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Porsche achieves solid grid positions for the finale in Bahrain

• Porsche Penske Motorsport tackles the race from positions six and seven
• Neel Jani qualifies Proton Competition's customer-Porsche 963 on P4
• Strong qualifying for Manthey PureRxcing's Porsche 911 GT3 R
• 8-hour race starts Saturday at 2 pm local time (12 pm CET)

The best Porsche 963 will take on the 8-hour race of the FIA World Endurance Championship WEC from fourth place. In the Hyperpole session on the Bahrain International Circuit, Neel Jani planted the hybrid prototype fielded by the Proton Competition customer team on the second row of the grid. Porsche Penske Motorsport's two identical works cars will start the season finale from positions six and seven. In the LMGT3 class, the new Manthey PureRxcing champions claimed fifth place on the grid with the Porsche 911 GT3 R.

Stuttgart. The qualifying and the subsequent Hyperpole sessions for the ten fastest vehicles were contested at sunset in Bahrain. After the sweltering heat on Friday, temperatures dropped to a pleasant 28 degrees Celsius. In the first twelve-minute session on the Formula 1 circuit near the capital Manama, Matt Campbell (No. 5) and Kévin Estre in the No. 6 car spent the first three laps getting their Michelin tyres into the ideal operating temperature before heading out to hunt for top times. The two works drivers from Australia and France wrapped up the qualifying session in seventh and ninth place - good enough to advance into the decisive Hyperpole.

However, in the following shootout of the ten fastest cars, the two works vehicles were slightly off the lap-time pace of the fastest. Estre qualified the car of the world championship leader in position six, with Campbell lining up directly behind in the sister car.

"Our grid positions aren't ideal but it's no big deal when it comes to the race," says Urs Kuratle, Director Factory Motorsport LMDh. "We'll be driving from daytime into the night in the long eight-hour race and we're certain that the cooler conditions towards the end will work in our favour. Sure, some of our rivals feel the same way but I'm confident we'll have an advantage in that regard. It'll all become clear on Saturday. Congratulations to Proton Competition on their strong performance. We need to see what they did better than the works team in qualifying and the Hyperpole."

"The gaps to the leaders were a little bigger than expected. We now need to find out why," explains Jonathan Diuguid, Managing Director Porsche Penske Motorsport. "Matt and Kévin did a good job, but the car balance wasn't ideal. Tyre wear will be the most critical factor in the race. We're well prepared and have ticked off all our tasks during practice."

The Proton Competition customer team enjoyed a successful qualifying day: Neel Jani planted the German team's No. 99 car on the fourth grid spot. With this result, the Swiss racer, overall winner of Le Mans in 2016 at the wheel of the Porsche 919 Hybrid, was the fastest Porsche 963 driver on Friday. The two cars fielded by Hertz Team Jota will tackle the season finale from positions eight and eleven.

Manthey's Porsche 911 GT3 R start from positions five and 14
In the LMGT3 class, the best Porsche 911 GT3 R starts from fifth place. After clinching the championship crown at the last race in Fuji (Japan) with Austrian Klaus Bachler and German Joel Sturm, UK driver Alex Malykhin turned an impressive lap at the wheel of Manthey's ca. 416 kW (565 PS) car. In the identical sister car, Yasser Shahin from Australia missed out on advancing into the Hyperpole. The Le Mans class winners in the No. 91 car will head into the final race of the year from P14 in the LMGT3.

The FIA WEC 8-hour race on the Formula 1 circuit track in Bahrain gets underway on Saturday, 1 November at 2 pm local time (12:00 pm CET). In the eight-hour race, the normal points are multiplied by a factor of 1.5. A win in Bahrain is worth 38 points instead of the usual 25.

TV / Stream
The Eurosport Group's channels will broadcast almost all of the FIA WEC season finale live. The German free-TV channel Sport1 will televise the race from 3 pm to 5 pm (CET). The German sports channel will air the entire race on its website until the flag at 20:00 hrs CET. The fee-based FIA WEC app offers live timing and a live stream. The Sport1 channel and the pay-TV provider Sport1+ offer an hour of highlights from Bahrain over the following week.

Drivers quotes from qualifying
Matt Campbell (Porsche 963 #5): "We made it into the Hyperpole with both cars. Our pace was OK - but that was about it. We couldn't quite match the pace of the frontrunners. Conditions were tough. It felt completely different to the previous day. We've now secured solid starting positions and a long race ahead of us."

Kévin Estre (Porsche 963 #6): "The battle for a spot in the Hyperpole was extremely close. We ultimately made it with ninth place. In the final shootout, I changed the car slightly to better suit the track conditions using the adjustment options on the steering wheel. That worked quite well, and we qualified sixth. Our starting position for the race is okay, although we were quite far off pole position. For an eight-hour race, the pace over a single lap isn't so critical."

Qualifying result
Hypercar class:
1. Buemi/Hartley/Hirakawa (CH/NZL/J), Toyota #8, 1:46.714 minutes
2. Conway/Kobayashi/de Vries (UK/J/NL), Toyota #7, 1:47.037 minutes
3. Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi /I/UK/I), Ferrari #51, 1:47.080 minutes
4. Andlauer/Jani/Tincknell (F/CH/UK), Porsche 963 #99, 1:47.234 minutes
6. Estre/Lotterer/Vanthoor (F/D/B), Porsche 963 #6, 1:47.542 minutes
7. Campbell/Christensen/Makowiecki (AUS/DK/F), Porsche 963 #5, 1:47.630 minutes
8. Ilott/Stevens/Nato (UK/UK/F), Porsche 963 #12, 1:47.950 minutes
11. Hanson/Button/Rasmussen (UK/UK/DK), Porsche 963 #38, 1:48.263 minutes

LMGT3 class:
1. Caygill/Puno/Sato (UK/CHL/J), McLaren #95, 2:02.201 minutes
2. Cottingham/Costa/Saucy (UK/BR/CH), McLaren #59, 2:02.203 minutes
3. Heriau/Mann/Rovera (F/USA/I), Ferrari #55, 2:02.367 minutes
5. Bachler/Malykhin/Sturm (A/UK/D), Porsche 911 GT3 R #92, 2:03.642 minutes
14. Lietz/Shahin/Schuring (A/AUS/NL), Porsche 911 GT3 R #91, 2:03.975 minutes

Full results fiawec.alkamelsystems.com.