Toyota Steals Manufacturer Title with Bahrain Victory – Sportscar365

The No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid made an improbable comeback to victory in the season-closing Bahrain 8 Hours, giving the Japanese brand the constructors’ title at the expense of Porsche.

Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa converted pole position into their second win of the season and third overall for Toyota, thanks to Buemi’s late pass on Matt Campbell’s Porsche Penske Motorsport entry from 5th.

However, Porsche still claimed the drivers’ championship on behalf of the sister No. 6 team of Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Andre Lotterer, who finished outside the points in 11th place.

Toyota’s No. 8 car appeared to be out of contention in the middle stage of the eight-hour race before a pair of safety car interventions brought it back into the race.

The first of these occurred with two and a half hours to go when the No. 88 Proton Challenge Ford stalled on the track, eliminating the 30-second gap between Hirakawa and the race leader, the No. 51 Ferrari 499P.

Then, at the start of the penultimate hour, Hirakawa managed to enter the pits and hand over the No. 8 car to Buemi; The virtual safety car was called again precisely in response to the number 94 Peugeot 9X8 parking on the trackside. It’s a terminal problem.

This led to a change in strategies; The No. 51 Ferrari and No. 6 Porsche, competing in second place, remained out until the pits closed, while Campbell’s No. 5 Porsche went under the virtual safety car.

Campbell appeared to be in a strong position to take the win to secure Porsche the drivers’ and manufacturers’ championships, but Buemi set the fastest lap of the race with just under an hour left in the race just after his final stop. .

The Swiss driver then managed to build an eight-second lead over Campbell during the Australian’s final trip to the pits, making the decisive move at Turn 8 with 39 minutes left in the race.

Buemi took a 27-second lead in the remaining time to give Toyota its sixth consecutive title, including both the world constructors’ and constructors’ championships.

Toyota’s sister No. 7 car had previously withdrawn from the race with fuel pump problems after Nyck de Vries steadily dropped down the order following his spell at the lead.

As Campbell struggled with the old right-front tire in the closing stages, the Australian was rattled by the No. 51 Ferrari 499P of Antonio Giovinazzi, who managed to pass the troubled Porsche on the final lap and take second place.

This meant Toyota beat Porsche by six points in the final tally.

Giovinazzi had earlier managed to pass Mikkel Jensen’s surviving No. 93 Peugeot to take third with 15 minutes remaining; Jensen had retained fourth place amid a late attack from the No. 35 Alpine A424 of Paul-Loup Chatin.

BMW’s lone race 15th M Hybrid V8 finished sixth, while its lone Cadillac V-Series R finished seventh and its 38th Hertz Team JOTA Porsche finished eighth.

Will Stevens was part of the battle for the lead after the final safety car period in the #12 JOTA car, but a puncture left the car 14th and last in the Hypercar.

Estre, Lotterer and Vanthoor endured a nightmarish race that handed the drivers the crown as their only championship rivals, the #7 Toyota and #50 Ferrari, failed to get the win they needed to overhaul. them.

Vanthoor lost ground as he was forced to make a longer final stop before the Belgian was handed two incident penalties, one for his brother Dries’ No. 15 BMW and the other for Charles Milesi’s No. 36 Alpini.

The #50 Ferrari qualified 12th after Fuoco suffered a left-rear puncture when tagged by Milesi’s spinning Alpine.

AF Corse beat TF Sport in Entertaining LMGT3 Final

The final win of the season in LMGT3 went to the #55 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 of Alessio Rovera, Simon Mann and Francois Heriau, Ferrari’s second consecutive class win after the #54 sister car’s victory at Fuji happened.

Rovera came out on top in a close contest with two TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs, with the No. 81 machine of Charlie Eastwood, Rui Andrade and Tom van Rompuy completing the podium in second place, ahead of its No. 82 sibling. Shared by Dani Juncadella, Sebastien Baud and Hiroshi Koizumi.

The final safety car period led to a significant change in the standings, with a previous intervention in the sixth hour erasing a comfortable lead from Andrade.

When the race restarted with 90 minutes left on the clock, it was the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo that took the lead in the hands of Alex Riberas, with the eventual winner Rovera finishing fifth in the #55 Ferrari.

Amid the chaotic scenes, Riberas dropped from first to 10th, while Rovera moved into the lead at one stage ahead of Davide Rigon’s No. 54 car, one-two ahead of Ferrari, and Eastwood mounted a fight to retake the lead before the final stops.

However, faster pit work from the AF Corse team put Rovera back in front and the Italian managed to win by three seconds from Eastwood.

Juncadella overtook Matteo Cairoli in the 60th-placed Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 to claim the double TF Sport podium, while Manthey, in the 91st-placed EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R, took fifth place in the LMGT3 standings.

Rigon dropped to seventh behind the best of the United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 Evos (car No. 59) in sixth.

RESULTS: 8 Hours Bahrain