The Toyota Gazoo Racing #8 team, consisting of New Zealander Brendon Hartley, Sébastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa have won the World Endurance Championship premier Hypercar class after finishing second in this mornings 8 Hours of Bahrain.
It’s Hartley’s third World Endurance Championship title, following success in 2015 and 2017.
The team were made to work for it, however, entering this weekend’s finale equal on points with the #36 Alpine of André Negrão, Nicolas Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxiviere creating a winner-take-all scenario for the title.
The event got underway perfectly for the outfit, Hartley putting in a massive lap to qualify on pole for the race. That also gave them a single bonus point to take the lead of the series pre-race.
It was the #7 Toyota of Mike Conway, Jose Maria Lopez and Kamui Kobayashi which took race honours, Conway having worked his way past Hartley just after the 3 hour mark and not looking back.
Second place with the #36 behind was enough for the title for Hartley and co, a 1-2 finish and the WEC to boot making for a successful event for Toyota Gazoo Racing.
The #8 overcame the odds in taking the title after a DNF in the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps hurt them in the early season, their success largely guided by their double-points victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Victory in the 6 Hours of Fuji, last round, also put them in with a shot for the crown, closing the gap their rivals had built in finishing every race thus far.
The season of the Alpine has been filled with success, the team opening their 2022 account with 1000 Miles of Sebring victory over the new world champions. They then finished second at Spa in the event the Toyota failed to finish, issues with their hybrid system bringing about early withdrawal.
Their season came undone at Le Mans, the squad only managing fourth in the double points race to lose a massive chunk of ground on their rivals.
Alpine bounced back strongly with victory over the #8 at Monza before finishing third, again behind the two Toyota’s, in Japan.
This setup the narrative for this morning’s finale, the 8 Hours of Bahrain, perfectly, a winner-take-all scenario between the #36 and #8.
Buemi took the reigns for Toyota Gazoo Racing the start, pulling away to lead at the end of the first hour over their teammates.
Hour 2 saw the two Toyotas lead continue to grow, the #94 Peugeot some one minute off the pace in third.
As has been the trend this season, reliability became an issue for Peugeot, their leading car stopping on track twice and needing repairs to drop to the rear of the Hypercar battle, promoting Alpine up to third at the 4 hour mark.
The damage had already been done, however, the leaders now two laps up the road, but a pit stop behind, in a display of ruthless pace, the #7 now with the lead.
The next 2 hours saw the lead maintained, Conway, Lopez and Kobayashi entering the final hour with a 38.7 second lead over teammates Hartley, Buemi and Hirakawa.
Negrão, Lapierre and Vaxiviere sat three laps off the lead at this point, victory all but assure for Toyota should reliability not become an issue in the dying stages.
They closed out the race, and season, with an impressive 1-2, seeing Conway, Lopez and Kobayashi take the race and Hartley, Buemi and Hirakawa take the title.
The field will now look forward to an extended off-season, the 2023 campaign not getting underway until the 1000 Miles of Sebring on the 17th of March.
The 2023 calendar also sees the addition on an extra round, the Round 2 6 Hours of Portimao slotting in between the North American leg and the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.
A full assault will be on the cards from the field come next season, a sole Cadillac returning to the fold for the first time since 2002 with Kiwi Earl Bamber among the three confirmed CGR racers.
Ferrari and BMW also enter the LMDh Hypercar fold, the campaign set to thrill with an extended and competitive field.
For now, however, Hartley can relax with his third World Endurance Championship title wrapped up.
