WEC: Toyota wins in Bahrain to take producers’ crown; Lotterer, Vanthoor, Estre declare Drivers title
Toyota secured the FIA World Endurance Championship producer’s title with a victory on the season-concluding 8 Hours of Bahrain, whereas André Lotterer, Laurens Vanthoor, and Kévin Estre clinched the drivers’ crown regardless of ending exterior the highest ten
The #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing trio of Sébastien Buemi, Ryō Hirakawa, and Brendon Hartley took an excellent win in an action-packed 8 Hours of Bahrain, with the race disrupted by two Security Automotive durations that arrange dramatic shootouts in each WEC lessons.
Buemi spun out of the lead within the first hour, delivered an impressive drive to chase down the #5 Porsche Penske 963 and regained the lead within the remaining hour. This outcome earned Toyota its fourth consecutive FIA Hypercar World Endurance Producers’ Championship title and sixth FIA WEC top-class producers title, contemplating the producers’ two LMP1 period crowns.
The #6 Porsche Penske crew of Lotterer, Vanthoor, and Estre secured the drivers’ title regardless of ending eleventh after two penalties within the remaining hour. Their title was unaffected by these setbacks, as their closest rivals, the #50 Ferrari AF Corse, managed solely twelfth place, and the #7 Toyota pushed by Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway, and Nyck de Vries retired mid-race. Lotterer, Vanthoor, and Estre had been the one workforce to realize two wins this season, in Qatar and Fuji, and Bahrain marked their first end exterior the factors. Lotterer celebrated his second WEC title in what was his remaining race as a Porsche manufacturing facility driver.
The #51 Ferrari AF Corse 499P of Antonio Giovinazzi, Alessandro Pier Guidi, and James Calado claimed second place, whereas the #5 Porsche Penske 963 of Matt Campbell, Michael Christensen, and Frédéric Makowiecki accomplished the rostrum after an exciting last-lap battle wherein Giovinazzi handed Campbell simply earlier than the chequered flag.
The #93 Peugeot TotalEnergies 9X8 took fourth, equaling its finest results of the season, whereas the #35 Alpine of Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg, and Jules Gounon completed fifth after a late battle with the #15 BMW and #38 Hertz Group Jota, which positioned sixth and eighth, respectively. The #2 Cadillac clinched seventh, whereas the #83 AF Corse Ferrari completed ninth forward of the #36 Alpine.
In LMGT3, the #55 VISTA AF Corse Ferrari claimed its first win of the season. Alessio Rovera executed an exciting transfer to take the lead after a tense combat with the #81 TF Sport Corvette and Iron Dames Lamborghini. Rovera held off a late cost from Eastwood within the #81 Corvette, securing the victory for himself and teammates François Hériau and Simon Mann.
TF Sport achieved its finest results of the season with the #82 Corvette of Daniel Juncadella, Hiroshi Koizumi, and Sébastien Baud taking third after recovering from an early penalty for contact with the race-winning #8 Toyota. The rest of the highest six included the Iron Lynx Lamborghini in fourth, the #91 Manthey EMA Porsche in fifth, and the #59 United Autosports McLaren in sixth.
