2023 8 Hours of Bahrain

26°1′57″N 50°30′38″E

2023 8 Hours of Bahrain

Event information
Round 7 of 7 in the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship
Date	4 November 2023
Location	Sakhir
Venue	Bahrain International Circuit
Duration	8 Hours
Results
Laps completed	249
Distance (km)	1347.588
Distance (miles)	837.387
Hypercar
Pole position
Time	1:46.564
Team	Toyota Gazoo Racing
Winners
Team	Toyota Gazoo Racing
Drivers	Sébastien Buemi Brendon Hartley Ryo Hirakawa
LMP2
Winners
Team	Team WRT
Drivers	Rui Andrade Louis Delétraz Robert Kubica
LMGTE Am
Winners
Team	Iron Dames
Drivers	Sarah Bovy Rahel Frey Michelle Gatting

The 2023 Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain was an endurance sportscar racing event held on 4 November 2023, as the seventh and final round of the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship. It was the twelfth running of the event, and the fifth running in an extended 8 hours format.

Background

On 26 October 2023, the FIA published the Balance of Performance (BoP) for the Hypercar and LMGTE AM classes. In Hypercar, the Cadillac and Porsche both lost 7 kilograms of weight. They also both lost 1 MJ of maximum stint energy. For all other cars in the class, the BoP remained the same as it was during the Fuji round.^[1] In LMGTE Am, the Aston Martin received a fuel tank increase of 2 litres and an 0.04 increase in engine power. The Corvette received a fuel tank decrease of 2 litres, and a decrease of 0.6 mm for the maximum size of the air restrictor. For the Porsche and Ferrari, the BoP remained the same as it was during the Fuji round.^[2]

Entry list

There were 36 cars entered into the event: 12 Hypercars, 11 LMP2 cars, and 13 LMGTE Am cars. In Hypercar, Ryan Briscoe replaced João Paulo de Oliveira in the No. 4 Floyd Vanwall Racing Team machine.^[3] Furthermore, Nico Müller returned to the No. 94 Peugeot TotalEnergies machine, after missing the Fuji round due to an injury.^[4]

In LMP2, Mirko Bortolotti returned to the No. 63 Prema Racing machine, and Tom Blomqvist returned to the No. 23 United Autosports machine.^[4] In LMGTE Am, Franck Dezoteux joined the No. 21 AF Corse machine,^[4] with Liam Talbot replacing Satoshi Hoshino in the No. 777 D'Station Racing machine.^[5] Furthermore, Esteban Masson joined the No. 57 Kessel Racing machine, replacing Ritomo Miyata, whilst Daniel Serra also returned after missing the previous two rounds.^[6]

Schedule

Date	Time (local: AST)	Event
Thursday, 2 November	12:15	Free Practice 1
	17:30	Free Practice 2
Friday, 3 November	12:00	Free Practice 3
	16:15	Qualifying - LMGTE Am
	16:40	Qualifying - LMP2
	17:05	Qualifying - Hypercar
Saturday, 4 November	14:00	Race
Source:[7]

Free practice

• Only the fastest car in each class is shown.

Free Practice 1	Class	No.	Entrant	Driver	Time
	Hypercar	7	Toyota Gazoo Racing	Kamui Kobayashi	1:49.856
	LMP2	22	United Autosports	Filipe Albuquerque	1:54.100
	LMGTE Am	777	D'Station Racing	Tomonobu Fujii	1:59.516
Free Practice 2	Class	No.	Entrant	Driver	Time
	Hypercar	7	Toyota Gazoo Racing	Kamui Kobayashi	1:46.851
	LMP2	22	United Autosports	Filipe Albuquerque	1:52.850
	LMGTE Am	57	Kessel Racing	Daniel Serra	1:58.246
Free Practice 3	Class	No.	Entrant	Driver	Time
	Hypercar	2	Cadillac Racing	Alex Lynn	1:49.512
	LMP2	23	United Autosports	Tom Blomqvist	1:53.661
	LMGTE Am	56	Project 1 – AO	Matteo Cairoli	1:58.214
Source:[8][9][10]

Qualifying

Pole position winners in each class are marked in bold.

