8 Hours of Bahrain: Everyone is here… except Glickenhaus
As the last race of the season approaches, the 36 entrants were presented in the culmination of a successful inaugural season in the new era of WEC. But Glickenhaus will not be part of the celebration in the Hypercar category.
Here is the moment when the curtain is about to fall on a 2023 season full of emotions: the massive return of manufacturers in the premier category, breathtaking 24 Hours of Le Mans, and a season that, even dominated by Toyota, was incredibly enjoyable to watch, regardless of the category.
In this case, in the premier class, everyone is here: both Toyotas are here to compete for the driver’s title, as well as the Ferrari No. 51 which is still mathematically in the running. But the Glickenhaus team, enjoying considerable popularity among observers, will not return to finish the season. And probably won’t return anymore, unless funds are found.
For the rest, we will indeed find two official Porsche cars and two private ones (Jota and Proton), two Peugeot cars, one Cadillac, and one Vanwall. This makes a total of twelve Hypercars, awaiting the arrivals of Alpine, BMW, Lamborghini, and Isotta Fraschini next year.
The eleven LMP2 competitors in the championship will also be part of the event: we are actually waiting to find out who between WRT (with the N°41 Kubica/Deletraz/Andrade), Inter Europol (with the N°34 Scherer/Costa/Smiechowski) and United Autosport (with the N°22 Hanson/Pierson/Lubin) will win the FIA LMP2 drivers’ trophy. Alpine, with the N°35 and N°36, will be eager to finish their transition to LMP2 in style, before going to challenge the factory armada in Hypercar.
Finally, for the last round of the GTE-Am (and even GTE in general), the stakes will be lower, as Corvette (with car No. 33 driven by Keating/Castburg/Varrone) has already clinched the world title for drivers.
They will, however, be interesting for the last rounds of the season, as the Iron Dames (Bovy/Gatting/Frey) will attempt to secure their first victory in the WEC. This would be the first victory for an all-female crew in a world championship.
Observers have full confidence in the drivers and teams to deliver a finale worthy of the first year of a new golden age for endurance. A golden era that is only just beginning!
The list of entries for the 8 Hours of Bahrain can be found here.
