Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa and Sebastian Buemi have won a thrilling 8 Hours of Bahrain to clinch the World Endurance Series Manufacturers’ Championship for Toyota.
The win was anything but routine for the pole-sitting #8 GR010 Hybrid, which bounced back from an early spin and high levels of tyre degradation.
Buemi was at the wheel sitting tenth entering the final hour and clawed his way back into contention, hitting the front 30 minutes later before pulling away to take the chequered flag 27.539 seconds ahead of the first Penske Porsche of Matt Campbell, Michael Christensen and Frederic Makowiecki.
The 8 Hours of Bahrain podium was completed by the #93 Peugeot 9X8 of Mikkel Jensen, Nico Müller and Jean-Eric Vergne.
The #51 Ferrari of Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, and Antonio Giovinazzi initally finished second, but were relegated to 14th post-race for using too many tyres over the weekend.
While Porsche Penske fell short in the Manufactuers’ Championship, they did enjoy success in the Drivers’ Championship, with Kévin Estre, André Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor crossing the line 10th following a troubled outing. Despite the setbacks, dramas for the two other contenders saw the team maintain their championship lead .
The Le Mans-winning Ferrari #50 suffered a puncture in the seventh hour and battled for race pace to finish 11th, and the #7 Toyota of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck De Vries were forced into retirement mid-race when a fuel pump issue reared its head as the trio were leading, leaving the door open for the #6 Porsche crew to cruise to the title.
With only each team’s lead car counting towards Manufacturers’ Championship, it was left up to the #8 team to overcome the Porsche duo.
Ten points seperated the two manufacturers before the round, which Hartley reduced to nine when he qualified on pole yesterday.
Buemi started the race and led the opening laps but was turned 20 minutes in while putting a GT-class Corvette a lap down. Hartley and Hirakawa then battled high tyre wear during their stints, before Buemi got back behind the wheel to bring the race home.
Working in the team’s favor were two Safety Car periods in the race’s second half, which prevented any team from pulling away. When racing resumed for the final time with a little over an hour remaining, he was tenth, but a superb final stint brought the title home for Toyota, who have every WEC race in Bahrain since 2016.
The 38 points for the win were 11 more than Penske Porsche’s 27 as runners up, seeing the Japanese brand win the title by just two points.
“I am so happy for everyone in the team and at Toyota,” said Hartley. “The race didn’t go as smoothly at the beginning as it could have done. We tried the medium tyres, but it didn’t work.
“Then at the end Séb did an unbelievable stint. He was the star; it was an incredible drive. Thanks to everyone in the team, at Toyota and all our partners. We really had to fight for this win and championship, so it means a lot. For our car to end the season with a victory is fantastic going into the winter break.”
Buemi added, “It’s crazy to think we won the race considering how it was going at some point. Against all the odds, with issues, penalties and bad luck it’s an amazing feeling for the team to win the World Championship. That was our target here and we’ve achieved it thanks to a brilliant effort from the team.
“When our car was down in 10th, we were going to the back of the Hypercar field during the pit stops and I thought we were done. But my team-mates did a good job hanging on with the old tyres and that meant I had a tyre advantage at the end. When it mattered today, we did a good job together and I am so pleased for the whole team.”
Kobayashi, who is Team Principal in addition to his role as a driver in the #7 recognised the significance of the drive from the trio in the #8.
“First of all, a big thank you for all the support we have had this season from all over the world,” he said.
“Winning the manufacturers’ World Championship is a great achievement and it’s the result of a huge team effort from everyone, including our Toyota colleagues and our partners, who are a big part of this success.
“This is the result everyone in the team wanted and they gave everything to achieve it, so thank you for all that work. Car #8 deserved the win today after an incredible race. Obviously on our car we had some issues and had to retire. We will analyse that and aim to come back even stronger next season.”
