Toyota and Alpine go to this weekend's Bahrain WEC finale level on points. Brendon Hartley feels it was the 8 car's DNF at Spa that 'hurt' Toyota and allowed Alpine to close in.
Toyota and Alpine are level on points heading into this weekend’s title finale in Bahrain, with both the sole #36 A480-Gibson and the #8 GR010 Hybrid having won two races each from the opening five rounds.
Asked if he expected to be locked in such a title battle with the French manufacturer ahead of the Bahrain 8 Hours, Hartley told Motorsport.com: “[Alpine] are a strong team, they have experience. It's [a] Balance of Performance [category] so in the end everyone should have quite an equal opportunity in terms of the performance of the car.“Obviously the thing that really hurt us was DNF in Spa, we had a high voltage system issue which is the reason we are in this [situation].
“So no, it's been a tough challenge fighting them all year. And it's nice it's come down to the last race.”Photo by: JEP /Alpine has been racing in the WEC since last year with an Oreca-built LMP1 car that was previously campaigned by Rebellion Racing as part of a special dispensation by the championship.
“I think people want to see racing,” he said. “Of course, it's been a bit of a transitional year with Toyota being first to introduce a hypercar. Obviously, we know in the next [few] years it's going to be amazing competition and it's a bright future for sportscar racing. “We are highly motivated,” said the 32-year-old. “I think the goal is pretty clear, we need to be in front of the Alpine.
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