The 2023 Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain was an endurance sportscar racing event held on 4 November 2023, as the seventh and final round of the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship. It was the twelfth running of the event, and the fifth running in an extended 8 hours format.

The event is notable as it featured the first class win for an all-female driving crew – the Iron Dames Porsche driven by Sarah Bovy, Rahel Frey and Michelle Gatting won the LMGTE Am category.

Background On 26 October 2023, the FIA published the Balance of Performance (BoP) for the Hypercar and LMGTE AM classes. In Hypercar, the Cadillac and Porsche both lost 7 kilograms of weight. They also both lost 1 MJ of maximum stint energy. For all other cars in the class, the BoP remained the same as it was during the Fuji round. In LMGTE Am, the Aston Martin received a fuel tank increase of 2 litres and an 0.04 increase in engine power. The Corvette received a fuel tank decrease of 2 litres, and a decrease of 0.6 mm for the maximum size of the air restrictor. For the Porsche and Ferrari, the BoP remained the same as it was during the Fuji round.

Entry list There were 36 cars entered into the event: 12 Hypercars, 11 LMP2 cars, and 13 LMGTE Am cars. In Hypercar, Ryan Briscoe replaced João Paulo de Oliveira in the No. 4 Floyd Vanwall Racing Team machine. Furthermore, Nico Müller returned to the No. 94 Peugeot TotalEnergies machine, after missing the Fuji round due to an injury.

In LMP2, Mirko Bortolotti returned to the No. 63 Prema Racing machine, and Tom Blomqvist returned to the No. 23 United Autosports machine. In LMGTE Am, Franck Dezoteux joined the No. 21 AF Corse machine, with Liam Talbot replacing Satoshi Hoshino in the No. 777 D'Station Racing machine. Furthermore, Esteban Masson joined the No. 57 Kessel Racing machine, replacing Ritomo Miyata, whilst Daniel Serra also returned after missing the previous two rounds.

Schedule Date Time (local: AST) Event Thursday, 2 November 12:15 Free Practice 1 17:30 Free Practice 2 Friday, 3 November 12:00 Free Practice 3 16:15 Qualifying - LMGTE Am 16:40 Qualifying - LMP2 17:05 Qualifying - Hypercar Saturday, 4 November 14:00 Race Source:

Free practice Only the fastest car in each class is shown. Free Practice 1 Class Entrant Driver Time Hypercar 7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Kamui Kobayashi 1:49.856 LMP2 22 United Autosports Filipe Albuquerque 1:54.100 LMGTE Am 777 D'Station Racing Tomonobu Fujii 1:59.516 Free Practice 2 Class Entrant Driver Time Hypercar 7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Kamui Kobayashi 1:46.851 LMP2 22 United Autosports Filipe Albuquerque 1:52.850 LMGTE Am 57 Kessel Racing Daniel Serra 1:58.246 Free Practice 3 Class Entrant Driver Time Hypercar 2 Cadillac Racing Alex Lynn 1:49.512 LMP2 23 United Autosports Tom Blomqvist 1:53.661 LMGTE Am 56 Project 1 – AO Matteo Cairoli 1:58.214 Source:

