Under the Lights on a Persian Night
The penultimate round of the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship will be a day into night affair from Bahrain. Anthony Davidson and Sébastien Buemi look to clinch the world championship as the #8 Toyota TS040 drivers have won four of six races and their worst finish this year is third. The Anglo-Swiss pairing hold a 42-point lead over Le Mans winners André Lotterer, Benoît Tréluyer and Marcel Fässler. Audi has failed to podium since back-to-back 1-2s at Le Mans and Austin. Tom Kristensen will not retain his world title as he and Lucas di Grassi are 55 points back with 52 left on the table.
Toyota is coming off back-to-back 1-2s at Fuji and Shanghai and Mike Conway will join Alexander Wurz and Stéphane Sarrazin in the #7 TS040. Porsche is coming off of their third podium at China and first at the hand of the #14 919 Hybrid of Romain Dumas, Marc Lieb and Neel Jani. Mark Webber, Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard finished third at Silverstone and Fuji. Webber's best finish at Bahrain in Formula One was fourth in 2012.
After having their coronation ceremony postponed after a lap one accident at Shanghai, Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander of the #51 AF Corse Ferrari F458 Italia have a second shot at clinching the World Endurance Cup for GT Drivers. They have a 24.5 point lead over Porsche driver Frédéric Makowiecki after the Frenchman won at Shanghai with Patrick Pilet. The two Frenchmen will be joined by Nick Tandy in the #91 Porsche 911 RSR at Bahrain. Bruni won the title last year after winning at Bahrain and the Aston Martin of Stefan Mücke and Darren Turner retired.
The GTE-Am title could also be clinched in Bahrain as the #95 Aston Martin of Kristian Poulsen and David Heinemeier Hansson has won every odd number round this season. They will be joined by Nicki Thiim who has won every FIA WEC round he has competed in this season. The Danes have a 31-point lead over their teammates, the #98 of Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Christoffer Nygaard. The #95 Aston Martin has finished no worse than second in class this season. AF Corse will field two cars in GTE-Am after not entering any at Shanghai. Alexander Talkanitsa, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Jeff Segal will pilot the #61 Ferrari while Stephan Wyatt, Michele Rugolo and Andrea Bertolini will be in the #81.
The fight in LMP2 has tightened up in the last two rounds as the #26 G-Drive Racing Ligier-Nissan has won four of six rounds this year and their trio of Olivier Pla, Julien Canal and Romain Rusinov are now within eight points of SMP Racing's Sergey Zlobin of the #27 Oreca-Nissan. Virtually everyone is still alive in LMP2. Anton Ladygin, driver of SMP Racing's #37 Oreca-Nissan is 36 points back of his fellow Russian. Austin winners, Matthew Howson and Richard Bradley of the #47 KCMG Oreca-Nissan are 48 points back. For the third consecutive rounds, OAK Racing enters the #35 Morgan-Judd. Mark Patterson, David Cheng and Keiko Ihara are their drivers.
Four Fighting at Phillip Island
With two rounds remaining in the 2014 V8 Supercars season, four drivers remain eligible for the title. Jamie Whincup leads the way after a second and first place finish at Surfers Paradise. The five-time champion leads Mark Winterbottom by 402 points as the Ford driver has one top five finish in his last his thirteen races. In that same time frame, Whincup has won six races, picked up eight podiums and his worst finish was seventh at Townsville.
Shane Van Gisbergen trails Whincup by 478 points. The Kiwi won race one from Surfers Paradise which made up a little for the start motor failure on his final pit stop at Bathurst, which cost him a shot at victory in The Great Race. Whincup's Red Bull Racing Australia Holden teammate Craig Lowndes is the final driver mathematically eligible for the title as he trails by 504 points.
Whincup and Lowndes each won a race at Phillip Island last year with Garth Tander taking the third of the triple header. In 2012, Winterbottom split the Phillip Island round with then-Ford teammate Will Davison. Lowndes won at Phillip Island in 2010 and 2011 when the race was a 500km endurance race. Tander won the endurance races in 2008 and 2009.
Other championship battles include Fabian Coulthard leading Bathurst winner Chaz Mostert by 45 points for sixth in the championship. Mostert is 12 points ahead of James Courtney. Volvo driver Scott McLaughlin sits comfortably eighth in the championship, 213 points clear of Garth Tander. Nissan driver Michael Caruso jumped into the top ten of the championship after finishing fifth and third at Surfers Paradise. Mercedes driver Will Davison is 62 points back of Caruso with Nick Percat six back of Davison.
Stock Cars in Salvador
The penultimate round of the Stock Car Brasil championship takes place on the streets of Salvador with a familiar name to the motorsports world leading the way. Rubens Barrichello took the championship leader at Tamurã after finishing ninth and second in the two races. Rubinho leads Thiago Camilo by 9.5 points with Átila Abreu 14.5 points back.
Sixteen drivers are still mathematically eligible for the championship. Five-time Stock Car Brasil champion Cacá Bueno is 18 points back of Barrichello but has yet to win this season. Júlio Campos is 19.5 points back after picking up his first victory of the season at Tamurã. Tamurã race two winner Antonio Pizzonia follows Campos in the championship, 26.5 points behind Barrichello. Max Wilson and Sérgio Jimenez are 33 and 39 points back respectively as both drivers are still looking for their first victories in 2014. Defending champion Ricardo Maurício is ninth in the championship 39.5 points back. Barrichello's teammate, Allam Khodair rounds out the top ten, 41 points back.
Marcos Gomes is three points back of Khodair and Valdeno Brito is four points out of the top ten. Daniel Sierra is 51 points back of Barrichello in thirteenth. Ricardo Zonta trails Barrichello by 76 points with Galid Osman rounds out the top fifteen, 85.5 points behind Barrichello. Felipe Fraga is the final driver mathematically eligible for the title as he finds himself 86 points back with 87 points left on the table over the next two rounds.
Over/Unders
1. Over or Under: 7.5 different nationalities represented across the four class winners at Bahrain?
2. Over or Under: 1.5 different manufactures winning at Phillip Island?
3. Over or Under: 10.5 drivers mathematically eligible for the title after Salvador?
Predictions
1. There will be a new LMP2 championship leader after Bahrain.
2. Jamie Whincup clinches the title at Phillip Island.
3. Cacá Bueno gets his first victory of the season at Salvador.
These predictions will count toward the Friday Five running tally.
