The No 8 Toyota TS030 Hybrid of Sebastien Buemi, Anthony Davidson and Stephane Sarrazin roared across the finish line at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) to capture the first place at the grand finale of the 2013 World Endurance Championship – the Six Hours of Bahrain.
The hard-fought end-of-season victory came after the Toyota tandem put up a total of 199 laps in a total time of 6 hours, 1 minute and 15.303 seconds. Audi’s Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler managed a second place finish. The other LMP1 teams – Toyota’s Alex Wurz, Nicolas Lapierre and Kazuki Nakajima, Audi’s Tom Kristensen, Loic Duval and Allan McNish, as well as Rebellion Racing’s Andrea Belicchi, Mathias Beche and Nicolas Prost all did not classify.
G-Drive Racing clinched the first place on the LMP2 podium after a commendable performance by Roman Rusinov, John Martin and Mike Conway. The trio drove their Oreca 03 Nissan for a total of 184 laps in 6 hours, 1 minute and 15.738 seconds. They were ahead of OAK Racing’s Olivier Pla, David Heinemeier Hansson and Alex Brundle and Bjorn Wirdheim, Wolfgang Reip and Jon Lancaster of Greaves Motorsport.
AF Corse’s Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander excelled in the LMGTE Pro class, recording 175 laps in a total of 6 hours 2 minutes and 30.722 seconds. The Porsche team of Jorg Bergmeister and Patrick Pilet, meanwhile, managed a second place finish, ahead of the second AF Corse partnership – Kamui Kobayashi and former F1 driver Giancarlo Fisichella.
In the LMGTE Am class, Aston Martin’s Christoffer Nygaard, Kristian Poulsen and Nicki Thiim had 173 laps, in a total time of 6 hours, 2 minutes and 43.316 seconds. 8 Star Motorsports Vicente Potolicchio, Rui Aguas and Davide Rigon were second, while AF Corse’s Francois Perrodo, Emmanuel Collard, and Matt Griffin managed the third spot on the podium.
Yesterday was the second straight day full of motorsport and entertainment unveiled at BIC and fans gathered in numbers to attend the live concert by award-winning Indian pop star Sonu Nigam. The multi-lingual star thrilled the audience when he took to the stage to present some of his most popular hits at the concert which was the highlight of last night’s entertainment programme.
Earlier in the day, the Pit Lane Walk activity gave ticket-holders access to BIC’s Pit Lane, where the busy WEC engineers and mechanics made their adjustments and tweaks to the various competing vehicles. Fans got up close and personal with their favourite WEC drivers during an Autograph Session that also took place yesterday before the racing action could flag off.
At the circuit’s Vending Area Bahrain’s top local bands – Alderon, the Awesome People, Legendz and the Wine Gumz, showcased their musical talents when they performed throughout the day for the entertainment of race-goers. Children were treated to fun stage shows including Mary Poppins, Hairspray and the Wizard of Oz. Families enjoyed a day of fun as they participated in carnival games, whilst youngsters kept amused with face painting, comedy from various roaming mascots, bouncy castles, balloon twisters and other fun attractions.
Meanwhile, ticket holder Allyn Armeson had a dream weekend, after she was named the winner of BIC’s WEC Six Hours of Bahrain grand prize draw. The promotion that had kicked off last August gave ticket buyers the chance to bag exciting prizes at tri-weekly draws, including ticket upgrades to the Le Mans Spirit Club, Apple iPads, Nike Fuel Bands and BIC Xperiences. All tickets were also entered into the grand prize draw for the 2013 Ford Mustang.