Qualifying Pole position winners in each class are marked in bold. ClassTeamTime1Hypercar8 Toyota Gazoo Racing1:46.564 -12Hypercar7 Toyota Gazoo Racing1:47.053 +0.48923Hypercar2 Cadillac Racing1:47.265 +0.70134Hypercar6 Porsche Penske Motorsport1:47.712 +1.14845Hypercar50 Ferrari AF Corse1:47.739 +1.17556Hypercar51 Ferrari AF Corse1:47.828 +1.26467Hypercar5 Porsche Penske Motorsport1:47.946 +1.38278Hypercar99 Proton Competition1:47.964 +1.40089Hypercar38 Hertz Team Jota1:48.555 +1.991910Hypercar93 Peugeot TotalEnergies1:48.987 +2.4231011Hypercar94 Peugeot TotalEnergies1:49.502 +2.9381112Hypercar4 Floyd Vanwall Racing Team1:50.682 +4.1181213LMP223 United Autosports1:52.290 +5.7261314LMP236 Alpine Elf Team1:52.561 +5.9971415LMP231 Team WRT1:52.898 +6.3341516LMP210 Vector Sport1:52.9036.3391617LMP222 United Autosports1:52.992 +6.4281718LMP29 Prema Racing1:53.033 +6.4691819LMP234 Inter Europol Competition1:53.086 +6.5221920LMP263 Prema Racing1:53.191 +6.6272021LMP228 Jota1:53.320 +6.7562122LMP241 Team WRT1:53.580 +7.0162223LMP235 Alpine Elf Team1:54.023 +7.4592324LMGTE Am85 Iron Dames1:58.692 +12.1282425LMGTE Am777 D'Station Racing1:58.982 +12.4182526LMGTE Am25 ORT by TF1:59.161 +12.5972627LMGTE Am57 Kessel Racing1:59.162 +12.5982728LMGTE Am33 Corvette Racing1:59.412 +12.8482829LMGTE Am98 NorthWest AMR1:59.683 +13.1192930LMGTE Am54 AF Corse1:59.761 +13.1973031LMGTE Am77 Dempsey-Proton Racing2:00.063 +13.4993132LMGTE Am83 Richard Mille AF Corse2:00.279 +13.7153233LMGTE Am56 Project 1 – AO2:00.446 +13.8823334LMGTE Am86 GR Racing2:01.275 +14.7113435LMGTE Am60 Iron Lynx2:01.547 +14.9833536LMGTE Am21 AF Corse2:02.646 +16.08236Source:

