• Latest
  • Trending

Brendon Hartley wins WEC with 2nd in 8 Hours of Bahrain

November 13, 2022

Jaxon Evans proudly debuts Fijian inspired livery for Darwin

June 18, 2025

Yardley doubles down with pole and podium in Montréal Porsche Carrera Cup thriller

June 18, 2025

Van Gisbergen fifth, McLaughlin spun in wild US Legends night at Charlotte

June 18, 2025

Toyota Gazoo Racing Le Mans: Hartley finishes 15th after late drama while #7 crew bring home respectable 5th place finish

June 18, 2025

Kirkwood clinches first oval victory as Dixon delivers late charge and McLaughlin’s luck runs out

June 18, 2025

NextGen NZ Championship unveils thrilling 2025/2026 Season: New categories, new stars, and the 70th New Zealand Grand Prix

June 18, 2025

McLaughlin and Van Gisbergen back behind the wheel in US Legends for Summer Shoot Out at Charlotte

June 17, 2025

Indy NXT: Hedge holds strong to finish inside Top 10 in tactical St Louis race

June 17, 2025

Whittaker wins as Chester excluded in dramatic NIERDC1-hour race at Hampton Downs

June 17, 2025

Reid and Fillmore fight back from a lap down to win thrilling NIERDC 3-Hour at Hampton Downs

June 17, 2025

Shane van Gisbergen wins historic first NASCAR Cup race in Mexico City

June 17, 2025
Wednesday, June 18, 2025
VelocityNews
Subscribe
  • International
    • Formula 1
    • Formula 2
    • Formula 3
    • Formula E
    • Esports
    • Super GT
    • Super Formula
    • TCR
    • WEC
    • GT
    • Porsche Carrera Cup
    • BTCC
    • DTM
    • IMSA
    • IndyCar
    • Road to Indy
    • NASCAR
    • WRC
    • MotoGP
    • Motorcycle Racing
    • Historic Racing
  • New Zealand
    • Toyota Formula Regional
    • Toyota GR86 Championship
    • Rally
    • Speedway
    • Drifting
    • Formula Ford
    • Formula First
    • TCR NZ
    • TransTasman V8 Series
    • V8 Utes
    • GT New Zealand Championship
    • GTRNZ
    • Central Muscle Cars
    • Pirelli Porsche
    • Mazda Racing Series
    • NZ Endurance Championship
    • NIERDC
    • SIERDC
    • Pro8 South Island Series
    • SsangYong Utes
    • Kartsport
    • NZ Historic Racing
    • NZ General
  • Australia
    • Supercars
    • Super2
    • Australian V8 Touring Car Series
    • Porsche Carrera Cup Australia
    • Porsche Sprint Challenge
    • S5000
    • Australian GT
    • TCR AU
  • Features
    • Features
    • Opinion
    • Profile
    • Race Cars
  • Circuit News
  • Velocity TV
  • Performance Cars
  • Jobs
    • Jobs
    • Post a Job
    • Job Dashboard
No Result
View All Result
VelocityNews
No Result
View All Result

Brendon Hartley wins WEC with 2nd in 8 Hours of Bahrain

by Matthew Sampson
November 13, 2022
in WEC
0

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.

Tags: 8 Hours of BahrainBrendon HartleyWEC

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact Us

© 2022 VelocityNews - Independent New Zealand and International Motorsport news.

No Result
View All Result
  • International
    • Formula 1
    • Formula 2
    • Formula 3
    • Formula E
    • Esports
    • Super GT
    • Super Formula
    • TCR
    • WEC
    • GT
    • Porsche Carrera Cup
    • BTCC
    • DTM
    • IMSA
    • IndyCar
    • Road to Indy
    • NASCAR
    • WRC
    • MotoGP
    • Motorcycle Racing
    • Historic Racing
  • New Zealand
    • Toyota Formula Regional
    • Toyota GR86 Championship
    • Rally
    • Speedway
    • Drifting
    • Formula Ford
    • Formula First
    • TCR NZ
    • TransTasman V8 Series
    • V8 Utes
    • GT New Zealand Championship
    • GTRNZ
    • Central Muscle Cars
    • Pirelli Porsche
    • Mazda Racing Series
    • NZ Endurance Championship
    • NIERDC
    • SIERDC
    • Pro8 South Island Series
    • SsangYong Utes
    • Kartsport
    • NZ Historic Racing
    • NZ General
  • Australia
    • Supercars
    • Super2
    • Australian V8 Touring Car Series
    • Porsche Carrera Cup Australia
    • Porsche Sprint Challenge
    • S5000
    • Australian GT
    • TCR AU
  • Features
    • Features
    • Opinion
    • Profile
    • Race Cars
  • Circuit News
  • Velocity TV
  • Performance Cars
  • Jobs
    • Jobs
    • Post a Job
    • Job Dashboard

© 2022 VelocityNews - Independent New Zealand and International Motorsport news.