The campaign’s second visit to Sakhir was necessitated by the COVID-19 outbreak that saw a reshuffling of the schedule in spring and early summer, but returned the Gulf Racing team to a happy hunting ground, having claimed a podium finish there last December. There was a slightly different look to the line-up this time around, with Belgium’s Alessio Picariello stepping up as European Le Mans Series LMGTE champion in place of Gulf regular Andrew Watson alongside Barker and team owner Mike Wainwright, but no apparent change in performance as the #86 Porsche 911 RSR featured consistently towards the head of the timesheets through free practice.
With qualifying position relying on the combined times from two of the team’s drivers, however, Barker’s assault on pole was limited by running on used tyres after Wainwright had taken his mandatory run, and although the Cambridge native posted a time good enough for second overall, the Gulf team found itself down in ninth on the GTE-Am grid.
“Qualifying went as well as perhaps we could have expected,” Barker insisted. “The Bahrain International Circuit is notorious for its abrasive surface so, with our strategy of only using one set of tyres in the session, Mike’s run took a lot out of the rubber. Despite that, I still managed to post a lap just a couple of tenths off the pole-winning Aston Martin — and will always wonder what I would have been able to do on new tyres!”
With Wainwright and Picariello sharing the opening stints of the eight-hour season finale amid a typically-competitive GTE-Am field, it took a while for the Gulf Porsche to move back towards the front of the pack, especially with the hotter temperatures yielding less grip from the track surface, but, aided by a fourth-hour safety car period that bunched the field and wiped out all time differences, the newcomer eventually handed back over to Barker with the #86 in first place.
The Briton was then able to strengthen the Gulf team’s position by opening up a gap to the chasing pack, but knew that a difficult dilemma lay ahead, with Wainwright needing to complete a further 20 minutes behind the wheel to fulfill his mandatory track time and one remaining pit-stop being the optimum strategy for a good result.
“It was a tough call, to be honest,” Barker admitted. “We were running a slightly different pit-stop strategy to most of the GTE field, and needed to put Mike back into the car to ensure that we complied with the rules. Knowing that that would expose himto the pace of the Pro-rated drivers, we could have opted to run Mike for just 20 minutes and then put me back in the car, but the extra stop required to do that would have been equally costly time-wise.”
In the end, the team decided to back Wainwright, knowing that a win — and even the possibility of a podium finish — would be at risk. Barker’s 30-second lead was more or less erased by the final stop to change drivers and take on more fuel and fresh tyres, and, when the Gulf car was caught and passed by faster opponents, it slipped back to an eventual fifth position, matching the result achieved at the Le Mans 24 Hours in September.
“Don’t get me wrong, a top-five finish in this company is still a great result… but it would have been nice to get back on the podium, especially as this was the last race with the current car,” Barker noted. “It was great to be up there fighting for the win and everything hinged on the need to ensure everyone completed their minimum driving requirement. In the end, Mike drove a clean race, while Alessio proved to be a quick addition to the line-up, and you can’t ask for much more than that.
“Back-to-back fifth-place results ensured that Mike and I claimed top ten positions in the overall GTE-Am standings, while the team finished seventh in their championship, so it was a solid season all around, especially with Gulf Racing still being one of the smallest operations in the series. The crew was great all year, and the pit-stops remained some of the best out there, so there’s a lot to celebrate ahead of next season, when we’ll get to run the latest generation of Porsche.”
