Brendon Hartley’s 2021 World Endurance Series campaign concluded with his third win, though it wasn’t enough to prevent the No.7 Toyota from sealing the title.
Winning last night’s 8 Hours of Bahrain was Hartley’s sole intention. The race was to be co-driver Kazuki Nakajima’s last race with the team.
“The goal now is to win Kazuki’s last race so that he can sign off his legendary career with a race victory,” the Kiwi said after qualifying.
The race itself was a largely dominant display by the No.8 team.
Fittingly, Nakajima eased the car across the finish with a 7.16s margin over the sister Toyota.
The No.7 started from pole position and led the race’s early stages.
Toyota then ordered a change of positions as Sebastien Buemi in the No.8 was much faster than the other car.
From there, the race result was determined.
The only other car in the Hypercar class, a grandfathered LMP1 fielded by Alpine, finished six laps down after a gearbox issue.
For Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose-Maria Lopez, their 2021 crown is their second on the trot.
A second successive podium for Jaxon Evans means the Kiwi ends his first full WEC season third in the GTE-Am standings.
Evans backed up his P2 finish from a week earlier with a mirrored result overnight.
The No.77 Dempsey-Proton crew finished one lap down on the class-winning Ferrari.
After two DNFs in the first two races, Evans, Matt Campbell and Christian Reid have fought back valiantly to end the year on a high.