Race details Date 1 December 2018 Official name Bahrain GT Festival Location Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir, Bahrain Course Permanent racing facility Distance Qualifying Race 160 minutesQualifying Race 260 minutesMain Race60 minutes Qualifying Race 1 Pole Driver Mike den Tandt Belgium Time 2:01.397 Fastest lap Driver Mike den Tandt Belgium Time 2:02.538 (on lap 6) Podium First Mike den Tandt Charles Weerts Belgium Second Ayhancan Güven Salih Yoluç Turkey Third Matteo Cressoni Piergiuseppe Perazzini Italy Qualifying Race 2 Pole Driver Charles Weerts Belgium Time 2:00.136 Fastest lap Driver Jim Pla France Time 2:03.816 (on lap 5) Podium First Ayhancan Güven Salih Yoluç Turkey Second Chris Buncombe Chris Froggatt United Kingdom Third Nico Bastian Alexander Mattschull Germany Main Race Pole Driver Salih Yoluç Turkey Fastest lap Driver Ayhancan Güven Turkey Time 2:02.379 (on lap 18) Podium First Ayhancan Güven Salih Yoluç Turkey Second Chris Buncombe Chris Froggatt United Kingdom Third Johnny Laursen Nicklas Nielsen Denmark
The 2018 FIA GT Nations Cup was the first edition of the pro–am FIA GT Nations Cup Grand Touring (GT) sports car race held at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain on 1 December 2018. The race was contested with GT3-spec cars entered by teams representing nations. Only Silver and Bronze-rated drivers were allowed to compete. The event promoters were the Bahrain Motorsport Federation (BMF) and the SRO Motorsports Group (SRO). For the following year the event was reformatted into the multi-discipline FIA Motorsport Games.
The duo representing Turkey Ayhancan Güven and Salih Yoluç won the main race sharing a Mercedes-AMG GT3 run by Ram Racing from pole position after scoring the fewest number of points in the two preceding qualification races. Turkey led the start of the race before being overtaken by the United Kingdom team of Chris Buncombe and Chris Froggatt. The nation was able to reclaim the lead from the United Kingdom and maintained it to win the FIA GT Nations Cup by three seconds. Denmark's pair of Johnny Larsen and Nicklas Nielsen completed the podium in third position.
Background and entry list
The SRO Motorsports Group (SRO) CEO Stéphane Ratel proposed the organisation of a pro–am GT3 Cup of Nations race for the global GT3 car category as a separate event from the FIA GT World Cup in Macau be held in October 2018 at the Sochi Autodrom in Russia to the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; motor racing's governing body). This followed amateur drivers being barred from competing in the race in Macau as a consequence of numerous crashes. The FIA World Motor Sport Council approved the concept at a meeting in Geneva in March 2018, and the FIA GT Nations Cup was organised by the SRO at the 15-turn Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain from 30 November to 1 December 2018, the first SRO-sanctioned race in the country since the final round of the 2005 FIA GT Championship. It was part of the Bahrain GT Festival that also included the GT4 International Cup and the Bahrain Classic Challenge racing series. The event was scheduled to be held on a different race circuit every year but was reformatted into the multi-discipline FIA Motorsport Games in 2019.
Drivers had to have competed in an FIA-regulated championship race based on GT3 regulations in the previous two seasons or have significant experience in Grand Touring (GT) cars to enter the race. Silver and bronze-rated drivers were allowed into the race but not gold or platinum-rated competitors. Drivers had to apply through their national sporting authority before they were accepted and each car were piloted by two drivers (one Bronze entrant and a Silver competitor) holding the same passport of the country they represented. Although teams did not have to come from the same nation as their drivers, they were allowed to enter multiple cars though only one car per country was permitted.
The final entry list composed of 18 car teams of two drivers each was published on 9 November 2018. Teams fielded GT3 cars from Audi, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Nissan, Mercedes-AMG, McLaren and Porsche and entrants came from countries in Asia, Australasia, Europe, North America and South America. The race winners received a medal following the race's conclusion to be in line with other national sports events. Pirelli was the race's official tyre supplier. Each team received five sets of tyres for the event but were not allowed to perform tyre changes during the race unless a puncture was sustained or if it was necessary to switch to rain tyres. All teams were required to switch drivers halfway through the main race. The event was livestreamed on the FIA's website.
Practice and qualifying Two 80-minute practice sessions were held in the morning and afternoon of 30 November. The first practice session was led by Argentina with a time of 2:02.835 set by driver Ezequiel Pérez Companc in a Lamborghini Huracán GT3 fielded by HB Racing. He was 0.078 seconds faster than the second-placed Jim Pla for France. Positions three to five were occupied by Italy, Belgium and the United Kingdom. Belarus's Alexander Talkanitsa Sr caused the session to be stopped in the final minutes when he went off the circuit and sustained damage to his Ferrari at turn seven. Germany and Russia's entries run by Rinaldi Racing did not participate in the session with their Ferrari 488 GT3s still in shipping containers because of delays clearing customs in Dubai. Turkey's Ayhancan Güven was quickest in the second practice session with a lap time of 2:01.565 set 30 minutes in. Denmark set the second-fastest time late in the session, ahead of France's Jean-Luc Beaubelique in third. Mexico and Belgium rounded out the top five.
