The Porsche GT Team achieved the third win of the season in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) under difficult conditions. At the 6-hour race in Bahrain, the French Kévin Estre and Neel Jani from Switzerland in the Porsche 911 RSR with the starting number 92 narrowly beat their works driver colleagues Gianmaria Bruni from Italy and Richard Lietz from Austria. With the double success in the Kingdom of the Persian Gulf, Porsche conquered the top of the manufacturers' championship before the season finale. In the GTE-Am class, the Dempsey-Proton Racing and Project 1 customer teams each finished on the podium with the roughly 515 hp 911.

"It was a difficult weekend because the pressure was high - we absolutely had to deliver in today's race," explains Alexander Stehlig, Head of Operations at the FIA WEC. “The aim was to achieve the maximum number of points in order to keep the fight for the championship open before the final. That worked. I would like to thank all the mechanics, engineers and the drivers - it was a perfect performance. From the outside, the one-two might look easy, but it was anything but that. The tires had to survive long distances in the intense heat. It's always a ride on the knife edge. We have implemented this optimally. Now we are starting the grand finale next weekend on an equal footing with our competitors. I am looking forward to!"

With an air temperature of up to 35 degrees Celsius and an even hotter track surface, the fifth race of the season developed into the expected heat battle. When starting from positions one and two, Kévin Estre and Gianmaria Bruni stayed extremely cool and consistently fended off attacks from the competition. Then they had to drive the Michelin tires over long distances on the extremely demanding asphalt. The experienced pilots succeeded in doing this perfectly - also due to the team's optimal work in the pits. The experience from the three training sessions helped to keep the pace at a consistently high level over the approximately one-hour stints. At the finish, the starting number 92 in the GTE Pro class had a narrow lead of 0.690 seconds over the structurally identical sister car. Estre and Jani were able to reduce the gap in the drivers' world championship to a single point before the final race in Bahrain next weekend. Bruni and Lietz are in third place. In the manufacturers' championship, Porsche has regained the lead.

In the GTE-Am class, the race at the Bahrain International Circuit was not only shaped by the durability of the tires, but also by the lap times of the amateur drivers. In the close competition of the total of 13 vehicles, Christian Ried and Egidio Perfetti were particularly able to impress. The Dempsey-Proton team owner from Germany delivered strong stints at the wheel of the number 77, while his teammates Matt Campbell from Australia and Jaxon Evans from New Zealand were among the fastest in the field on their way to second place in the class. Perfetti shared the number 56 of Project 1 with the Italians Matteo Cairoli and Riccardo Pera. The Norwegian kept his customer RSR on the podium in the decisive stint in the middle of the race and thus laid the foundation for third place.

The final of the FIA WEC will take place next Saturday, November 6th, also on the Bahrain International Circuit. The sixth and final run of the season covers a distance of eight hours.

Driver comments after the race
Kévin Estre (Porsche 911 RSR # 92): “That was a very important victory for us in the number 92 and an extremely important one-two for Porsche. So we still have every chance of fighting for the title in the final. As a whole team, we delivered a perfect performance. Thanks to the colleagues in the sister car for not making life too difficult for us. That really helps us a lot. Now I'm looking forward to the decisive race. We definitely want to achieve such a dream result again. ”

Neel Jani (Porsche 911 RSR # 92):“A double success for the Porsche 911 RSR - it couldn't be better. We were very close to our sister car throughout the race. At the very end they stopped attacking us. Many thanks to the colleagues! For us, first place is extremely important in order to have the best starting position in the drivers' world championship in the final. We're only one point behind the leaders. In one week we will give everything at the season finale to win all the titles. ”

Gianmaria Bruni (Porsche 911 RSR # 91):“Goal achieved: We wanted first and second place - that was successful. It couldn't be better for Porsche. I am very grateful that I can be part of this large family. We have taken one step on the way to a possible title win. The much more important one should follow next Saturday in the final. ”

Richard Lietz (Porsche 911 RSR # 91):“It was extremely important today to get the tires over the distance. Bahrain is very demanding, so you have to be careful. Anyone who takes full advantage of the grip peak at the beginning on fresh tires receives a tough receipt at the end of a stint. Therefore, our focus was always on not introducing too much energy into the tires. We succeeded in doing that. We also decided not to have an internal team fight, because that would have definitely cost us a lot of time. From my point of view, it was a perfect race for Porsche. ”

Matt Campbell (Porsche 911 RSR # 77):“We have finally achieved our first podium result this season. I take my hat off to the team, they won the duel with the Porsche number 56 for us today. The pit team did a flawless job. I just had to do my best and keep the car on the track. So a huge thank you to the team. ”

Egidio Perfetti (Porsche 911 RSR # 56):“We had a lot of bad luck during the season. With this in mind, we are very happy with today's podium. The three of us drivers were really quick throughout the race. However, we kept losing a little time at the pit stops. That prevented an even better result. We are still satisfied. We would be even happier if we had been the fastest Porsche in our class. Unfortunately that didn't work. ”

Results race
GTE-Pro-Class
1. Estre / Jani (F / CH), Porsche GT Team, Porsche 911 RSR # 92, 174 laps
2. Lietz / Bruni (A / I), Porsche GT Team, Porsche 911 RSR # 91, 174 laps,
3rd Calado / Pier Guidi (GB / I), AF Corse, Ferrari 488 GTE # 51, 174 laps
4. Serra / Molina (BR / E), AF Corse, Ferrari 488 GTE # 52, 174 laps

GTE-Am class
1. Keating / Pereira / Fraga (USA / L / BR), Aston Martin Vantage GTE # 33, 172
2nd lap Ried / Campbell / Evans (D / AUS / NZ), Dempsey-Proton Racing, Porsche 911 RSR # 77, 172 laps
3rd Perfetti / Cairoli / Pera (N / I / I), Team Project 1, Porsche 911 RSR # 56, 172 laps
6th Wainwright / Barker / Gamble (GB / GB / GB), GR Racing, Porsche 911 RSR # 86, 171 laps
13th Andlauer / de Leener / Al Qubaisi (F / B / UAE), Dempsey -Proton Racing, Porsche 911 RSR # 88, 166 laps