Race The minimum number of laps for classification (70% of overall winning car's distance) was 174 laps. Class winners are in bold and . Class Team Drivers Chassis Tyre Time/Retired Engine 1 Hypercar 8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Sébastien Buemi Brendon Hartley Ryo Hirakawa Toyota GR010 Hybrid 249 8:01:25.308 Toyota H8909 3.5 L Turbo V6 2 Hypercar 7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi José María López Toyota GR010 Hybrid 249 +47.516 Toyota H8909 3.5 L Turbo V6 3 Hypercar 50 Ferrari AF Corse Antonio Fuoco Miguel Molina Nicklas Nielsen Ferrari 499P 249 +1:36.286 Ferrari F163 3.0 L Turbo V6 4 Hypercar 38 Hertz Team Jota António Félix da Costa Will Stevens Yifei Ye Porsche 963 249 +1:37.248 Porsche 9RD 4.6 L Turbo V8 5 Hypercar 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Kévin Estre André Lotterer Laurens Vanthoor Porsche 963 248 +1 Lap Porsche 9RD 4.6 L Turbo V8 6 Hypercar 51 Ferrari AF Corse James Calado Antonio Giovinazzi Alessandro Pier Guidi Ferrari 499P 248 +1 Lap Ferrari F163 3.0 L Turbo V6 7 Hypercar 5 Porsche Penske Motorsport Dane Cameron Michael Christensen Frédéric Makowiecki Porsche 963 247 +2 Laps Porsche 9RD 4.6 L Turbo V8 8 Hypercar 94 Peugeot TotalEnergies Loïc Duval Gustavo Menezes Nico Müller Peugeot 9X8 247 +2 Laps Peugeot X6H 2.6 L Turbo V6 9 Hypercar 93 Peugeot TotalEnergies Mikkel Jensen Paul di Resta Jean-Éric Vergne Peugeot 9X8 247 +2 Laps Peugeot X6H 2.6 L Turbo V6 10 Hypercar 99 Proton Competition Gianmaria Bruni Neel Jani Harry Tincknell Porsche 963 247 +2 Laps Porsche 9RD 4.6 L Turbo V8 11 Hypercar 2 Cadillac Racing Earl Bamber Alex Lynn Richard Westbrook Cadillac V-Series.R 246 +3 Laps Cadillac LMC55R 5.5 L V8 12 LMP2 41 Team WRT Rui Andrade Louis Delétraz Robert Kubica Oreca 07 238 +11 Laps Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 13 LMP2 31 Team WRT Robin Frijns Sean Gelael Ferdinand Habsburg Oreca 07 238 +11 Laps Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 14 LMP2 28 Jota Pietro Fittipaldi David Heinemeier Hansson Oliver Rasmussen Oreca 07 238 +11 Laps Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 15 LMP2 9 Prema Racing Mirko Bortolotti Filip Ugran Bent Viscaal Oreca 07 238 +11 Laps Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 16 LMP2 63 Prema Racing Mathias Beche Daniil Kvyat Doriane Pin Oreca 07 237 +12 Laps Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 17 LMP2 34 Inter Europol Competition Albert Costa Fabio Scherer Jakub Śmiechowski Oreca 07 237 +12 Laps Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 18 LMP2 36 Alpine Elf Team Julien Canal Charles Milesi Matthieu Vaxivière Oreca 07 237 +12 Laps Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 19 LMP2 23 United Autosports Tom Blomqvist Oliver Jarvis Josh Pierson Oreca 07 237 +12 Laps Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 20 LMP2 22 United Autosports Filipe Albuquerque Philip Hanson Frederick Lubin Oreca 07 237 +12 Laps Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 21 LMP2 35 Alpine Elf Team Olli Caldwell André Negrão Memo Rojas Oreca 07 236 +13 Laps Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 22 LMGTE Am 85 Iron Dames Sarah Bovy Rahel Frey Michelle Gatting Porsche 911 RSR-19 232 +17 Laps Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6 23 LMGTE Am 777 D'Station Racing Tomonobu Fujii Casper Stevenson Liam Talbot Aston Martin Vantage AMR 232 +17 Laps Aston Martin 4.0 L Turbo V8 24 LMGTE Am 98 NorthWest AMR Ian James Daniel Mancinelli Alex Riberas Aston Martin Vantage AMR 232 +17 Laps Aston Martin 4.0 L Turbo V8 25 LMGTE Am 54 AF Corse Francesco Castellacci Thomas Flohr Davide Rigon Ferrari 488 GTE Evo 232 +17 Laps Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8 26 LMGTE Am 57 Kessel Racing Takeshi Kimura Esteban Masson Daniel Serra Ferrari 488 GTE Evo 232 +17 Laps Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8 27 LMGTE Am 77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Julien Andlauer Christian Ried Mikkel O. Pedersen Porsche 911 RSR-19 231 +18 Laps Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6 28 LMGTE Am 33 Corvette Racing Nicky Catsburg Ben Keating Nicolás Varrone Chevrolet Corvette C8.R 231 +18 Laps Chevrolet 5.5 L V8 29 LMGTE Am 86 GR Racing Ben Barker Riccardo Pera Michael Wainwright Porsche 911 RSR-19 231 +18 Laps Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6 30 LMGTE Am 83 Richard Mille AF Corse Luis Pérez Companc Alessio Rovera Lilou Wadoux Ferrari 488 GTE Evo 231 +18 Laps Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8 31 LMGTE Am 56 Project 1 – AO Matteo Cairoli P.J. Hyett Gunnar Jeannette Porsche 911 RSR-19 230 +19 Laps Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6 32 LMGTE Am 21 AF Corse Kei Cozzolino Franck Dezoteux Simon Mann Ferrari 488 GTE Evo 229 +20 Laps Ferrari F154CB 3.9 L Turbo V8 33 Hypercar 4 Floyd Vanwall Racing Team Ryan Briscoe Esteban Guerrieri Tristan Vautier Vanwall Vandervell 680 217 +32 Laps Gibson GL458 4.5 L V8 LMGTE Am 25 ORT by TF Ahmad Al Harthy Michael Dinan Charlie Eastwood Aston Martin Vantage AMR 217 Not classified Aston Martin 4.0 L Turbo V8 LMP2 10 Vector Sport Gabriel Aubry Ryan Cullen Matthias Kaiser Oreca 07 216 Not classified Gibson GK428 4.2 L V8 LMGTE Am 60 Iron Lynx Matteo Cressoni Alessio Picariello Claudio Schiavoni Porsche 911 RSR-19 163 Driver illness Porsche 4.2 L Flat-6Source:

References