Pos	Class	No.	Team	Time	Gap	Grid
1	Hypercar	8	Toyota Gazoo Racing	1:46.564	-	1
2	Hypercar	7	Toyota Gazoo Racing	1:47.053	+0.489	2
3	Hypercar	2	Cadillac Racing	1:47.265	+0.701	3
4	Hypercar	6	Porsche Penske Motorsport	1:47.712	+1.148	4
5	Hypercar	50	Ferrari AF Corse	1:47.739	+1.175	5
6	Hypercar	51	Ferrari AF Corse	1:47.828	+1.264	6
7	Hypercar	5	Porsche Penske Motorsport	1:47.946	+1.382	7
8	Hypercar	99	Proton Competition	1:47.964	+1.400	8
9	Hypercar	38	Hertz Team Jota	1:48.555	+1.991	9
10	Hypercar	93	Peugeot TotalEnergies	1:48.987	+2.423	10
11	Hypercar	94	Peugeot TotalEnergies	1:49.502	+2.938	11
12	Hypercar	4	Floyd Vanwall Racing Team	1:50.682	+4.118	12
13	LMP2	23	United Autosports	1:52.290	+5.726	13
14	LMP2	36	Alpine Elf Team	1:52.561	+5.997	14
15	LMP2	31	Team WRT	1:52.898	+6.334	15
16	LMP2	10	Vector Sport	1:52.903	6.339	16
17	LMP2	22	United Autosports	1:52.992	+6.428	17
18	LMP2	9	Prema Racing	1:53.033	+6.469	18
19	LMP2	34	Inter Europol Competition	1:53.086	+6.522	19
20	LMP2	63	Prema Racing	1:53.191	+6.627	20
21	LMP2	28	Jota	1:53.320	+6.756	21
22	LMP2	41	Team WRT	1:53.580	+7.016	22
23	LMP2	35	Alpine Elf Team	1:54.023	+7.459	23
24	LMGTE Am	85	Iron Dames	1:58.692	+12.128	24
25	LMGTE Am	777	D'Station Racing	1:58.982	+12.418	25
26	LMGTE Am	25	ORT by TF	1:59.161	+12.597	26
27	LMGTE Am	57	Kessel Racing	1:59.162	+12.598	27
28	LMGTE Am	33	Corvette Racing	1:59.412	+12.848	28
29	LMGTE Am	98	NorthWest AMR	1:59.683	+13.119	29
30	LMGTE Am	54	AF Corse	1:59.761	+13.197	30
31	LMGTE Am	77	Dempsey-Proton Racing	2:00.063	+13.499	31
32	LMGTE Am	83	Richard Mille AF Corse	2:00.279	+13.715	32
33	LMGTE Am	56	Project 1 – AO	2:00.446	+13.882	33
34	LMGTE Am	86	GR Racing	2:01.275	+14.711	34
35	LMGTE Am	60	Iron Lynx	2:01.547	+14.983	35
36	LMGTE Am	21	AF Corse	2:02.646	+16.082	36
Source:[11]

Race

The minimum number of laps for classification (70% of overall winning car's distance) was 174 laps. Class winners are in bold and ‡.

