Porsche has insisted that it is not going into Saturday’s World Endurance Championship finale in Bahrain with a conservative approach as it looks to seal the drivers’ and manufacturers’ titles. 

The German marque will start the Bahrain 8 Hours “looking to maximise its finishing position” with both its 963 LMDhs, according to Porsche Penske Motorsport managing director Jonathan Diuguid.

That comment comes despite the fact that Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre and Andre Lotterer in the #6 PPM entry only need to finish ninth to secure the title. 

“Our feedback to everyone is: ‘don’t do anything differently to what we have been doing’,” said Diuguid on the eve of the 2024 WEC series finale.

“We haven’t gone points racing at a single event this year and we are not going to go points racing on Saturday either. That’s what’s got us into this position.

“We are going to do what we have been doing the whole season: let’s go out there and try to beat them [the opposition].”

#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Urs Kuratle, head of the LMDh programme at Porsche Motorsport, added that the strategy is “not so different from our normal approach”. 

But he explained that Porsche and PPM could modify its plans over the course of the eight hours.

“We have to be flexible and have to react to whatever the race presents,” said Kuratle. 

Porsche Motorsport boss Thomas Laudenbach suggested that it would be possible to over-think its strategy going into the race in Bahrain. 

“If we tried to predict everything, we would have to go through every scenario, and it would be too much of a puzzle for the team,” he said. 

Porsche will be taking an approach that it described as “situational”. 

“If you are leading the race and your strongest competitor is out, obviously you are not going to take any risks,” explained Laudenbach. 

“And if someone is coming up on you with nothing to lose, you might handle it differently than if you are racing your direct competition for the championship, because they will be making sure they don’t damage their car as well.”

Porsche’s task in the manufacturers’ standings is more difficult than in the drivers’ championship. 

It is only 10 points ahead whereas Vanthoor, Estre and Lotterer have a 35-point advantage with only 38 up for grabs.

A victory for second-placed Toyota would give it the manufacturers’ title even if Porsche finishes second.

Toyota took the point for pole position courtesy of Brendon Hartley in the Japanese manufacturers’ #8 entry, but that will have no bearing on the destination of the title if one of the GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercars wins the race. 

But it could prove crucial in other scenarios, however. 

If the best Toyota takes second and the best PPM entry fourth, for example, the two manufacturers would be tied on 179 points. 

The Japanese manufacturer would then take the title on countback by virtue of more second places.

The drivers of the #6 963 have 150 points going into the race in Bahrain to the 115 of second-placed Ferrari crew of Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina. 

Toyota drivers Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries have 113 points and are also mathematically in with a chance of the title. 

Porsche has 161 points in the manufacturers’ standings to Toyota’s 151, while Ferrari on 134 points is nominally in title contention. 

The Bahrain 8 Hours kicks off at 2pm local time and 11am GMT.

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Francesco Bagnaia made an early statement in his bid to beat world championship leader Jorge Martin by setting the fastest lap time in Friday’s Free Practice 1 for the Malaysian Grand Prix.

In contrast to Pramac Ducati’s Martin, factory Ducati rider Bagnaia chose to run a soft front at the end of the session, a move that powered him to a time fully 1.647s better than Martin’s.

Maverick Vinales (Aprilia) and Marco Bezzecchi (VR46 Ducati) joined Bagnaia with late runs on soft rubber, and duly set laps good enough for second and third on the timesheets respectively. Vinales was however 0.743s in arrears of Bagnaia, with Bezzecchi over a second adrift.

Jack Miller (KTM) in fourth was quickest of the riders to take the more conventional approach to the session by simply running a medium front tyre throughout.

Tech 3 GasGas rider Pedro Acosta was fifth behind the Australian and the only rider to drop his bike during the session, with a very late crash at Turn 9.

Martin was third-quickest of the riders to stick with the mediums and thus sixth overall. The Spaniard, who leads the championship by 17 points over Bagnaia with one round to go after Malaysia, made one small mistake during the session as he outbraked himself and ran wide at the final corner.

Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) was seventh-fastest, followed by Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo.

Quartararo led much of the session before the likes of Bagnaia pitted for soft rubber. The Frenchman’s bike broke down with a few minutes remaining in the session, although he was able to coast it back to the garage.

MotoGP returnee Andrea Iannone broke into the top 10 for VR46 Ducati, where he is replacing the injured Fabio di Giannantonio. This ninth-fastest time was also courtesy of a late lap on a soft front, however.

Only five riders in total pulled the soft-rubber move, with Trackhouse Aprilia’s Lorenzo Savadori the fifth and slowest of these in 18th.

Acosta’s team-mate Augusto Fernandez completed the top 10, almost two seconds down on the pace-setting Bagnaia.

Gresini’s Marc Marquez was 12th and Bagnaia’s factory Ducati team-mate Enea Bastianini ended FP1 14th. The pair are battling for third in the world championship.

Track action at Sepang started in slightly damp conditions after rain earlier in the morning, which led to an FP1 that was largely cautious and uneventful. It can also be regarded as inconclusive given the varying tyre strategies at play.

Photos from Malaysian GP Practice

Peugeot returned to the top of the times in final practice for this weekend’s season finale of the World Endurance Championship in Bahrain. 

