Porsche’s Michael Christensen has reacted to the highly controversial finale to the GTE Pro title decider at the Eight Hours of Bahrain, which saw the Dane get involved in a collision with Alessandro Pier Guidi.
Christensen was leading the class in the #92 Porsche 911 RSR-19 with Pier Guidi’s #51 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo closely behind in the closing minutes of the eight-hour contest.
At the conclusion of the battle, the Ferrari rear-ended the Porsche under braking for the final corner, tagging Christensen into a spin.
Pier Guidi was ordered by race control to give the position back, but retained the lead and went on to take the chequered flag and, at least provisionally, the world title.
Christensen said that Pier Guidi hit him from behind as he was focused on navigating the corner with a faster LMP2 car coming up from behind.
“My point of view was that an LMP2 went on the inside on me, which on the way to the corner, I tried to show I didn’t want him to get by,” Christensen told MotorsportWeek.com.
“In the end, I let him by, braked normal and just before I have to turn in, I got a massive hit from the rear end, no chance to control the car basically.”
Both Christensen and Pier Guidi brought their cars into the pits shortly thereafter for a fuel stop, after which the Ferrari remained out front, even as the order from race control to swap positions had already been made. It is currently unclear if the result will stand, or if Ferrari will face further consequences for not complying with the order from race control.
When Christensen was asked if he expects any changes in the result, he was brief:
“If if the world is fair, then yes. I can’t believe that this is a way to race. I can’t believe anyone thinks this is the way to race, really. But of course, that’s not up to me of to decide.”
The pitstop made shortly after the contact was planned prior to the incident, according to the Dane, as the Porsche was already running low on fuel. Additionally, the car was also brought in for damage checks after the contact.
“We had to do a splash and dash but we we went in immediately to check the car. It was clearly damaged in the rear but they assessed that we could continue to the end.”
