Porsche has insisted it’ll not enter Saturday's World Endurance Championship final in Bahrain with a conservative approach, keen to seal the drivers' and manufacturers' titles.
According to Porsche Penske Motorsport managing director Jonathan Diuguid, the German brand will enter the Bahrain 8 Hours “looking to maximize its finishing position” with each 963 LMDh.
This comment comes despite the proven fact that PPM's Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre and Andre Lotterer, sixth within the PPM, only need ninth place to secure the title.
“Our answer to everyone is: 'don't do anything different than what we've done before,'” Diuguid said on the eve of the 2024 WEC series finale.
“We haven't raced for points at a single event this 12 months and we don't intend to race for points on Saturday either. That's what got us to this position.
“We're going to do what we've been doing all season: let's go on the market and take a look at to beat them [the opposition]”
#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer
Photo: JEP / Motorsport Images
Urs Kuratle, head of the LMDh program at Porsche Motorsport, added that the strategy “is not too different from our normal approach.”
However, he clarified that Porsche and PPM could modify their plans inside eight hours.
“We have to be flexible and react to whatever the race brings,” Kuratle said.
Porsche Motorsport boss Thomas Laudenbach suggested that it will be a very good idea to overthink strategy ahead of the Bahrain race.
“If we tried to predict everything, we would have to consider every scenario and it would be too much of a puzzle for the team,” he said.
Porsche will use what it described as a “situational” approach.
“If you're leading in a race and your strongest competitor drops out, you're obviously not going to take any risks,” Laudenbach explained.
“And if someone comes at you with nothing to lose, you can deal with it differently than if you were racing your direct competitors for the championship, because he will be making sure he doesn't damage his car as well.”
Porsche's task within the manufacturer rankings is tougher than within the drivers' championship.
He is just 10 points ahead, while Vanthoor, Estre and Lotterer are 35 points clear with only 38 points left to play.
A win for second-place Toyota would give it the manufacturers' title, even when Porsche finishes second.
Toyota took pole position courtesy of Brendon Hartley, taking the No. 8 spot amongst Japanese manufacturers, but this could have no impact on the fate of the title if one in every of the GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercars wins the race.
However, this may occasionally prove crucial in other scenarios.
For example, if one of the best Toyota finishes second and one of the best PPM finishes fourth, each manufacturers could have 179 points.
The Japanese manufacturer would then win the title with more second places.
The #6 963 drivers have 150 points ahead of the Bahrain race to the 115 points of the second-placed Ferrari team of Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina.
Toyota drivers Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries have 113 points and mathematically even have a probability of winning the title.
Porsche has 161 points within the manufacturers' standings in comparison with Toyota's 151 points, while Ferrari with 134 points is nominally in contention for the title.
The Bahrain 8 Hours race starts at 14:00 local time and 11:00 GMT.
Photos from Friday's training and qualifying in Bahrain
