Thread: WEC Race Bahrain 6 Hours 2012
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Old 29 Sep 2012, 21:17 (Ref:3143914)   #273
gwyllion
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gwyllion is going for a new world record!gwyllion is going for a new world record!gwyllion is going for a new world record!gwyllion is going for a new world record!gwyllion is going for a new world record!gwyllion is going for a new world record!gwyllion is going for a new world record!
During the race I was wondering how the race would have evolved if Toyota did not have to fix the illuminated car number. I just had a look at the timing data on http://fiawec.alkamelsystems.com/ to try to answer this question.

Toyota's third pitstop toke 8 min 38 sec and not 1 min 20 sec, like the first two stops. That means that Toyota lost 7 min 18 sec with the repair of the number panels.

The Toyota crashed 4 hours 40 min into the race, after it had completed 144 laps. At that moment the Toyota was 3 laps and 46 sec behind the #1 Audi. If we assume that one takes 1 min 49 sec, the gap between #1 and #7 would have 6 min 13 sec. So hypothetical the Toyota would have been 1 min 5 sec into the lead at that stage of the race.

We know that Toyota would have had to do a 7th fuel stop to finish the race, whereas the #1 Audi only had to do 6 stops. That additional stop would have cost Toyota around 1 min 20 sec.

Conclusion: Toyota would have needed to gain an additional 15 sec on the track, in order to keep the lead after its last stop. That suggests that it could have been a very close finish.
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