Toyota wins the 8 Hours of Bahrain, Ferrari takes the titles, Manthey crowned champion in LMGT3

The battles for the titles ultimately all amounted to nothing in Bahrain. In Hypercar, neither the Porsche Neither the Cadillacs nor Ferrari were able to challenge the expected coronation. While not dominant on the track, the Italian manufacturer secured its titles. A Safety Car intervention following a spin by the No. 15 BMW in the final hour was not enough to reignite the competition. Finishing fourth, the trio of Alessandro Pier Guidi, Antonio Giovinazzi, and James Calado thus claimed their first Hypercar World Championship. With three cars in the top five, the Prancing Horse also secured its first Manufacturers' title in the category. If the firm of Maranello has achieved world titles in GTE (the last in 2022), his last world title in a top category dated back to 2008 in Formula 1Apart from points, the Porsche 963s were never in contention for the last of the factory efforts in the championship.

Regarding the race, Toyota dominated the race from start to finish. After starting from the front row, the two GR010 Hybrids secured a one-two finish at the checkered flag, with the No. 7 car taking the victory. Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck de Vries et Mike conway in front of number 8 of Sébastien BuemiRyō Hirakawa and Brendon Hartley. Aston Martin Alex Riberas briefly challenged the Japanese dominance with a supersonic restart. The Spaniard, on a different tire strategy, took advantage of a restart to jump from fifth to first place, but his blistering run was cut short by a drive-through penalty for failing to respect yellow flags. Relegated to the back of the field, the Valkyrie never regained its position at the front.

Pourchaire was in the lead for a time with Peugeot

La Peugeot Number 94 also showed its face at the front of the race with Theo Pourchaire at the wheel. For his first race in the World ChampionshipEnduranceThe driver from Grasse took advantage of an alternative strategy implemented by his team to lead the standings for several laps before losing ground to the Toyotas due to worn tires. The trio he formed this weekend with Loïc duval Malthe Jakobsen, who made some spectacular defensive runs, finished 10th, behind the other Peugeot, the No. 93 driven by Jean-Éric Vergne, Mikkel Jensen, and Paul di Resta. This is the best result for a French manufacturer this Saturday, since the best Alpine finished just behind with Charles Milesi, Paul-Loup Chatin and Ferdinand Habsburg on No. 35.

In his final professional race, Jenson Button was involved in a collision with the Ferrari 296 GT3 Vista AF Corse #54. The Cadillac #38 in which he was partnered with Earl Bamber and Sebastian Bourdais finished in 16th place.

In the LMGT3 category, the French team Akkodis ASP took the win for the second time this season with the No. 87 Lexus. Jose Maria LopezClemens Schmid and Petru Umbrarescu finished after a perfectly controlled race. Second with car number 61, Mercedes-AMG secures its first podium finish WEC with Iron Lynx and the trio Maxime Martin, Lin Hodenius and Martin Berry. Fourth, Manthey 1st Phorm is champion with Richard Lietz, Riccardo Pera and Ryan Hardwick,

WEC – Bahrain 8 Hours
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