WEC News: Toyota scores a 1-2 in 8-Hours of Bahrain, Ferrari Champs
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing scored its first win of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season with a spectacular one-two in the 8 Hours of Bahrain to end a challenging campaign on a high.
Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries converted pole position into victory in their #7 GR010 HYBRID to extend the team’s winning streak in Bahrain to nine consecutive races.
“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 went 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.”
Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa, in the #8 GR010 HYBRID, recovered from a mid-race penalty to complete the perfect result in second, just 19.378 seconds behind. Maximum points in Bahrain also secured the runners-up spot in the manufacturers’ World Championship.
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.
Ferrari has secured the 2025 FIA Hypercar World Endurance Championship Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ titles in today’s 8 Hours of Bahrain, the finale of this year’s eight-event campaign
In its third season in the FIA WEC’s top tier, the legendary Italian marque has been the benchmark throughout the year in the Hypercar class, winning the opening four races with its 499P prototype to establish an advantage that none of its rivals was ultimately able to overcome.
The result marks the Prancing Horse’s first global endurance racing triumph in the top class since lifting the laurels in the World Sportscar Championship more than half a century ago, in 1972, finishing a commanding 75 points ahead of closest competitor Toyota in the Manufacturers’ classification.
To complete Ferrari’s joy, its three crews locked out the top three positions in the Drivers’ standings. Courtesy of a fourth-place finish in Bahrain, Antonio Giovinazzi, James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi clinched the crown behind the wheel of the #51 Ferrari AF Corse entry, having led the way since triumphing on home turf at Imola back in April.
The runner-up honours went to 24 Hours of Le Mans winners Robert Kubica, Phil Hanson and Yifei Ye in the privately-run #83 AF Corse 499P, with the #50 Ferrari AF Corse crew of Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina taking third.
“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.
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.
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, 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 that, 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 with any other team, wouldn’t want to do it with any other co-drivers.”