The FIA WEC signs off in Bahrain

The chequered flag may have fallen upon the FIA World Endurance Championship season on Saturday evening but that wasn’t quite the end of it for both the Heart of Racing and Racing Spirit of Lemans teams as there was still that of the Rookie Test and Awards night on Sunday to round things off in style.

Having finished the year with another podium finish for the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Racing Vantage GT3 – it was a step up to the Hypercar class for driver Mattia Drudi as he and car regular Marco Sorensen put in some additional laps around the Bahrain International Circuit as part of the rookie test for the Italian.

He in turn was joined by the son of the team owner, Gray Newell who stepped up from the teams GT World Challenge America and his true Vantage GT3 variant of car and up to the Vantage LMGT3 as used by the team throughout the season just complete. Lead by Darren Turner back in the States, his progression into the LMGT3 variant was this time overseen by the car regular Zacharie Robichon.

Split over both morning and afternoons sessions, saw Drudi post the nineth fastest Hyperclass class time with a 1:50:985 before going slightly faster in session two to finish thirteenth overall whilst Newell started his LMGT3 account 2:04:805 in the morning before improving massively with a 2:03:554 in the afternoon.

The #10 Racing Spirit of Leman AMR Vantage LMGT3 also ran for a few laps in the afternoon with Jonny Adam behind the wheel before he returns to the international stage again within the forthcoming Asian Le Mans Series. Adam was there as part of the ongoing AMR Drivers Academy test.

Then at the end of season awards night, there was one last AMR powered success as Eduardo Barrichello cemented his mark on the championship by winning the Revelation of the Year Award for his efforts in what was his debut season in GT racing.

Photo credits – Teams / Championship / social media

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