As the FIA World Endurance Championship reaches its season finale with the Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain, Alpine Endurance Team is looking to build on its success in 2025, a year which has seen the Bourges-based squad finish on the Hypercar podium on three occasions which included victory in the 6 Hours of Fuji.
Currently sitting 5th in the Manufacturers’ Championship, Alpine is 21 points behind Toyota. The last time the WEC visited Bahrain, Alpine finished just off the podium with the #35 Alpine A424 piloted by Paul Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg and Jules Gounon finishing 4th, just over half a second behind the #93 Peugeot Total Energies Peugeot 9XB with Mikkel Jensen, Nico Müller and Jean-Eric Vergne sharing the driving duties.
For Team Principal Philippe Sinault, Bahrain will be about maintaining the team’s momentum following their win in Japan.
“We’ve regained some solid momentum since our victory at Fuji and the challenge now is to keep improving to remain among the top manufacturers in the premier class, where the competition is exceptionally strong,” he said. “The specific characteristics of Bahrain are well known. The track, located in the middle of the desert, requires particular attention to tyre degradation, accentuated by the sand and the temperature variations between night and day.
“Again, this will be a key factor if we are to be competitive throughout the race,” continued Sinault. “The whole team is 100% focused on finishing the season in the best possible way. To do this, the goal will be to achieve what we have not yet done this season: get both of our cars into strong points-scoring positions. Meanwhile we are already looking ahead to 2026. We have been working on this for many weeks but we will really get down to business as soon as the chequered flag falls Saturday evening.”
Track action gets underway in Bahrain at 1215 local time on Thursday November the 6th with the first free practice session. Qualifying starts at 1600 local time on Friday November the 7th with the lights going out for the start of the Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain at 1400 on Saturday November the 8th.
