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The 2023 Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain was an endurance sportscar racing event held on November 4, 2023, as the seventh and final round of the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship. It was the twelfth running of the event, and the fifth running in an extended 8 hours format.
On October 26, 2023, the FIA published the Balance of Performance (BoP) for the Hypercar and LMGTE AM classes. In Hypercar, the Cadillac and Porsche both lost 7 kilograms of weight. They also both lost 1 MJ of maximum stint energy. For all other cars in the class, the BoP remained the same as it was during the Fuji round. [1] In LMGTE Am, the Aston Martin received a fuel tank increase of 2 litres and an 0.04 increase in engine power. The Corvette received a fuel tank decrease of 2 litres, and a decrease of 0.6 mm for the maximum size of the air restrictor. For the Porsche and Ferrari, the BoP remained the same as it was during the Fuji round. [2]
There were 36 cars entered into the event: 12 Hypercars, 11 LMP2 cars, and 13 LMGTE Am cars. In Hypercar, Ryan Briscoe replaced João Paulo de Oliveira in the No. 4 Floyd Vanwall Racing Team machine. [3] Furthermore, Nico Müller returned to the No. 94 Peugeot TotalEnergies machine, after missing the Fuji round due to an injury. [4]
In LMP2, Mirko Bortolotti returned to the No. 63 Prema Racing machine, and Tom Blomqvist returned to the No. 23 United Autosports machine. [4] In LMGTE Am, Franck Dezoteux joined the No. 21 AF Corse machine, [4] with Liam Talbot replacing Satoshi Hoshino in the No. 777 D'Station Racing machine. [5] Furthermore, Esteban Masson joined the No. 57 Kessel Racing machine, replacing Ritomo Miyata, whilst Daniel Serra also returned after missing the previous two rounds. [6]
| Date | Time (local: AST) | Event |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday, 2 November | 12:15 | Free Practice 1 |
| 17:30 | Free Practice 2 | |
| Friday, 3 November | 12:00 | Free Practice 3 |
| 16:15 | Qualifying - LMGTE Am | |
| 16:40 | Qualifying - LMP2 | |
| 17:05 | Qualifying - Hypercar | |
| Saturday, 4 November | 14:00 | Race |
| Source: [7] | ||
| Free Practice 1 | Class | No. | Entrant | Driver | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hypercar | 7 |  Toyota Gazoo Racing | Kamui Kobayashi | 1:49.856 | |
| LMP2 | 22 |  United Autosports |  Filipe Albuquerque | 1:54.100 | |
| LMGTE Am | 777 | D'Station Racing | Tomonobu Fujii | 1:59.516 | |
| Free Practice 2 | Class | No. | Entrant | Driver | Time |
| Hypercar | 7 | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Kamui Kobayashi | 1:46.851 | |
| LMP2 | 22 | United Autosports | Filipe Albuquerque | 1:52.850 | |
| LMGTE Am | 57 |  Kessel Racing |  Daniel Serra | 1:58.246 | |
| Free Practice 3 | Class | No. | Entrant | Driver | Time |
| Hypercar | 2 |  Cadillac Racing | Alex Lynn | 1:49.512 | |
| LMP2 | 23 | United Autosports | Tom Blomqvist | 1:53.661 | |
| LMGTE Am | 56 |  Project 1 – AO |  Matteo Cairoli | 1:58.214 | |
| Source: [8] [9] [10] | |||||
Pole position winners in each class are marked in bold.
| Pos | Class | No. | Team | Time | Gap | Grid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hypercar | 8 | Toyota Gazoo Racing | 1:46.564 | - | 1 |
| 2 | Hypercar | 7 | Toyota Gazoo Racing | 1:47.053 | +0.489 | 2 |
| 3 | Hypercar | 2 | Cadillac Racing | 1:47.265 | +0.701 | 3 |
| 4 | Hypercar | 6 | Porsche Penske Motorsport | 1:47.712 | +1.148 | 4 |
| 5 | Hypercar | 50 | Ferrari AF Corse | 1:47.739 | +1.175 | 5 |
| 6 | Hypercar | 51 | Ferrari AF Corse | 1:47.828 | +1.264 | 6 |
| 7 | Hypercar | 5 | Porsche Penske Motorsport | 1:47.946 | +1.382 | 7 |
| 8 | Hypercar | 99 | Proton Competition | 1:47.964 | +1.400 | 8 |
| 9 | Hypercar | 38 | Hertz Team Jota | 1:48.555 | +1.991 | 9 |
| 10 | Hypercar | 93 |  Peugeot TotalEnergies | 1:48.987 | +2.423 | 10 |
| 11 | Hypercar | 94 | Peugeot TotalEnergies | 1:49.502 | +2.938 | 11 |
| 12 | Hypercar | 4 |  Floyd Vanwall Racing Team | 1:50.682 | +4.118 | 12 |
| 13 | LMP2 | 23 | United Autosports | 1:52.290 | +5.726 | 13 |
| 14 | LMP2 | 36 | Alpine Elf Team | 1:52.561 | +5.997 | 14 |
| 15 | LMP2 | 31 |  Team WRT | 1:52.898 | +6.334 | 15 |
| 16 | LMP2 | 10 | Vector Sport | 1:52.903 | 6.339 | 16 |
| 17 | LMP2 | 22 | United Autosports | 1:52.992 | +6.428 | 17 |
| 18 | LMP2 | 9 | Prema Racing | 1:53.033 | +6.469 | 18 |
| 19 | LMP2 | 34 |  Inter Europol Competition | 1:53.086 | +6.522 | 19 |
| 20 | LMP2 | 63 | Prema Racing | 1:53.191 | +6.627 | 20 |
| 21 | LMP2 | 28 | Jota | 1:53.320 | +6.756 | 21 |
| 22 | LMP2 | 41 | Team WRT | 1:53.580 | +7.016 | 22 |
| 23 | LMP2 | 35 | Alpine Elf Team | 1:54.023 | +7.459 | 23 |
| 24 | LMGTE Am | 85 | Iron Dames | 1:58.692 | +12.128 | 24 |
| 25 | LMGTE Am | 777 | D'Station Racing | 1:58.982 | +12.418 | 25 |
| 26 | LMGTE Am | 25 |  ORT by TF | 1:59.161 | +12.597 | 26 |
| 27 | LMGTE Am | 57 | Kessel Racing | 1:59.162 | +12.598 | 27 |
| 28 | LMGTE Am | 33 | Corvette Racing | 1:59.412 | +12.848 | 28 |
| 29 | LMGTE Am | 98 |  NorthWest AMR | 1:59.683 | +13.119 | 29 |
| 30 | LMGTE Am | 54 | AF Corse | 1:59.761 | +13.197 | 30 |
| 31 | LMGTE Am | 77 | Dempsey-Proton Racing | 2:00.063 | +13.499 | 31 |
| 32 | LMGTE Am | 83 | Richard Mille AF Corse | 2:00.279 | +13.715 | 32 |
| 33 | LMGTE Am | 56 | Project 1 – AO | 2:00.446 | +13.882 | 33 |
| 34 | LMGTE Am | 86 | GR Racing | 2:01.275 | +14.711 | 34 |
| 35 | LMGTE Am | 60 | Iron Lynx | 2:01.547 | +14.983 | 35 |
| 36 | LMGTE Am | 21 | AF Corse | 2:02.646 | +16.082 | 36 |
| Source: [11] | ||||||
The minimum number of laps for classification (70% of overall winning car's distance) was 174 laps. Class winners are in bold and ‡.
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