Jean-Eric Vergne set the pace in the Friday morning Free Practice 1 session aboard the #93 Peugeot 9X8 2024 Le Mans Hypercar, following up on Paul di Resta’s table-topping performance in FP1 on Thursday.

The Frenchman’s 1m49.443s set at the beginning of the 60-minute session gave him a margin of two tenths over second-placed Yifei Ye, who got down to a 1m40.662s aboard the customer AF Corse-run Ferrari 499P LMH. 

Lamborghini took third place courtesy of a 1m50.014s from Daniil Kvyat in the solo Iron Lynx SC63 LMDh. 

Peugeot, which has been given a Balance of Performance break for the Bahrain event, backed up its front-running FP3 pace with fourth position from di Resta in the second of the 9X8 LMHs. 

The ex-Formula 1 driver’s 1m50.028s put him just one hundredth of a second behind the Lamborghini. 

#94 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Paul Di Resta, #93 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Mikkel Jensen

Photo by: Andreas Beil

The two Alpine A424 LMDhs finished fifth and sixth: Mick Schumacher’s 1m50.612s giving him a half second margin over Ferdinand Habsburg in the sister car run by the Signatech squad.

Antonio Fuoco placed the best of the factory Ferrari 499Ps in seventh and the sister AF-run works car jumped to eighth late in the session in Antonio Giovinazzi’s hands.

Fuoco only completed seven laps before pitting because of a suspected issue with a cable in the front Motor Generator Unit (MGU) and the car did not return to the track.

The two customer Jota Porsche 963 LMDhs rounded out the top 10 with Norman Nato just shading Oliver Rasmussen. 

Toyota took 11th with the fastest of its pair of GR010 HYBRID LMHs with Kamui Kobayashi at the wheel, while the championship-leading factory Porsche 963 was 12th in the hands of Andre Lotterer.

BMW, which led the way in FP2 on Thursday, ended up 17th and 18th with its pair of WRT-run M Hybrid V8s.

The #92 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3-R took top spot in LMGT3 with Alex Malykhin at the wheel. 

The Belarusian, who claimed the LMGT3 class title last time out in the WEC at Fuji in September with team-mates Klaus Bachler and Joel Sturm, set a 2m03.987s lap to end up just five hundredths quicker than Arnold Robin in the fastest of the Auto Sport Promotion Lexus RC F GT3s. 

Qualifying for the Bahrain 8 Hours kicks off at 16:00 local time on Friday.

Photos from Bahrain Friday Practice

WEC Bahrain – Free Practice 3 results

McLaren has so far been the team to beat on one lap pace, with Lando Norris topping FP1 and team-mate Oscar Piastri taking pole in the sprint shootout.

As per the 2024 format, qualifying for the grand prix will take place on Saturday afternoon, a few hours after the sprint race. 

What time does qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix start?

The qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix will begin at 3pm local time (-3 GMT) on Saturday at Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace (Interlagos Circuit)

• Date: Saturday, 02 November 2024
• Start time: 18:00 GMT /  19:00 CET / 20:00 SAT / 21:00 EAT / 14:00 ET / 11:00 PT / 05:00 AEDT (Sunday) / 03:00 JST (Sunday) / 23:30 IST 

2024 Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix session timings in different timezones

How can I watch qualifying?

Formula 1 is broadcast live in nearly every country around the world. 

Europe: 

• Austria – Servus TV / ORF
• Belgium – RTBF / Telenet / Play Sports
• Croatia – Sport Klub
• Czech Republic – AMC
• Denmark – TV3+ / TV3 Sport / Viaplay
• Estonia: Viaplay
• Finland – Viaplay 
• France – Canal+
• Germany – Sky 
• Greece – ANT1 / ANT1+
• Hungary – M4
• Italy – Sky
• Netherlands – Viaplay / Viaplay Xtra
• Norway – V sport 1 / V sport + / Viaplay
• Poland – Viaplay
• Portugal – Sport TV
• Spain – F1 DAZN
• Sweden – Viaplay / V sport motor / TV 10
• Switzerland – SRF / RSI / RTS
• UK – Sky Sports F1

Americas: 

• USA – ESPN Network
• Canada – RDS / RDS2 / TSN / Noovo
• Latin America – ESPN

Asia: 

• China – CCTV / Shanghai TV / Guangdong Television Channel / Tencent
• India – FanCode
• Japan – Fuji TV / DAZN
• Malaysia – beIN SPORTS
• Indonesia- beIN SPORTS
• Singapore – beIN SPORTS
• Thailand – beIN SPORTS
• Vietnam – K+

Oceania: 

• Australia – Fox Sports / Foxtel / Kayo / Network Ten
• New Zealand – Sky

Africa: 

Can I stream qualifying?

Viewers from selected countries can subscribe to F1 TV to stream qualifying on a device of their choice. Some local broadcasters such as Sky TV (UK) and Movistar (Spain) also offer their own on-demand service. 

Live commentary

Motorsport.com will bring the latest updates from Brrazil throughout the weekend, including live commentary during qualifying on Saturday.

Brazilian GP – FP1 results:

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