The 2024 8 Hours of Bahrain (officially known as the 2024 Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain) was an endurancesportscar racing event held on 2 November 2024, as the eighth and final round of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship. It was the thirteenth running of the event, and the sixth running of the event in an extended 8-hour format.
Background
The event, which ran over a duration of eight hours for the sixth time in a row, was announced during the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans weekend. The 8 Hours of Bahrain has been featured on the calendar since the series' inception in 2012.[1]
Three practice sessions were held before the event: two were held on Thursday, and one was held on Friday. The sessions on Thursday morning and Thursday afternoon lasted 90 minutes, and the session on Fruday morning lasted 60 minutes.[4]
Note: Only the fastest car in each class is shown.
Practice 2
The second practice session started at 17:30 AST on Thursday, and saw Dries Vanthoor lead the session in the No. 15 BMW M Team WRT entry, with a lap time of 1:48.257. He was 0.054 seconds quicker than Matt Campbell in the No. 5 Porsche, with Giovinazzi in the No. 51 Ferrari once again taking the third position, 0.215 seconds behind Vanthoor.[9]Esteban Masson led the LMGT3 class in the No. 87 Lexus, with a lap time of 2:02.246. He was 0.655 seconds quicker than Hiroshi Koizumi in the No. 82 TF Sport entry, with François Hériau rounding out the top three in the No. 55 Ferrari.[10]
Note: Only the fastest car in each class is shown.
Final practice
The third and final practice session started at 12:00 AST on Friday, which saw Vergne topping the time sheets in the No. 93 Peugeot with a lap time of 1:49.443. He was 0.219 seconds quicker than Yifei Ye in the No. 83 AF Corse entry, with Daniil Kvyat finishing third-quickest in the No. 63 LamborghiniIron Lynx entry.[13]Alex Malykhin led the LMGT3 class in the No. 92 Manthey PureRxcing entry, lapping the circuit in 2 minutes, 3.987 seconds. His lap was 0.054 seconds quicker than that of second-placed Arnold Robin in the No. 78 Lexus, with Hériau finishing third-quickest in the No. 55 Ferrari.[14]
^The No. 36 Alpine Endurance Team entry received a 5-second penalty for causing a collision with the No. 50 FerrariAF Corse entry. Their final finishing position was unaffected.[19]
^The No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport received two 5-second penalties: the first was for overtaking the No. 15 BMW M Team WRT entry off the track, whilst the second was for causing a collision with the No. 36 Alpine Endurance Team entry. Their final finishing position was unaffected.[20][21]
^The No. 51 FerrariAF Corse entry received a 295-second penalty for using 2 more tyres than the tyre allocation allowed. They dropped from 2nd to 14th overall.[22]
^The No. 31 Team WRT entry received a drive-through penalty for causing a collision with the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team entry. Since they finished the race before taking the drive-through penalty, it was converted into a 50-second time penalty. They dropped from 26th to 27th overall, and from 12th to 13th in class.[23]