Bahrain International Circuit

The Sakhir circuit in the Kingdom of Bahrain always guarantees a warm welcome and usually perfect racing weather …apart from 2023 when it rained during FP1! Bahrain is a small island country situated near the western shores of the Persian Gulf, an archipelago of 33 islands, but it has made a big motorsport impact in the Middle East as so many other neighbouring nations have followed Bahrain’s example and created state of the art facilities for international championships and series.

FIA WEC races of either 6 or 8 hours in duration have been held under the floodlights every year apart from 2018 and in recent years Bahrain has been the finale to the season. The heat, extreme tyre degradation and last-ditch attempts at championship titles have combined to produce some exciting races over the years, with the promise of some post-season partying helping them all along!

Look back to 2023…

The #8 Toyota Hypercar crew of Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa led the season-closing FIA WEC race in Bahrain from start to finish and, in doing so, claimed the FIA Drivers’ Championship. The #7 crew – whose failure to finish at Le Mans ultimately cost them dearly – came home second after fighting back from a Turn 1 spin due to contact with the Cadillac. Behind the Toyota 1-2 was the #50 Ferrari which had battled hard with its stablemate throughout, along with the JOTA Porsche.
Team WRT scooped all before them, including a 1-2 in class and the LMP2 championship – a well-deserved result for Robert Kubica, Rui Andrade and Louis Deletraz in the #41. Completing the podium was the #28 JOTA entry.
The season-long battle between Corvette Racing and Iron Dames, with each team taking three poles from the 7 rounds, came to an exciting conclusion in Bahrain. The #85 of Sarah Bovy, Michelle Gatting and Rahel Frey took an emotional and tense first WEC win in the final ever LMGTE Am race. Their Porsche finished just ahead of the D’Station Aston Martin after resisting late race pressure and the drivers made history by becoming the first all-female squad to win an FIA World Endurance Championship race.