Toyota: Bahrain WEC showdown won't be a foregone conclusion
Toyota believes track conditions in Bahrain could give Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley the chance to overcome their half-second success penalty in Saturday's World Endurance Championship finale


Pascal Vasselon, technical director of Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe, suggested that low grip levels and big differences in track temperatures across the eight-hour race finishing in darkness could offer the points leaders a chance to compete with the unpenalised #7 Toyota TS050 HYBRID of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez.
"The track grip is quite low because there are no support races and the windy conditions mean there is a lot of silica on the track," Vasselon said.
"There will be very different temperatures from the beginning of the race to the end, so it will be very easy to get the balance wrong and therefore there is a better chance to compensate for the 0.54s.
"I would say there is more room for mistakes on set-up, which could give an opportunity: we are at one of the places where it is possible to compensate for the handicap."
PLUS: Why LMP1 shouldn't be remembered for its bitter end
Vasselon also pointed to the Spa WEC round in August when Kobayashi, Conway and Lopez overcame a 0.44s differential in success handicaps between the two TS050s to win a wet-dry race.
The reduced temperatures towards the end of the race, which finishes at 10:00pm local time, mean there could be an advantage in switching from the medium compound Michelin to the so-called 'soft hot', according to Vasselon.
He said that the two Toyota crews "should give it a try" at some point, but that they would have to "improvise" because the team has so far yet to run the tyre over the course of the Bahrain meeting.

Vasselon also revealed that the the gap of 0.751s between the Toyotas in qualifying could be explained in part by the set-up run by the drivers of the #8 car.
"It can be probably explained by an aggressive set-up to try to compensate for the handicap," he said.
"The car was too much on the nose, too unstable."
Toyota has promised what Vasselon described as "a fair fight" between the two cars: he has vowed that the team will not make strategic calls that compromise the race of one or other of the cars.
But he stressed that Toyota's rules of engagement demanding the slower car has to cede position if the two TS050s are together on track and the freezing of the order at the last pitstop are still in force in Bahrain.
"Everything that regulates the on-track situation will remain in place because the reasons remain valid: we want to avoid incidents between the two cars," he said.
Pole position for the #7 car, which was qualified by Conway and Lopez, means that the gap at the head of the championship has now closed to six points.
Because Bahrain is an eight-hour race, the winners gets 38 points rather than the 25 for a six-hour race and the second-placed car 27 rather than 18.
The world title will go to whichever of the Toyota crews wins a race in which the Japanese manufacturer has no opposition in LMP1.

Bahrain WEC: Conway, Lopez secure pole position for #7 Toyota in title decider
Bahrain WEC: Conway, Kobayashi and Lopez win to clinch final LMP1 title

How Formula E's double-duty drivers influenced their Le Mans teams' fortunes
Eight Formula E drivers made the 7,000-mile sprint from the streets of Jakarta to the fabled Circuit de la Sarthe and every one had a story to share at this year's Le Mans 24 Hours. Despite a range of triumphs and disappointments, each driver doubling up on the day job played a key role in their teams' fortunes
How an Italian junior formula giant is readying for its Le Mans future
Prema remains a colossus in single-seaters, but the serial Formula 2 and Formula 3 title-winning squad has joined forces with top GT squad Iron Lynx for an attack on sportscars in the World Endurance Championship and European Le Mans Series. Ahead of its debut at the Le Mans 24 Hours, its sights are firmly fixed on LMP2 glory – and a future in Hypercars next year...
The British rookies targeting a good first impression at Le Mans
Three young Britons will make their first starts in the Le Mans 24 Hours this weekend in the highly-competitive 23-car GTE Am field. But how did they get here? Autosport hears their stories.
The wingless wonder Peugeot hopes will restore it to Le Mans glory
Peugeot went radical with the initial plan for its Le Mans Hypercar project, and then stuck to its guns. Here’s how things are shaping up a few weeks before the debut of the 9X8 in next month's Monza World Endurance Championship round
How Toyota’s sole survivor turned the tables at Spa
After a chastening opening to the season at Sebring that ended in an enormous accident, Toyota's #7 crew got their World Endurance Championship underway with victory at a treacherously slippery Spa to make up for its sister car's Sebring defeat to Alpine, as Glickenhaus's promising qualifying turned to disaster in the race
The Chinese sportscar protege targeting a path to the top with Porsche
Yifei Ye came within one lap of winning the LMP2 class on his Le Mans 24 Hours debut last year, and his eye-catching 2021 has gained Porsche’s interest. With the German manufacturer preparing for a return to the top tier, the Chinese youngster is on the path to join it
How WEC got off to a stormy start in 2022 as rulemakers dampen Toyota's dominance
Toyota’s stranglehold on the World Endurance Championship ended at the 2022 opener at Sebring, but all accusing eyes were on the Balance of Performance system as the key to the shake-up. Here's how it unfolded, to see Alpine celebrating under a stormy sky having blown away the defending champions
Why Penske remains ambitious for its WEC learning year
Team Penske is gearing up for its role in running Porsche’s LMDh programme from 2023 by entering this year's World Endurance Championship with an LMP2 car. Although the team is considering 2022 as a season to learn, it is no less serious about winning than ever - which should make the already fiercely competitive class even more so