Two 20-minute qualifying sessions were held in the afternoon. All Bronze-rated drivers set lap times in the first session to set the starting order for the first qualifying race. Each squad's Silver-rated driver recorded lap times in the second session to determine the starting grid for the second qualifying race. The first session was a duel between Belgium and the United Kingdom. Mike den Tandt took pole position for the first qualifying event for Belgium with a lap time of 2:01.397. Chris Buncombe qualified the United Kingdom squad 0.353 seconds down in second position and Argentina's José Manuel Balbiani secured third in the session's final minutes. Turkey's Salih Yoluç set a lap late in the session to qualify fourth. Yoluç demoted Thailand's Piti Bhirombhakdi to fifth. Positions six to ten were occupied by Belarus, Sweden, Italy, Hong Kong and Mexico. The final starting positions were taken by Denmark, Germany. France, Russia, Australia, China, Malaysia and Japan. The second session was led by Charles Weerts in his maiden GT race with a 2:00.136 lap to complete a qualifying sweep for Belgium. Denmark's Nicklas Nielsen qualified in second, ahead of Güven of Turkey, France's Pla and Italy's Matteo Cressoni in the following three places. The United Kingdom, Argentina, China, Germany and Sweden completed the top ten. The grid was completed by Russia, Belarus, Australia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Mexico and Japan. Each of the 18 cars partook in the two qualifying sessions.
Pole positions in each qualifying session are denoted in bold.
First qualifying session classification +Final classification of the first qualifying sessionTeamOperatorQualifyingGrid 18 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT2:01.3971 293 AF Corse2:01.7502 318 HB Racing2:02.1203 434 Ram Racing2:02.5734 539 Kessel Racing TP122:02.7715 617 AT Racing2:03.1756 7188 Garage 592:03.2377 811 AF Corse2:03.4118 920 KCMG2:03.4679 1015 Squadra Corse Garage Italia2:03.48310 1116 Formula Racing2:03.52611 12333 Rinaldi Racing2:03.55912 1387 AKKA-ASP Team2:03.97713 14993 Rinaldi Racing2:04.08314 15911 Herberth Motorsport2:04.98015 16910 Herberth Motorsport2:05.10216 1769 Axle Motorsport2:05.44117 1812 AF Corse2:06.33418Sources: Second qualifying session classification +Final classification of the second qualifying sessionTeamOperatorQualifyingGrid 18 Belgian Audi Club Team WRT2:00.1361 216 Formula Racing2:00.6462 334 Ram Racing2:00.6863 487 AKKA-ASP Team2:00.7584 511 AF Corse2:00.9575 693 AF Corse2:01.0776 718 HB Racing2:01.2077 8910 Herberth Motorsport2:01.8428 9333 Rinaldi Racing2:01.8609 10188 Garage 592:01.92810 11993 Rinaldi Racing2:02.29311 1217 AT Racing2:02.41212 13911 Herberth Motorsport2:02.59913 1420 KCMG2:02.76714 1569 Axle Motorsport2:02.77615 1639 Kessel Racing TP122:02.97716 1715 Squadra Corse Garage Italia2:03.32517 1812 AF Corse2:07.74718Sources:
Qualifying races There were two one-hour qualifying races to set the starting order for the main race through a points-scoring system. Each entry, including all retirements, tallied points based on its finishing position. The winner of each qualifying race earned one point and the second-place finisher received two points. The points total from both qualifying races were combined to set the starting order for the main race, with pole position being awarded to the entry with the fewest points scored. Should two cars have earned the same number of points, then the car that set the fastest race lap from either qualifying race would be ahead of the other. Cars that did not start one or two qualifying races were required to start at the rear of the grid.
The first qualifying race commenced at 19:30 local time on 30 November. At the first corner, Thailand's Bhirombhakdi braked late and collided with the United Kingdom car of Buncombe, who spun around. With Buncombe facing in the opposite direction, he was hit by Sweden's Alexander West and Denmark's Johnny Laursen. The Denmark car was forced to retire with front-end damage and the safety car was deployed. The safety car was on track for ten minutes before racing resumed. Belgium's Den Tandt pulled away from the rest of the field while the Thailand team was issued a drive through penalty and dropped to the rear of the field. Buncombe slalomed through the field to move the United Kingdom entry from 17th to fourth position on a new set of tyres the car started the race on during his stint. Argentina's Manuel Balbiani moved forward slightly and crashed into the rear of the Hong Kong entry while attempting to exit his car because the car was still active and in first gear. Yoluç moved the Turkey car to third after passing the Hong Kong and Mexico entries before being relieved by Güven during the pit stop phase. The Mexico team had a slow pit stop and dropped out of the top ten places. The United Kingdom's Chris Froggatt fell behind Güven and hit the Turkey entry at the first corner in an attempt at an overtaking manoevure while leaving the pit lane. Güven was now in second for Turkey and pulled away from Froggatt, who was passed for third by Italy's Cressoni with two minutes left. Weerts took over the Belgium entry from Den Tandt and maintained the car's lead for the remainder of the race to win after leading every lap. Turkey finished 24.855 seconds behind in second and the podium was completed by Italy in third. The United Kingdom, France, Argentina, Russia, Germany, Hong Kong, Belarus, Sweden, China, Australia, Malaysia, Mexico, Japan and Thailand were the final classified finishers.