Pos	Class	No	Team	Drivers	Chassis	Tyre	Laps	Time/Retired
					Engine
1	Hypercar	8	Toyota Gazoo Racing	Sébastien Buemi Brendon Hartley Ryo Hirakawa	Toyota GR010 Hybrid	M	249	8:01:25.308‡
					Toyota H8909 3.5 L Turbo V6
2	Hypercar	7	Toyota Gazoo Racing	Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi José María López	Toyota GR010 Hybrid	M	249	+47.516
					Toyota H8909 3.5 L Turbo V6
3	Hypercar	50	Ferrari AF Corse	Antonio Fuoco Miguel Molina Nicklas Nielsen	Ferrari 499P	M	249	+1:36.286
					Ferrari 3.0 L Turbo V6
4	Hypercar	38	Hertz Team Jota	António Félix da Costa Will Stevens Yifei Ye	Porsche 963	M	249	+1:37.248
					Porsche 9RD 4.6 L Turbo V8
5	Hypercar	6	Porsche Penske Motorsport	Kévin Estre André Lotterer Laurens Vanthoor	Porsche 963	M	248	+1 Lap
					Porsche 9RD 4.6 L Turbo V8
6	Hypercar	51	Ferrari AF Corse	James Calado Antonio Giovinazzi Alessandro Pier Guidi	Ferrari 499P	M	248	+1 Lap
					Ferrari 3.0 L Turbo V6
7	Hypercar	5	Porsche Penske Motorsport	Dane Cameron Michael Christensen Frédéric Makowiecki	Porsche 963	M	247	+2 Laps
					Porsche 9RD 4.6 L Turbo V8
8	Hypercar	94	Peugeot TotalEnergies	Loïc Duval Gustavo Menezes Nico Müller	Peugeot 9X8	M	247	+2 Laps
					Peugeot 2.6 L Turbo V6
9	Hypercar	93	Peugeot TotalEnergies	Mikkel Jensen Paul di Resta Jean-Éric Vergne	Peugeot 9X8	M	247	+2 Laps
					Peugeot 2.6 L Turbo V6
10	Hypercar	99	Proton Competition	Gianmaria Bruni Neel Jani Harry Tincknell	Porsche 963	M	247	+2 Laps
					Porsche 9RD 4.6 L Turbo V8
11	Hypercar	2	Cadillac Racing	Earl Bamber Alex Lynn Richard Westbrook	Cadillac V-Series.R	M	246	+3 Laps
					Cadillac LMC55R 5.5 L V8
12	LMP2	41	Team WRT	Rui Andrade Louis Delétraz Robert Kubica	Oreca 07	G	238	+11 Laps‡
					Gibson GK428 V8 engine
13	LMP2	31	Team WRT	Robin Frijns Sean Gelael Ferdinand Habsburg	Oreca 07	G	238	+11 Laps
					Gibson GK428 V8 engine
14	LMP2	28	Jota	Pietro Fittipaldi David Heinemeier Hansson Oliver Rasmussen	Oreca 07	G	238	+11 Laps
					Gibson GK428 V8 engine
15	LMP2	9	Prema Racing	Mirko Bortolotti Filip Ugran Bent Viscaal	Oreca 07	G	238	+11 Laps
					Gibson GK428 V8 engine
16	LMP2	63	Prema Racing	Mathias Beche Daniil Kvyat Doriane Pin	Oreca 07	G	237	+12 Laps
					Gibson GK428 V8 engine
17	LMP2	34	Inter Europol Competition	Albert Costa Fabio Scherer Jakub Śmiechowski	Oreca 07	G	237	+12 Laps
					Gibson GK428 V8 engine
18	LMP2	36	Alpine Elf Team	Julien Canal Charles Milesi Matthieu Vaxivière	Oreca 07	G	237	+12 Laps
					Gibson GK428 V8 engine
19	LMP2	23	United Autosports	Tom Blomqvist Oliver Jarvis Josh Pierson	Oreca 07	G	237	+12 Laps
					Gibson GK428 V8 engine
20	LMP2	22	United Autosports	Filipe Albuquerque Philip Hanson Frederick Lubin	Oreca 07	G	237	+12 Laps
					Gibson GK428 V8 engine
21	LMP2	35	Alpine Elf Team	Olli Caldwell André Negrão Memo Rojas	Oreca 07	G	236	+13 Laps
					Gibson GK428 V8 engine
22	LMGTE Am	85	Iron Dames	Sarah Bovy Rahel Frey Michelle Gatting	Porsche 911 RSR-19	M	232	+17 Laps‡
					Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6
23	LMGTE Am	777	D'Station Racing	Tomonobu Fujii Casper Stevenson Liam Talbot	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	M	232	+17 Laps
					Aston Martin 4.0 L Turbo V8
24	LMGTE Am	98	NorthWest AMR	Ian James Daniel Mancinelli Alex Riberas	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	M	232	+17 Laps
					Aston Martin 4.0 L Turbo V8
25	LMGTE Am	54	AF Corse	Francesco Castellacci Thomas Flohr Davide Rigon	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	M	232	+17 Laps
					Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8
