahrain immediately after Saturday’s race, with the Corvette Racing driver’s wife expecting their second child on Tuesday. Milner told Sportscar365 that he was initially tabbed to take part in Sunday’s rookie test but has been replaced by co-driver Nick Tandy as a result.

***Should Ben Keating claim the GTE-Am drivers’ title, the Texan would become the third American driver to have won in the WEC since its launch in 2012, joining Gustavo Menezes (LMP2, 2016) and Patrick Lindsey (GTE-Am, 2018-19).

***The Goodwood Festival of Speed will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans at its 2023 edition. The major motorsport gathering in the U.K. expects to attract “multiple champions, both drivers and cars” to recognize the occasion.

***The Ferrari 499P completed a handful of extra filming laps at Imola the day after the manufacturer’s Finali Mondiali event where the new LMH car was launched. Ferrari hasn’t tested between the world final and Bahrain, although it has more outings planned before the end of the year.

***Two Ferrari 499Ps have been used for most of the testing program so far, with the manufacturer assigning each car to different agendas: “We arranged the development program with two cars, to have one focused on performance and one on reliability,” said technical director Ferdinando Cannizzo.

***Thursday’s track action consists of two 90-minute Free Practice sessions. The first one starts at 12:15 p.m. local time (4:15 a.m. ET) while the second takes place at 5:30 p.m. (9:30 a.m. ET).

Daniel Lloyd contributed to this report

John Dagys

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