What the winners said after the Bapco 8 Hours of Bahrain

Mike Conway – No.7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota TS050 HYBRID LMP1

“We thought that the Rebellion would have the pace today and the Ginettas as well but, once the incident happened in Turns 1 and 2, and the cars parted, I just got my head down and pulled away.

“I managed to pull quite a nice gap after those first two stints and I was surprised really. It looked like Rebellion were going to come back at some point as they were catching us a little bit but then after about hour three it seemed like they were not going to hinder us too much.  

“We pushed as hard as we could, and it was a great job by my teammates who all did a great job today.”

Marco Sorensen – No.95 Aston Martin Racing Vantage AMR LMGTE Pro

“It was all about managing the tyres today. I wouldn't say it was fun in the car but it was interesting to see how different the opposition were using the tyres and where you could push and where you couldn't push. 

“There was not one stint where you were not fighting with other cars. Our boys did an amazing job regarding pit stops because I think it was almost every time we came in to the pits with some of the other cars on track that we jumped them [for position]. 

“Strategy was on point; it was on the limit all the time, but in the end, everything worked out to our favour so we’re pretty happy.”

Paul Di Resta – No.22 United Autosports ORECA-Gibson LMP2

“We’ve had a car at most races that could have won a race. This was one race where we wanted to energise our championship, with it being a bit longer and more points on offer. We put ourselves in a good position yesterday [with pole position].

“We managed to control the race although we had a few hiccups in the pits, but at the same time I think everyone gets that in the race. It was just nice to finally get it done before we go into a break now, but hopefully momentum is on our side and we can continue this progress when we get to COTA in a few months.”

Ben Keating – No.57 Team Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR

“We did not expect this for sure but, with the additional points for the longer race, this was an important race for us. We keep getting a little bit better and it was an interesting race. We had the whole strategy worked out to where we would get my two hours and 20 minutes done, but then that would put us with having to do a stop with 15 minutes of the race to go. We didn’t get any of the Full Course Yellows in the first couple of hours that we expected to get.

“So this changed our strategy and I ended up doing a triple stint at the beginning and my pace was good. It was nice to be out front and not to be fighting a bunch of the other GTE Am drivers, and that enabled us to eliminate a stop. We were the only ones in class to do the race on seven stops instead of eight.”