26	LMGTE Am	57	Kessel Racing	Takeshi Kimura Esteban Masson Daniel Serra	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	M	232	+17 Laps
					Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8
27	LMGTE Am	77	Dempsey-Proton Racing	Julien Andlauer Christian Ried Mikkel O. Pedersen	Porsche 911 RSR-19	M	231	+18 Laps
					Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6
28	LMGTE Am	33	Corvette Racing	Nicky Catsburg Ben Keating Nicolás Varrone	Chevrolet Corvette C8.R	M	231	+18 Laps
					Chevrolet 5.5 L V8
29	LMGTE Am	86	GR Racing	Ben Barker Riccardo Pera Michael Wainwright	Porsche 911 RSR-19	M	231	+18 Laps
					Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6
30	LMGTE Am	83	Richard Mille AF Corse	Luis Pérez Companc Alessio Rovera Lilou Wadoux	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	M	231	+18 Laps
					Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8
31	LMGTE Am	56	Project 1 – AO	Matteo Cairoli P.J. Hyett Gunnar Jeannette	Porsche 911 RSR-19	M	230	+19 Laps
					Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6
32	LMGTE Am	21	AF Corse	Kei Cozzolino Franck Dezoteux Simon Mann	Ferrari 488 GTE Evo	M	229	+20 Laps
					Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8
33	Hypercar	4	Floyd Vanwall Racing Team	Ryan Briscoe Esteban Guerrieri Tristan Vautier	Vanwall Vandervell 680	M	217	+32 Laps
					Gibson GL458 4.5 L V8
NC	LMGTE Am	25	ORT by TF	Ahmad Al Harthy Michael Dinan Charlie Eastwood	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	M	217	Not classified
					Aston Martin 4.0 L Turbo V8
NC	LMP2	10	Vector Sport	Gabriel Aubry Ryan Cullen Matthias Kaiser	Oreca 07	G	216	Not classified
					Gibson GK428 V8 engine
Ret	LMGTE Am	60	Iron Lynx	Matteo Cressoni Alessio Picariello Claudio Schiavoni	Porsche 911 RSR-19	M	163	Driver illness
					Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6
Source:[12]

References

1. "WEC 2023 Decision 60 - Hypercar BOP" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 26 October 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
2. "WEC 2023 Decision 59 - LMGTE BOP" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 26 October 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
3. "Briscoe joins Vanwall for Bahrain WEC finale". Motorsport.com. 17 October 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
4. "2023 FIA World Endurance Championship - Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain Provisional Entry List" (PDF). FIA WEC. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
5. "DSC's Daily Notebook (17/10/2023)". dailysportscar.com. 17 October 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
6. Grangier, Dorian (30 October 2023). "Première en WEC pour Esteban Masson, avec Kessel Racing à Bahreïn". AutoHebdo (in French). Retrieved 30 October 2023.
7. "2023 Bahrain - FIA World Endurance Championship". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
8. "2023 Bahrain FP1 results - FIA World Endurance Championship" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
9. "2023 Bahrain FP2 results - FIA World Endurance Championship" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
10. "2023 Bahrain FP3 results - FIA World Endurance Championship" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
11. "2023 8 Hours of Bahrain- Qualifying- Final Classification - FIA World Endurance Championship" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 3 November 2023. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
12. "2023 Bahrain Race results - FIA World Endurance Championship" (PDF). Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Retrieved 5 November 2023.