RGR Sport kept their track record of stellar performances alive with a 2nd place finish at the 6 Hours of Bahrain, the finale of the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship. The eighteen points from the seventh podium finish of the year secured 2nd place in the Championship for the first-year team, only five points ahead of Russian crew, G-Drive Racing, who finished 3rd in the standings.
The team went to sleep after qualifying thinking they would start the race from 4th, but woke up to the news that the G-Drive Racing was disqualified after the session for the removal of two mesh grills used to cover the break cooling ducts, which would result in the #26 having to start from the back of the entire grid and RGR Sport moving up to 3rd. Bruno Senna took charge of the start and was able to take advantage of the breaking zone in Turn 1 to move around Lynn in the #44 Manor car for 2nd place. For the entire first hour, Senna was able to stay on the tail of Menezes, piloting the #36 Signatech Alpine.
The first pit stop of the race happened late in the first hour where the Mexican team chose to do fuel and tires, causing the gap between them and the #36 to increase. Senna was able to quickly make up the time and RGR Sport eventually made the move into 1st place after the second pit stop, choosing to do fuel and one tire only where as the #36 went for a full stop including driver change. Senna was able to close hour two in 1st place with a six second lead over Lapierre in the #36.
It wasn’t long into hour three until Senna started feeling the pressure of the #36 as they began to close the gap. The duo finally hit traffic in the middle sector, allowing the #36 to use their quicker race pace to take back 1st place. Eventually the time came for the teams third pit stop and driver change from Senna to team boss, Ricardo Gonzalez, moving them into 3rd place. Gonzalez closed the first half of the race in 3rd place while also closing the gap to Daziel in the #31 car of ESM.
The race’s first Full Course Yellow slowed the field down to 80 kilometers per hour after two of the GT Aston Martins made significant contact. RGR Sport made the call for Gonzalez to pit under the yellow for the fourth stop of the race. The wear on the tires was the signal for the Mexican to come in after running one and a half stints for the fifth stop of the race and turn the driving responsibilities over to teammate, Filipe Albuquerque. Due to pit strategy and G-Drive’s race pace, the #26 eventually made their way in front of RGR Sport late in hour four.
The race began to heat up again in the fifth hour as Albuquerque caught up to the #26 of G-Drive Racing with Brundle behind the wheel. Within a few laps, the Portuguese found himself side by side with Brundle going into Turn 4, coming out on top in 3rd place. Albuquerque kept the momentum going into the final hour, making another successful pass around the #36 with fifty-five minutes remaining. Just three minutes later, the tires came to haunt him as Rast, in the #26 car, pushed his way into second place. RGR Sport played back with strategy by pitting one lap later than G-Drive and for fuel only for the final stop of the race, putting Albuquerque back ahead in second position. A glimmer of luck showed up shortly after as G-Drive was awarded a black and white flag for making contact with Labre Competition’s #50 Chevrolet Corvette which meant the #26 was under close watch to be served a penalty if they were to make any mistakes.
With less than thirty minutes left in the six-hour finale, the 1st place car, #31 of ESM, made their final pit stop, allowing RGR Sport to take the lead. The team energy was high, but the stakes were even higher with Rast of G-Drive back in the Portuguese’s mirrors and less than a second of a gap. The team encouraged Albuquerque over the radio to fight to keep Rast behind him with an emphasis on not making any mistakes, and that it would be difficult since the #26 had fresh tires. Ten minutes into their fierce battle and twenty minutes left in the war, Albuquerque’s triple stinted tires caught up with him and Rast was able to make the pass, making G-Drive the leaders and ultimately the winners with RGR Sport in 2nd.
Sunday November 20, drivers Patricio O’Ward and Will Owen will have the opportunity to test with RGR Sport during the official “Rookie Test” at Bahrain International Circuit. Both young drivers will be driving a Nissan Ligier JS P2 for the first time after coming from a predominately open-wheel background and just finishing competing against each other in the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires. They will each compare their times against RGR Sport veteren, Filipe Albuquerque in two track sessions before the evenings FIA World Endurance Championship Awards Ceremony.
Team Owner/Driver – Ricardo Gonzalez
“We came here with an objective that was to maintain second place in the championship. It was a very close, difficult race where we finished second and achieved our goal of keeping our second place for the championship. I’m very proud and very happy for the first year of RGR Sport. Second place in the world championship, seven podiums, and two victories is something we can be very happy about.”
Driver – Bruno Senna
“I don’t think we could have asked for more for our first season as a team, everyone came together so well. We got seven podiums out of nine races, which I think is something to be very proud of. It makes us want more for next year, so certainly I am looking forward to what will happen for next year and really striving to win some more races. I know we will definitely fight even harder for the championship.”
Driver – Filipe Albuquerque
“In the end, we did a good job. Finished second after starting third and we were pretty much always in the top three throught the entire race. I think everyone did a fantastic job considering this is our seventh podium of the season. We miss only two podiums due to engine problems; otherwise we would have been on the podium for all of the races. I think we should be happy with our result of second in the championship.
I think we were the best team with the best silver. I enjoyed this season a lot despite not winning. We had great spirit and the car was nice to drive. I had some fun against my ex-teammate Rene Rast in the race as well. Second is a great result for the race and for the championship so congratulations to RGR and cheers to a fantastic first year in the WEC.”
Team Manager – Toni Calderon
“Another amazing race and another amazing result for us. It’s been an incredible season and its hard to believe that a year ago our team didn’t even exist, and now here we are with seven podiums out of nine races, two wins, and second place in the world championship. It just goes to show what an amazing job everybody did this year.
I really want to thank our whole crew because they gave us perfect pit stops the whole season. Thanks to our engineer, Gautier because we always had incredible race pace. Of course I want to thank our drivers; Bruno, Filipe and Ricardo. They were on top of their game every race and almost made no mistakes and were a pleasure to work with. A special thanks to Ricardo, because he made all of this happen and we wouldn’t be here without him. He’s been a great boss and I’m proud to have helped him make this team a reality.”