Peugeot Receives BoP Break for Bahrain

Photo: MPS Agency

The pair of Peugeot 9X8 Le Mans Hypercars have received a Balance of Performance break for this weekend’s FIA World Endurance Championship season finale in Bahrain, while the Toyota GR010 Hybrids have been slightly pegged back.

Confirmed in the Hypercar BoP table issued by the FIA, the Peugeots will now run at a minimum weight of 1049 kg, marking a 12 kg reduction from the configuration run in the last round at Fuji Speedway.

Additionally, the Toyotas will have a 4 kW (5.3 horsepower) decrease across top power levels along with a 4-megajoule reduction in maximum stint energy.

It marks the first BoP change for the Peugeot relative to fellow LMH manufacturer Toyota since the French brand made its WEC debut at the 6 Hours of Monza in July.

All three eligible LMH cars received a 18 kg weight reduction for Fuji although that was used to balance the cars to the grandfathered Alpine A480 Gibson LMP1 machine, which runs under a different set of technical regulations.

The ORECA-built, Signatech-run Alpine has also been adjusted for Bahrain, with a 4 kW power increase and 11 MJ boost in maximum stint energy.

Alpine’s Nico Lapierre, Matthieu Vaxiviere and Andre Negrao head into Saturday’s title decider in a dead heat with the No. 8 Toyota trio of Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa and Sebastian Buemi, who won last time out in Japan.

Toyota, however, holds a 26-point lead over Alpine in the world manufacturers championship, with 1.5x points on offer in the eight-hour season finale.

Ferrari, Corvette Pegged Back for Final GTE-Pro Race

While James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi hold the lead of the GTE drivers’ world championship, their Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, along with the Chevrolet Corvette C8.R, have both received power reductions for Bahrain.

The Ferrari, which has claimed two GTE-Pro victories so far this season, has been hit with a turbo boost decrease across all power levels along with a 1-liter reduction in fuel capacity.

This compares to the Corvette, which will run with a 0.4 mm smaller air restrictor but with a 1 liter increase in fuel capacity.

No changes have been made to the Porsche 911 RSR-19. The German manufacturer sits just one point behind Ferrari in the GTE manufacturers’ world championship, with drivers Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen trailing Calado and Pier Guidi by 11 markers.

It’s understood the GTE-Pro BoP changes have again been made manually for the category’s final-ever race.

GTE-Am sees both the Ferrari and Aston Martin Vantage GTE hit with turbo boost and fuel capacity reductions, with the Aston also gaining 8 kg in base weight.

As a result, the championship-leading No. 33 TF Sport Aston of Ben Keating, Marco Sorensen and Henrique Chaves will run at a weight of 1267 kg, when factoring in success ballast, compared to title rivals Paul Dalla Lana, David Pittard and Nicki Thiim that will be 10 kg lighter.

The heaviest GTE-Am car at Bahrain will be the the No. 77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche at 1289 kg, followed by the No. 85 Iron Dames Ferrari (1275 kg) and No. 46 Team Project 1 and No. 86 GR Racing Porsches (both 1274 kg).

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