WEC 8 Hours of Bahrain
FIA World Endurance Championship
The WEC has established itself as one of the premier championships under the International Automobile Federation (FIA) and the leading global series for endurance racing.
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Taichi Watarai secures double in Porsche Carrera Cup ME season-opening round at BIC
Taichi Watarai secures double in Porsche Carrera Cup ME season-opening round at BIC
- FIA World Endurance Championship to hold official end-of-season Rookie Test on Sunday in Sakhir, featuring 28 cars
Taichi Watarai completed a fantastic double today in the season-opening round of the 2025/2026 Porsche Carrera Cup Middle East (PCCME), held in support of this weekend’s Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir.
Watarai secured a dominant win from pole position in the meeting’s second race, held in warm and sunny conditions today morning.
He finished the 12-lap event in a total race time of 24mins 55.743secs to add to his triumph from race one on Friday evening – also from pole.
Watarai cruised to the chequered flag today and enjoyed a comfortable gap of 17.741secs from his closest challenger and overall runner-up Cedric Chassang. Khaled Alahmadi claimed the final overall podium step 17.956s from Watarai.
Both Watarai and Alahmadi are competing in the PCCME’s Pro category, while Chassang is racing in the ProAm class. Chassang thus earned the win amongst his group’s runners.
Taking third amongst the Pro competitors was Alexandra Vateva, while joining Chassang on the ProAm podium were Sam Shahin and Bankcy.
In the Masters category, Krister Andero was the victor. He finished ahead of Petr Brecka and Mark J Thomas.
The PCCME’s 2025/2026 calendar features six rounds. Aside from Bahrain, also set to host the championship are Lusial in Qatar, Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE, and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.
The PCCME will be back at BIC for its fifth and penultimate round scheduled for April 10 to 12 next year in support of the Formula One Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2026.
BIC to host end-of-season WEC Rookie Test featuring 28 cars
Bahrain International Circuit (BIC), ‘The Home of Motorsport in the Middle East’, will be hosting on Sunday (Editor’s note: 9 November) the official end-of-season Rookie Test of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).
A total of 28 cars will be running across two sessions to be held in the day, including 12 Hypercars and 16 LMGT3 contenders.
The opening morning session will be held from 10am to 12noon. After an hour’s break, the afternoon runs will take place from 1pm to 4pm. The tests are being conducted behind closed doors.
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