The FIA World Endurance Championship is embarking on the first ever double header event in its history in Bahrain. To compensate for the cancellation of the Fuji round, the championship will be decided by two back-to-back races at the Bahrain International Circuit.
According to drivers Kevin Estre and Anthony Davidson, the rare prospect of two races on two consecutive weekends throws up a unique set of challenges for the teams racing in the 2021 WEC season.
The first of the two races, the Six Hours of Bahrain, takes place this Saturday. In contrast to the eight-hour race that takes place next weekend, the six-hour enduro will be contest entirely during the day, with significantly higher temperatures.
According to Estre, this heat, combined with the lower number of tyres available to teams, makes for a unique set of circumstances.
“It’s the same circuit, but on a very different time of the day,” said Estre. “It makes quite a big difference for us. It’s very hot here during the day, the asphalt temperature is very hot due to the sun.”
“We have a lot less tires to play with than the eight hours, for comparison. I would say that’s the big challenge and that’s the big difference. The back to back thing saves some money on logistics.”
The Porsche factory ace also points to a different potential pitfall for teams contesting the double header: the cramped schedule. Under normal circumstances, WEC hosts one race per month, with some rounds offering even longer periods of rest for teams. This gives them the opportunity to analyse and test potential issues.
With only seven days between the first race and the eight-hour season finale next weekend, that time has been severely reduced.
“We don’t have too much time to analyse between the first and the second race,” Estre continued. “If the first race happens to be a bad one for us in terms of performance or tyre issues, then would be very hard to react in the right way for the second one.”
“Normally, we have a minimum of one month between the races, leaving enough time to analyse and maybe do a test in between. Now it’s just back to back.”
Anthony Davidson, who drives for JOTA in the hotly contested LMP2 category, points to a specific potential challenge for gentleman drivers in the LMP2 and GTE Am category.
The experienced Briton, whose work as a broadcaster for Formula One means he is well-acquainted with the concept of a double header since the COVID-19 pandemic started, thinks that the toll of two consecutive race weekends could have an effect on bronze-rated drivers.
“I think probably physically for some of the amateur drivers might be a consideration,” said the former Grand Prix driver. “They might need more time to get over the physical aspect of this hot race.
“Quite often they’re business people that have a very different life to that of a typical racing driver away from the paddock. They don’t spend every other day in the gym and exposing their bodies to this kind of heat and stress that we’ll be going through in the car.”
“I think that may take its toll in many ways on some of the amateurs, but I think for the pro drivers the more races, the merrier.”
