WEC round 8: Six Hours of Bahrain---WEC season finale.

[chernaudi]

I'm about to get some rest, so I thought that I'd put up a place-holder thread for someone who'd like to get the thread started in earnest.


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Schedule

Entry List

Track Map

Weather

[TF110]

End of an era at Toyota this race. TS040's last race, no more NA V8, no more capacitor and sadly no more Alex Wurz.

[Akrapovic]

Originally Posted by TF110

End of an era at Toyota this race. TS040's last race, no more NA V8, no more capacitor and sadly no more Alex Wurz.

Hopefully for Toyota it means no more Le Mans losses. 2016 will be a fresh start in many ways and may provide that first Le Mans win!

[Victor_RO]

GP2 times in first practice in the 1:41s. What kind of times do we expect from Porsche?

[cokata]

Originally Posted by Victor_RO

GP2 times in first practice in the 1:41s. What kind of times do we expect from Porsche?

Last year they did 41.8 ,so probably in the low 38s or high 37s

[chernaudi]

Toyota are relatively close to Porsche and one of the Audis in FP2; #7 Audi has them all beat by over a second.

Track still rubbering in?

[chernaudi]

Porsche's top speed has been ridiculously low in both FP1 and FP2

Are they sandbagging or are they having to cost or drag the brakes into the speed trap to be mindful of fuel flow limits or to trigger hybrid regen?

[TzeiTzei]

Originally Posted by chernaudi

Are they sandbagging or are they having to cost or drag the brakes into the speed trap to be mindful of fuel flow limits or to trigger hybrid regen?

Lift & coast. Speed traps seem to mean very little these days.

[Artur]

Porsche's speed trap 10kmh lower than even GP3

Very disapointing times from the LMP1 cars, they didn't even beat last year's fastest qualifying lap(that happened already on FP1 in Silverstone, for instance, with all VAG cars btw)

I would normally expect them to be 1-2s faster than GP2s, as happened on Silverstone/Spa, but, after today, I'm not even sure if they will beat GP2 pole.

[TF110]

It rained and there was storms in the area. That could be a reason for the slower times.

[J Jay]

The track is in the middle of a desert and there aren't a lot of races to get/keep the sand off (particularly for the full layout which IIRC is only used by F1, GP2 & WEC?) It will take a bit more running for the track to rubber in.

[chernaudi]

Even though the track owners have sprayed some adhesive to limit dust ingress onto the track's surface, it's still in the middle of a desert and there were some sand storms near the track.

Get enough wind and some dust will always be carried onto the track's surface, and the whole race track isn't heavily used throughout the season.

[Deleted]

I am actually gonna say a positive comment on '6 Hours of Bahrain' Just one, so don't expect me to have turned out sappy all of sudden or something

The on track schedule / support package is rather good. It's definitely improved over the years.

[Adam43]

Will it be worth watching?

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by TzeiTzei

Lift & coast. Speed traps seem to mean very little these days.

They probably got to that speed 10m of of the corner and then held it!

[Spyderman]

Tire wear looks to be a major concern (at least for Porsche) , so it was the focus during FP1&2
http://www.endurance-info.com/en/str...e-919-hybrids/

[Spyderman]

Also - Sounds to me like they will be playing it safe for tomorrows race. At least trying to.
http://www.3news.co.nz/sport/video-b...urce=hootsuite

[Victor_RO]

What kind of tire allocation do they all have here for quali+race? 6 or 8 sets?

[Artur]

Very frustrating laptimes. Cars are terribly slow around here!

I doubt they will even beat GP2/Marussia this time. If this is a sign of what will come next year, I already feel totally unexcited

The fact that other racing series’ are running here this weekend on different brands of tyres plays a role, as does the sand, which is being blown onto the track from the desert. You’ve also got a lot of pick-up here – rubber which sticks to your tyres

Maybe crapirelli's junk is getting in the way a bit and slowing the laptimes

At this track it isn’t easy to handle the traffic with the tyre pick up off the racing line.”

Oh man, this F1 rubber junk will spoil the WEC race.

[TzeiTzei]

Originally Posted by Artur

Oh man, this F1 rubber junk will spoil the WEC race.

?

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by TzeiTzei

?

GP2 and GP3 are on the WEC support bill this weekend, and both are running on Pirelli tires with compounds not-too-far-derived from the F1 compounds. So a lot of the rubber laid down on the racing line (and marbles off the racing line) will not mix too well with the LMP1 Michelins.

[Victor_RO]

Originally Posted by Victor_RO

What kind of tire allocation do they all have here for quali+race? 6 or 8 sets?

Hindy has just answered this on air, it's 8 sets, so Porsche can single-stint.

GTE quali just around the corner.

[Artur]

Originally Posted by Victor_RO

GP2 and GP3 are on the WEC support bill this weekend, and both are running on Pirelli tires with compounds not-too-far-derived from the F1 compounds. So a lot of the rubber laid down on the racing line (and marbles off the racing line) will not mix too well with the LMP1 Michelins.

GP2 tyres are exactly the ones used in F1 or, at least, that's what I was told.

Anyway, unless marshals work a lot, there will be LOTS of Pirelli junk all the way through the track(not only the off racing lines). I watched GP2 and they left the tarmac in a disgusting, dirty state.

On another note, what the best way to contact Hindy?

[cokata]

Toyota was as slow as last year, proving that for whatever reason the track is very low grip.

[Victor_RO]

#17 Porsche crew leads by 13 points into the race. If the #7 Audi wins, a 4th place gives them the title on win countback. If #18 wins with #7 2nd, a 7th overall for #17 means they win by one point.