[WEC Race] 2021 The Bahrain races

[carbsmith]

Looking at the scoring really close, the #51 was ordered to give up what would amount to 11 seconds on lap 227 and they slowed down by about 9.5-10s from the pace the leaders had been running up until that point. They led by 1.6s at the first sector after both pit stops...this line of reasoning honestly doesn't help much. I still don't have much sympathy for Porsche given the timing of their pitting was a blatant attempt to milk the penalty for a free stop when their strategy otherwise required staying out as long as possible to prevent the faster Ferrari overcutting them (and AF Corse appeared to pit when they did to minimize any penalty implications), and I can't think of a mechanism to protest on the grounds of the time deltas anyways.

Canceling a position swap when the car behind leaves the track is normal anyways. If no attempt to give back the position has been made then it usually results in a time penalty but in this case they'd obviously already done the vast majority of it and it would just get written off in the flow of the race if there was more than 10 minutes left.

[bobec]

Originally Posted by carbsmith

Looking at the scoring really close, the #51 was ordered to give up what would amount to 11 seconds on lap 227 and they slowed down by about 9.5-10s from the pace the leaders had been running up until that point. They led by 1.6s at the first sector after both pit stops...this line of reasoning honestly doesn't help much. I still don't have much sympathy for Porsche given the timing of their pitting was a blatant attempt to milk the penalty for a free stop when their strategy otherwise required staying out as long as possible to prevent the faster Ferrari overcutting them (and AF Corse appeared to pit when they did to minimize any penalty implications), and I can't think of a mechanism to protest on the grounds of the time deltas anyways.

Canceling a position swap when the car behind leaves the track is normal anyways. If no attempt to give back the position has been made then it usually results in a time penalty but in this case they'd obviously already done the vast majority of it and it would just get written off in the flow of the race if there was more than 10 minutes left.

Porsche said they had to inspect the damage and that there was damage to the diffuser and the exhaust. Also Jani said the tires were shot after the spin.

Just realized from all this the exhaust on the RSR is back at the rear. They had moved it to the side so it wouldn't get damaged from incidents like this one.

[bobec]

Something seems to fly off from the rear of the Porsche when it gets hit (moving towards the outside of the corner and towards the right side of the screen). Not sure it can be just rubber.

https://twitter.com/PorscheRaces/sta...61507561365510

[Pandamasque]

It could be from the Ferrari's nose too. Hard to tell from that angle.

[bella]

Originally Posted by bobec

Porsche said they had to inspect the damage and that there was damage to the diffuser and the exhaust. Also Jani said the tires were shot after the spin.

i don't think you'd find many teams that would do that unless they considered the championship truly lost. you'd let it run for a lap or two to check the vibrations weren't just from pickup, you'd do a visual check on pitwall for damage and you'd keep an eye on the data for any unusual temp readings. if there's damage on the floor there's sod all you can do about it anyway.

idk how marginal the tyres were on the LHS in that class but even then it seems like a huge call. plus if you've used your allocation well you'd potentially not have a full set to replace with at this stage in the race anyway. bringing it in earlier would make them more iffy at the end for fuel as well.

the only way you'd bring the car in is if you *knew* the one you were chasing was going to get a drive through giving you almost a free stop. looking at the video and the way christensen was all over the shop just before, it doesn't really back that up.

[J Jay]

Unless I've misheard from MWM (I am rather tired), Porsche have dropped their pending appeal over the result of the Bahrain 8H WEC race.

They have accepted the result and called for greater clarity and consistency of sanctions for future WEC races.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by bella

i don't think you'd find many teams that would do that unless they considered the championship truly lost. you'd let it run for a lap or two to check the vibrations weren't just from pickup, you'd do a visual check on pitwall for damage and you'd keep an eye on the data for any unusual temp readings. if there's damage on the floor there's sod all you can do about it anyway.

I agree, that would be the normal approach.

Although did they have to stop at some point before the end? I think they did (???). In which case you might call to do ASAP it for their stated reason?

[bella]

yeah i read that they did too. if it makes sense in terms of track position, yeah. but a spash and dash suggests they weren’t planning to replace tyres, and who has a full spare set at that stage of the race?? did they replace the LHS and leave the RHS as planned?

but like i say, i suspect they were banking on the ferrari getting a drive through for shenanigans.

sounds like it’s all sorted now anyway. porsche’s statement just says to me that they threw a wobbly because it seemed marginal but the danger with doing it in public is always that you come out of it looking like you’re trying to pull a fast one and win at any cost. i don’t think that goes down brilliantly in endurance racing.

[bobec]

Originally Posted by bella

yeah i read that they did too. if it makes sense in terms of track position, yeah. but a spash and dash suggests they weren’t planning to replace tyres, and who has a full spare set at that stage of the race?? did they replace the LHS and leave the RHS as planned?

I thought both the Porsche and the Ferrari had to pit for a splash and dash. The Porsche did it sooner than later to check the damage from the incident. As for the tires, if their claim is correct, the incident made them slower for the rest of the race.