Toyota ended its yearlong winless drought in the FIA WEC competition this evening in Bahrain, as the Japanese marque dominated the season-ending eight-hour contest.
The pole-sitting #7 GR010-Hybrid of Mike Conway, Nyck de Vries, and Kamui Kobayashi claimed victory, finishing 20.145 seconds clear of the #8 entry of Brendon Hartley, Sébastien Buemi, and Ryō Hirakawa despite a final hour Safety Ca,r which bunched up the field.
The presence of numerous backmarkers protected de Vries on the restart, with the Dutch driver holding a 21-second lead after the race resumed with 32 minutes to go, which he managed to the finish.
“I think the whole team has been incredibly strong today on car 7,” de Vries said.
“Mike, Kamui, everyone in the pit, and also the pit wall, did a phenomenal job. And actually, the race didn’t necessarily go in our direction. Clearly, the first VSC was quite against us, because, obviously, for some cars that had a kind of free pit stops, and were on better tyres than us, but we managed to make it work and make it work, and we just kept it together.”
Behind the Toyotas, the #50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P of Nicklas Nielsen, Antonio Fuoco, and Miguel Molina rounded out the podium places, after Nielsen was let through by teammate Alessandro Pier Guidi on the penultimate lap to secure third in the drivers’ world championship.
Fourth was more than enough for Pier Guidi, Antonio Giovinazzi, and James Calado to seal the drivers’ world championship aboard the #51 Ferrari.
It is Giovinazzi’s first FIA World Championship success, whilst Pier Guidi and Calado add to the three GT World Championship crowns they won together during the LMGTE Pro era.
The #51 Ferrari crew was never truly threatened by its title rivals this evening, as it sat best-of-the-rest behind the Toyotas from the second hour onwards.
The Prancing Horse also secured its first prototype manufacturers’ world championship in 53 years, whilst a 66-point haul in Bahrain saw Toyota climb up to second in the final standings.
“After Le Mans, we made a goal in Ferrari to try to win the title,” Giovinazzi said post-race. “For me, it’s the first time, so for sure, it’s really emotional. For them [Calado and Pier Guidi], not, but to do it with them is something that we have worked really hard for these last three years. We grew up like a team every year, every race, we managed to do a fantastic season together. So what I can say, thank you to Ferrari, to my teammates for this fantastic year.”
Fifth went to the #83 AF Corse Ferrari, as Phil Hanson, Robert Kubica, and Ye Yifei secured second in the drivers’ championship with a clean sweep of race wins in this year’s World Cup for Hypercar Teams.
The #12 Cadillac Hertz Team Jota V-Series.R finished sixth, with the #009 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie completing the lead lap runners. The #009 Aston Martin was the only car to truly challenge Toyota throughout the eight-hour affair, as Alex Riberas capitalised on new tyres following a Safety Car shortly before halfway, but a subsequent penalty dropped the V12-powered machine back down the order.
Porsche Penske Motorsport’s run in the FIA WEC came to an underwhelming end. The 963s were never truly in the fight, made contact with one another in the final hour, and finished a lap down in 13th and 14th, respectively.
And in LMGT3, Akkodis ASP Team added to a successful day for the Japanese marques, as the #78 Lexus RC F LMGT3 of Petru Umbrărescu, Clemens Schmid and José Maria Lopez scored its second win of the year by less than one second.
The Lexus led the class from the end of the second hour, when Umbrărescu fought past the #33 Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R and pair of Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG LMGT3s after the second round of pit stops.
A fast-closing Mattia Drudi in the #27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage LMGT3 pressured Lopez in the closing laps, only for the Lexus to gain a break in traffic and Drudi to fall back into the clutches of Maxime Martin aboard the #61 Mercedes-AMG.
Martin passed Drudi with four minutes to go, cementing the German brand’s first FIA WEC podium finish, as Drudi completed the podium.
Ryan Hardwick, Riccardo Pera, and Richard Lietz were fourth in the #92 Manthey 1st Phorm Porsche 911 GT3 R (992) LMGT3, as they won the LMGT3 Drivers’ and Teams’ Championships.
It is Hardwick and Pera’s first FIA WEC title, whilst Lietz adds to his 2015 GT crown. For Manthey, it successfully defended the inaugural LMGT3 Teams’ Championship it won last year.
“This championship, and along with winning Le Mans, is definitely the highlight of my driving career and also my life,” Hardwick said. “I mean, like all drivers, my story is I spent most of my life racing other things and building businesses, but it’s my life’s work to lead me to this point. You know, with this team in this year, I have the opportunity to drive with these guys.
“It’s a dream come true to be racing in the world championship in a Porsche, racing against the Ferrari for most of the season which, to me, is just like you can’t write it any better. And it comes down to the final race, and we were battling all the way to the end, and finishing within one position of each other. So we had great competition all year.
“I wouldn’t want to have it any other way. Wouldn’t want to do it with any other team, wouldn’t want to do it with any other co-drivers.”
