Will Stevens and the No. 12 Porsche 963 – Hertz Team JOTA took control of the 8 Hours of Bahrain after the first round of pit stops, and after an hour of lively racing on the track.
Antonio Giovinazzi led the Hypercar peloton at the end of the first hour, after taking advantage of the problems of Sébastien Buemi, leader during the first twenty minutes on the Sakhir track.
In the lead after the start, the driver of the No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, who started on medium tires like the two Alpines, saw his good start to the race ruined after contact at the first corner by the No. 82 Corvette Z06 GT3.R – TF Sport by Hiroshi Koizumi. The Japanese was penalized with a 5″ Stop&Go penalty for the incident.
After the burst of pit stops which has just taken place in Bahrain, it is however Will Stevens and the Porsche n°12 who lead the event, taking advantage of a small loss of time by the Ferrari n°51 of Giovinazzi during his stop, when lowering the car. The Italian clocks in at 7″.
Mike Conway (Toyota n°7) is third at 10″ ahead of the Toyota n°8 of Buemi at 17″. René Rast completes the top 5 with the first BMW M Hybrid V8 n°20 at 23″.
In the fight for the title, the #7 Toyota is best placed in the standings, as the #50 Ferrari of Miguel Molina is 12th after being involved in a collision in the first corners with the #6 Porsche of Laurens Vanthoor , the latter losing several positions.
Ferrari has changed the front hood of the No. 50, while the No. 6 is currently 15th. The Peugeot 9X8s are 13th and 16th, while the Alpine A424s bring up the rear in the Hypercar category.
The ranking at H+1 is HERE
