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Le Mans / ALMS
LE MANS: Bahrain WEC Notebook
News and notes on the eve of the FIA WEC Six Hours of Bahrain...
Rebellion Racing's spare Lola B12/60 Toyota will be put into use for tomorrow's FIA WEC Six Hours of Bahrain. (Photo: John Dagys)
REBELLION GOES TO BACKUP CAR — The logistics of Rebellion Racing’s ambitious end-of-year adventures have taken a serious blow, following an accident that’s pushed its spare (planned-to-be Petit Le Mans) chassis into use this weekend in Bahrain.
What looked to be a minor collision between Andrea Belicchi’s No. 13 Lola B12/60 Toyota and the No. 50 Larbre Competition Corvette during morning practice resulted in tub damage to the prototype contender.
After gaining approval from all LMP1 teams, the Anglo-Swiss squad was granted permission to swap chassis for tomorrow’s FIA WEC Six Hours of Bahrain. But it could put a wrinkle in its plans for next month’s Petit Le Mans as their spare car was due to be air-freighted to the U.S. following this race.
"We'll have to see how we finish tomorrow,” team manager Bart Hayden told SPEED.com Friday evening. “Hopefully we have two cars left at the end of the race. If we do, I think we'll still plan on sending one to Atlanta.
“The damaged one we have here, we'll try to repair and get a scheme done between now and Fuji, take it with us to Fuji and get it repaired on-site there... It’s repairable, but not in 24 hours.
"The worst-case scenario for us, as we stand here right now, is that we only run one car at Fuji and Shanghai. But that's not what we want to do. We want to fix the car if we can, so we just need to make sure we explore all of the options that are there for it."
FUEL GAMES — After having been able to make one fewer pit stop than its competition over the past two six-hour races, the GTE-Pro class Ferrari F458 Italias have been hit with a Balance of Performance adjustment, beginning this race.
"They reduced our fuel tank by 5 liters, so we now don't have the chance to do one [fewer] stop than the rest of the [cars]," AF Corse’s Giancarlo Fisichella explained. "We will do the same. But in the meantime, they gave us 15 kgs less [weight], which is a small gain by maybe one-tenth per lap. It's not a lot.”
With the Italian squad likely to wrap up the class championship with a third place finish or higher on Saturday, the Ferrari’s main competitor isn’t so convinced the adjustment will make that much of a difference.
"I don't think it will be enough," said Aston Martin Racing’s Stefan Mucke, who scored the class pole. "Even if they have to do [a stop], it would be a much shorter one than us because the change in what happened is not enough to bring us on the same level. For us, it's going to be 100 percent attack and see what we can do."
Will the battle for the class victory come down to another fuel mileage race? It’s no doubt one of the storylines to watch tomorrow.
BUILD AN AUDI — Audi’s switch to a second e-tron quattro has resulted in the build of a new car on-site in Bahrain instead of converting its R18 ultra to a hybrid-powered prototype. The team began assembly of the new No. 2 car, based around the tub of a test car, on Monday, with work finishing just over 24 hours later.
"We worked until 10 or 10:30 [PM], but then the car was ready,” technical director Ralf Juttner told SPEED.com. “The engine was fired up, the hybrid system was taken into operation. Everything worked fine, so we were able to go to scrutineering on Wednesday morning with both cars."
Juttner said there was no option to fly in an existing e-tron quattro due to its parallel test program that currently utilizes two cars.
PHOTOS: FIA WEC Six Hours of Bahrain
What looked to be a minor collision between Andrea Belicchi’s No. 13 Lola B12/60 Toyota and the No. 50 Larbre Competition Corvette during morning practice resulted in tub damage to the prototype contender.
After gaining approval from all LMP1 teams, the Anglo-Swiss squad was granted permission to swap chassis for tomorrow’s FIA WEC Six Hours of Bahrain. But it could put a wrinkle in its plans for next month’s Petit Le Mans as their spare car was due to be air-freighted to the U.S. following this race.
"We'll have to see how we finish tomorrow,” team manager Bart Hayden told SPEED.com Friday evening. “Hopefully we have two cars left at the end of the race. If we do, I think we'll still plan on sending one to Atlanta.
“The damaged one we have here, we'll try to repair and get a scheme done between now and Fuji, take it with us to Fuji and get it repaired on-site there... It’s repairable, but not in 24 hours.
"The worst-case scenario for us, as we stand here right now, is that we only run one car at Fuji and Shanghai. But that's not what we want to do. We want to fix the car if we can, so we just need to make sure we explore all of the options that are there for it."
FUEL GAMES — After having been able to make one fewer pit stop than its competition over the past two six-hour races, the GTE-Pro class Ferrari F458 Italias have been hit with a Balance of Performance adjustment, beginning this race.
"They reduced our fuel tank by 5 liters, so we now don't have the chance to do one [fewer] stop than the rest of the [cars]," AF Corse’s Giancarlo Fisichella explained. "We will do the same. But in the meantime, they gave us 15 kgs less [weight], which is a small gain by maybe one-tenth per lap. It's not a lot.”
With the Italian squad likely to wrap up the class championship with a third place finish or higher on Saturday, the Ferrari’s main competitor isn’t so convinced the adjustment will make that much of a difference.
"I don't think it will be enough," said Aston Martin Racing’s Stefan Mucke, who scored the class pole. "Even if they have to do [a stop], it would be a much shorter one than us because the change in what happened is not enough to bring us on the same level. For us, it's going to be 100 percent attack and see what we can do."
Will the battle for the class victory come down to another fuel mileage race? It’s no doubt one of the storylines to watch tomorrow.
BUILD AN AUDI — Audi’s switch to a second e-tron quattro has resulted in the build of a new car on-site in Bahrain instead of converting its R18 ultra to a hybrid-powered prototype. The team began assembly of the new No. 2 car, based around the tub of a test car, on Monday, with work finishing just over 24 hours later.
"We worked until 10 or 10:30 [PM], but then the car was ready,” technical director Ralf Juttner told SPEED.com. “The engine was fired up, the hybrid system was taken into operation. Everything worked fine, so we were able to go to scrutineering on Wednesday morning with both cars."
Juttner said there was no option to fly in an existing e-tron quattro due to its parallel test program that currently utilizes two cars.
PHOTOS: FIA WEC Six Hours of Bahrain
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