17 November 2016
Sakhir, 17 November 2016 - The World Endurance Championship is preparing for a busy weekend when all the GT class titles will be decided. Ferrari has five targets at Bahrain; some seem more within its reach, while others will require a perfect race and perhaps also a bit of luck.
Constructors' title. Like last year, Ferrari enters the final race ahead in the Constructors' standings. The Prancing Horse has a 10-points advantage over Aston Martin. A good performance will be needed to clinch what, together with victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, is Ferrari's main goal. However, the lead is tight so Sam Bird and Davide Rigon, and Gianmaria "Gimmi" Bruni and James Calado really need to maintain their focus.
Drivers' and teams' title. The other two goals are harder to achieve because the 488 GTE guys have ground to make up. Potentially both crews are still in a position to win the drivers' and teams' title. However, Bruni and Calado, at the wheel of the 488 GTE no. 51 of AF Corse, only have a mathematical chance, while Rigon and Bird have more concrete hopes in car no. 71 of the Piacenza based team. They are 12 points behind the Aston Martin of Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim so they need a top three finish at the very least. If they achieve that they will have to hope for a correspondingly poor performance from their opponents. However, should Rigon and Bird win the Danes would need a podium finish to keep their lead in the standings.
GTE-Am titles. Victory seems within reach for the 458 Italia GTE no. 83 and the AF Corse team, which this weekend just has to complete 70% of the race distance. If François Perrodo, Emmanuel Collard and Rui Aguas do this they will claim the title regardless of the performance of their only rivals, Pedro Lamy, Mathias Lauda and Paul Dalla Lana in the Aston Martin. For Ferrari it would be a repeat of their win in 2015 when the title went to the 458 Italia GTE no. 72 of SMP Racing driven by Andrea Bertolini, Victor Shaytar and Aleksey Basov. The race will take place at 4 pm local time (2 pm CET) on Saturday, while qualifying begins at 5 pm (3 pm CET) on Friday.