Nicki Thiim, no95 Aston Martin Vantage GTE

“It comes down to this after all the blood sweat and tears that have gone into this both from the team, who have already won the manufacturers’ championship with this amazing Vantage GTE, and from the drivers. This is what you dream about as a driver, the chance to fight for a world championship. To have done it once with Marco in 2016, and to have the chance to do it again is simply amazing. But we still have a job to do, eight hours is a long time in racing, and we have a big fight on our hands. We will give it everything. These last couple of months have not been like any other. Every second of every minute you are thinking about it. It means so much.”

Mike Conway, no7 Toyota Gazoo Racing TS050 Hybrid

“On our car we had two targets going into this season; win Le Mans and become World Champions, so the target is pretty clear in Bahrain. For once the success handicap is slightly in our favour but we know that the #8 guys will not make our lives easy; we will have to be on top of our game to win it. We've already won in Bahrain this season so I hope we can finish the season with another one; that would be the perfect farewell for the TS050 HYBRID.”

Michael Christensen, no92 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR-19 

“I’m totally convinced that we’ll be as competitive in the coming race as we were in Bahrain last December. The foundations are laid for success at the end of the season. If we can just make it through the eight hours unscathed, there is a high chance we’ll be successful. Unfortunately, we didn’t earn enough points at Le Mans, so we’re out of contention to defend the title. Still, that makes it all the more important to conclude the year with a highlight.”

Zak Brown, Team Owner and Chairman, United Autosports

“We got our first World Championship win at Bahrain last year so I’m excited that we are heading back to where our strong results started. Fingers crossed we can get another fantastic result to end the year on a high. The championship is decided so the pressure is off to a certain extent, but I know the team will still perform to their highest ability.”

Hisatake Murata, Team President, Toyota Gazoo Racing

“Following the excitement of our third consecutive Le Mans win, we go to Bahrain determined to say goodbye to our TS050 HYBRID in the best possible way. We have achieved so much and experienced so many emotions with this car, so we all feel some sadness that the TS050 HYBRID has reached the end of its career. But the new Hypercar category is coming and this is very exciting.

“The roll-out of our new race car took place successfully last month and this was an important step for our project; now we are looking forward to show our new car to the world. This week we will discover which drivers will enter the new era as World Champions; all six drivers have performed very well this season, and all would deserve the title. We are simply looking forward to a good, fair fight and an exciting end to the season.”