Free Practice 1 | 1st – 1:42.800 |
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Free Practice 2 | 3rd – 1:43.360 |
Free Practice 3 | 1st – 1:40.917 |
Qualifying | 1st – 1:39.736 (1 point) |
Race Start | 5th – 10 points |
Just like the previous two races the number 17 crew started from pole, but unlike those races there was no safety car start thanks to the dry weather in Bahrain. Timo had a good start and managed to pull out a lead but shortly into his stint the car was hit with an engine actuator problem that the team fixed in record time to get the car back out, albeit several laps down.
Timo brought the car back up behind the other LMP1 cars before pitting to allow Brendon to take over, a few laps later and the No. 17 crew were passed the ByKolles and Rebellion cars but still had the mammoth task of getting up behind the Toyotas.
The race looked to be going in Audi’s favour until their No. 8 car had its own problems which cost them a few laps, bringing the No. 17 Porsche back up into 5th position and with the sister Porsche poised to win the race it was more than enough for Mark and his team to secure the driver’s title.
With a couple of hours to go Mark took over the driving seat and despite transmission issues with the car he managed to bring it home in 5th position, enough for Mark and his teammates to be crowned the 2015 World Endurance Drivers’ Champions thanks to the No. 18 car winning the race and the No. 7 Audi finishing second.