Hartley, Buemi and Hirakawa were never threatened during the eight-hour bonus point title race, with the crew of the No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid leading every race except for the pit stop cycle to successfully defend the 2022 title. .
The winner or loser of the contest was virtually decided at the start. After starting third in Cadillac, Earl Bamber locked up entering Turn 1, overturning Mike Conway’s No. 7 Toyota, which was trying to consolidate second place behind the No. 8 pole-sitter. Buemi’s.
Conway was able to move up to third place just an hour into the race, with Kamui Kobayashi replacing the British rider and pushing his team into second place, but the No. There was no pace to close the gap. The first two stints of the race.
In fact, Hartley, Buemi and Hirakawa further increased their advantage at the front of the pack in the remaining time of the race, winning their second win of the season by a massive 47 seconds and celebrating the title in style.
It was the fourth championship for Hartley and Buemi and the second for Hirakawa, with the latter continuing his 100% title record since joining the series in 2022, replacing Kazuki Nakajima.
Despite winning more races than their sister crews, Conway, Kobayashi and José María López were forced to concede defeat in the championship race, winning four races compared to two and taking points two points. Retiring from the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice ended his chance to repeat his success in 2021. .
Photo provided by: JEP/Motorsports Image
The action begins, #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 – Hybrid: Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Jose María López, #2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Earl Bamber, Alex Lin, Richard Westbrook, #6 Porsche Penske Motorsports Porsche 963: Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer, Laurens Vanthoor
In a race where tire deterioration played a major role in determining the rankings, Ferrari emerged as Toyota’s closest rivals, with Miguel Molina, Antonio Fuoco and Niklas Nielsen finishing in a best third place in their 499P LMH cars.
It came after the two Ferraris scraped wheels in the penultimate hour, with Fuoco and Alessandro Pier Guidi colliding shortly after the Italian pitted a lap later in the No. 51 car to move up the order. did.
After a disappointing result at Fuji, Fuoco was finally able to pull away and put Ferrari back on the podium, while Pier Guidi, who was in a car shared with James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi, finished sixth. I retreated.
Fourth place went to the independent Jota team following an impressive performance from Antonio Felix da Costa, Will Stevens and Yifei Ye in the customer Porsche 963 LMDh.
Jota rose to third place in the eight-hour final, but a drive-through penalty ended his team’s hopes of scoring a first podium in the hypercar class. Da Costa, who is due to leave WEC next year to concentrate on Porsche’s Formula E program, was penalized for rejoining the track in an unsafe manner after flying wide into Turn 1 in the sixth hour.
Stevens cornered Fuoco in the final hour after taking over the car from da Costa, but was less than a second away from taking third place from the Ferrari driver.
Andre Lotterer, Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor were the best of the two Porsche Penske 963 LMDh factory cars, finishing further back in fifth place.
Vanthoor got off to a slow start due to contact between Bamber and Conway, dropping him to ninth place near the end of the Hypercars, but the No. 6 team gradually recovered from the setback and finished behind customer Jota.
Photo courtesy of Ferrari
#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi
The No. 5, the sister car of Michael Christensen, Dane Cameron and Frederic Makowiecki, was classified seventh behind the Ferrari No. 51 after receiving two five-second penalties for full-course yellow violations.
It was another lackluster battle for Peugeot, whose radical 9X8 is due for a major upgrade next year, but it was the best of the two cars driven by Gustavo Menezes, Loïc Duval and Nico Muller. The car finished in 8th place, two laps behind the leader.
Due to a drive-through penalty due to a violation of FCY rules, the sister car No. 93 of Mikel Jensen, Paul di Resta and Jean-Eric Vergne was able to hold off the Proton Porsche of Neel Jani, Gianmaria Bruni and Harry Tincknell. It came in 9th place.
Cadillac was unable to recover from a 60-second stop/go penalty imposed on Bamber for contact with Conway’s Toyota at the start, leaving Bamber and teammates Richard Westbrook and Alex Lynn three laps behind the lead. It fell to 11th place.
Photo provided by: JEP/Motorsports Image
#41 Team WRT Oreca 07 – Gibson: Louis Andrade, Robert Kubica, Luis Deletraz
WRT wins LMP2
The WEC’s last LMP2 title went to the WRT as Luis Deletraz, Robert Kubica and Rui Andrade charged from 10th place to the #41 ORECA 07 taking its third win of the season.
The Belgians finished 1-2, with sister car No. 31 of Robin Frijns, Ferdinand Habsburg and Sean Gelael finishing 9 seconds behind.
The #41 crew arrived in Bahrain with a 33-point lead over the Inter Europol team that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with 39 points available through qualifying and the race.
But Inter Europol never flourished at the sharp end of the field, and Alberto Costa’s brief suspension in the fourth hour ended any chance of a shocking shake-up in the title race.
Costa, Jakub Smichowski and Fabio Scherer were ultimately classified in 6th place in the #34 ORECA.
The final spot on the podium was taken by the #28 JOTA of Pietro Fittipaldi, Oliver Rasmussen and David Heinemeyer Hansson. Similar to the two WRT cars, they completed the race with 10 pit stops compared to 11 for the majority of the LMP2 field.
The Vector team took control early in the race after Gabriel Aubry was able to avoid an opening lap pile-up caused by Phil Hanson’s No. 22 United Autosport Oreca colliding with Tristan Vauthier’s Vanwall LMH car. took the lead. Vauthier was recovered by pole sitter Tom Blomqvist, but Blomqvist had already lost position by running wide in Turn 1 in his sister car, the #23 United Autosport.
However, Vector’s surprise victory came as no surprise as the team was given a 90-second stop/go penalty for sub-regular tire pressure. #10 ORECA ended up retiring in the final hour due to throttle issues.
A problem with Vector saw United’s No. 23 car incredibly regain the lead, but the same tire pressure penalty left Blomqvist, Oliver Jarvis and Joshua Pearson in eighth place in the final standings.
Photo provided by: JEP/Motorsports Image
#85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR – 19: Sarah Bobby, Michelle Gatting, Rahel Frey
Iron Dames end GTE era with victory
The Iron Dames team took their first win in the farewell WEC race for GTE cars, with Sarah Bobby, Michelle Gatting and Rahel Frey taking top honors in the #85 Porsche 911 RSR-19.
Bobby, Gatting and Frey, who twice won 2nd place driving a Ferrari 488 GTE in 2022, will compete in the final WEC race in the #777 D’station Aston Martin Vantage of Tomonobu Fujii, Casper Stephenson and Liam Talbot. They achieved an even better result, beating GT3 by 5 seconds. Start from pole position.
The majority of the race was led by sister team Iron Links, with Alessio Picarellio and Matteo Cresini both continuing rapid stints at the wheel of the #56 Porsche 911 RSR-19.
However, gentleman racer Claudio Schiavoni was not feeling well and was unable to get behind the wheel to complete the 2 hour 20 minute run time required for bronze medal winning drivers, and the team had to retire at the end of the 6 hour period. He was forced to make a pit stop. .
This put the Iron Dames in the lead, and the all-female crew held that position until the checkered flag waved at 10pm local time.
The podium was completed by Heart of Racing Aston Martin’s Ian James, Daniel Mancinelli and Alex Riveras.
The Corvette trio of Ben Keating, Nicky Catsburg and Nicholas Vallone finished their title-winning season in seventh place.
WEC Bahrain 8 Hours – Race Results