Motorsport

Bahrain International Circuit represents final FIA WEC podium chance for Charlie Eastwood

“We have not had the results we would have wanted but the car is fantastic to drive – we have shown super strong pace at times, especially in the last couple of races at the Circuit of the Americas and Fuji.”

Eastwood and the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) are bound for Bahrain on Saturday.
Eastwood and the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) are bound for Bahrain on Saturday.
By Dan James

CHARLIE Eastwood wants to finish a topsy turvy FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) campaign in Bahrain this weekend “on a high” by clinching a first win of the season with Corvette Racing.

Starting at 11am UK time on Saturday, the eight-hour daylight-into-dark race at the Bahrain International Circuit is Eastwood’s last chance of 2024 to visit the podium with the Z06 GT3.R.

Luck has been in short supply for the Belfast driver and his team-mates – Rui Andrade and Tom Van Rompuy – as recent on-track incidents in America and Japan respectively have halted their push for silverware. However, the trio are in no doubt about the car’s overall speed and performance.

“I am loving my time at Corvette at the minute and of course we have not had the results we would have wanted but the car is fantastic to drive – we have shown super strong pace at times, especially in the last couple of races at the Circuit of the Americas and Fuji,” said Eastwood.

“I am ready to get going in Bahrain. We were so close to a very good result at Fuji; we showed super strong pace there on the back of what we showed at the race before that in the States.

“I feel that everyone on the team is very motivated to get a good result at Bahrain and end the season on a high. It’s been a challenging year for us, but we’ve gotten stronger every race.

Corvette Racing; TF Sport; FIA World Endurance Championship; 24 Hours of Le Mans; Le Mans, France; June 15-16, 2024; Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R #81 driven by Tom Van Rompuy, Rui Andrade, and Charlie Eastwood; Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R #82 driven by Hiroshi Koizumi, Sebastien Baud, and Daniel Juncadella (Richard Prince/Chevrolet Photo).
Corvette Racing; TF Sport; FIA World Endurance Championship; 24 Hours of Le Mans; Le Mans, France; June 15-16, 2024; Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R #81 driven by Tom Van Rompuy, Rui Andrade, and Charlie Eastwood; Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R #82 driven by Hiroshi Koizumi, Sebastien Baud, and Daniel Juncadella (Richard Prince/Chevrolet Photo). (Richard Prince, richard@rprincephoto.com/Richard Prince/rprincephoto.com)

“Fuji showed that we had fantastic pace, and it was a faultless job by the crew and my team-mates,” he added.

“Our goal is to repeat that same performance at Bahrain and hopefully, this time, not get caught up in any dramas so that we can secure a podium and go for a win. Heading to the last race of World Endurance Championship, we all want to go out on a high.”

This weekend will be extra busy for the 29-year-old. Following Saturday’s race, Eastwood will immediately turn his attention to the WEC’s official end-of-season Rookie Test where he is set to take the controls of Cadillac Racing’s V-Series.R prototype car for the very first time. The chance has come about as Cadillac and Corvette are both owned by General Motors.

“It will be a pretty cool weekend doing the race on the Saturday and trying to refuel, get to sleep when the race finishes, and get back out on track in the Cadillac on the Sunday morning,” he said.

“It is going to be a crazy weekend, but I have been thinking about it and processing it for quite a few weeks now with no other race and I feel as best prepared as possible.”