09/11/2025

Ferrari crowned Hypercar champion as Toyota wins finale

Toyota scored its first victory of the 2025 World Endurance Championship in the Bahrain 8 Hours finale, while Ferrari clinched both drivers’ and manufacturers’ titles in the Hypercar class.

Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway, and Nyck de Vries controlled the majority of the race in the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, securing a long-awaited victory for the Japanese manufacturer and ending its winless streak dating back to last season’s Bahrain round.

However, the day and the season belonged to Ferrari, with the #51 499P trio of James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi sealing the drivers’ title with a charging drive to fourth place.

Calado, Pier Guidi and Giovinazzi arrived into the final weekend with a 13-point buffer to the #83 AF Corse Ferrari of Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Phil Hanson and a further eight points clear of the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 of Laurens Vanthoor and Kevin Estre.

With the #83 Ferrari managing only fifth and the #6 Porsche failing to even score points, the 2023 Le Mans 24 Hours winners comfortably wrapped up their maiden drivers’ title in Hypercar.

Their result also helped Ferrari clinch its first prototype title at this level since 1972, aided by the Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen and Antonio Fuoco bagging a healthy bag of points in third in the sister #50 entry.

Ferrari did briefly challenge Toyota for victory in Bahrain, with Giovinazzi closing within three tenths of Conway in the middle of the second hour. But this would be as close as Ferrari would come to snatching the top spot, with the #7 GR010 pulling away thanks to its superior pace and tyre management.

#7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 — Hybrid: Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck De Vries

Photo by: AG Photo — Daniele Paglino

The only time Toyota lost the lead was at around the halfway point of the race, when Aston Martin’s decision to put new tyres on the #009 Valkyrie LMH before the race car restart allowed Alex Riberas to charge to the front.

But shortly after the end of the fourth hour, Aston was handed a drive-through penalty for an FCY infringement, allowing the Japanese manufacturer to retake the top spot.

At this stage, the #8 Toyota was running ahead of the #7 car, with Hartley having passed De Vries at the restart in the previous hour. But the #8 Toyota was hit with a drive-through for overtaking under FCY, giving the #7 crew a clear run to the front.

A final-hour safety car, caused by the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 stopping on track, introduced some late jeopardy, but the #7 Toyota held on to take a comfortable 20s win.

Although the race winner was effectively decided by the fifth hour, the fight for second place raged on, with crews running varied strategies late into the race.

Ultimately, Buemi brought the #8 Toyota home in second to complete a 1-2 for the Japanese brand, with the #50 Ferrari securing the final podium spot after the Italian brand instructed the two factory crews to swap positions on the final lap.

This allowed the #50 crew to jump to third place in the championship and complete a 1-2-3 for the Italian brand in the drivers’ standings.

The #51 Ferrari sealed the drivers’ title with fourth place, with Kubica taking fifth in AF Corse’s satellite car.

The top LMDh car was the #12 Cadillac V-Series.R, with Alex Lynn, Will Stevens and Norman Nato driving a solid race to finish sixth.

#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi

Photo by: Shameem Fahath / Motorsport Network

Aston Martin couldn’t fully recover from its mid-race penalty, with Riberas, Marco Sorensen and Roman de Angelis eventually ending up seventh in the #009 Valkyrie.

BMW recovered from a poor first half of the race to take eighth, with Rene Rast, Robin Frijns and Sheldon van der Linde hauling the #20 M Hybrid V8 back into the points.

Peugeot, however, went in the other direction, as a strategy decision to pit again at the end of the fourth hour — shortly after the first safety car restart — cost the French manufacturer a shot at the podium.

Mikkel Jensen, Paul di Resta and Jean-Eric Vergne finished ninth in the best of the Peugeot 9X8, just ahead of the sister #94 car of Malthe Jakobsen, debutant Theo Pourchaire and Loic Duval.

The #93 9X8 ran 11th in the final stages, but Jensen — competing in his final race with Peugeot — barged past both the #35 Alpine of Charles Milesi and Jakobsen to claim ninth.

Porsche’s farewell Hypercar race ended in disappointment, as its two factory Penske cars dropped down the order after switching to medium tyres during the cooler conditions in the second half of the race.

#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor, Matt Campbell

Photo by: Andreas Beil

Estre and Vanthoor, who were in contention for the drivers’ title, eventually finished the race outside the points in 13th in the #6 963 they shared with Matt Campbell.

The #5 Porsche driven by Julien Andlauer, Mathieu Jaminet and newcomer Laurin Heinrich ended up just behind the sister 963 in 14th.

Jenson Button finished his final professional race two laps down in 16th place after causing a collision with the #54 Ferrari 296 GT3 of Thomas Flohr in the fourth hour. The 2009 F1 champion was hit with a 30-second stop/go penalty for the incident, which saw Flohr ending up in the barriers and the safety car being deployed for the first time in the race.

The #38 Cadillac Button shared with Earl Bamber and Sebastien Bourdais had already been running near the back of the pace and was delayed further when Bamber ran off track and spun at Turn 1 in the penultimate hour.

Porsche clinches back-to-back LMGT3 titles, Lexus wins finale

ASP scored its second LMGT3 victory of the 2025 season in Bahrain, with Jose Maria Lopez, Clemens Schmid and Razvan Umbrarescu taking the top spot in the #87 Lexus RC F GT3.

The #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG GT3 of Lin Hodenius, Martin Berry, and Maxime Martin traded places with the Lexus during the opening half of the race, but Schmid pulled clear after overtaking Hodenius in the fifth hour.

#92 Manthey 1St Phorm Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3: Ryan Hardwick, Riccardo Pera, Richard Lietz

Photo by: Andreas Beil

The LMGT3 title went to the #92 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R of Ryan Hardwick, Richard Lietz and Riccardo Pera after the trio pulled off an incredible recovery drive from 18th on the grid to finish fourth in class.

Heading into the weekend, the Porsche trio held a 11-point lead over the #21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 of Alessio Rovera, Simon Mann and Francois Heriau. The Ferrari could only salvage fifth after Mann picked up a 10-second penalty for causing with the #33 TF Sport Corvette Z06.GT3 of Jonny Edgar, allowing the Porsche crew to seal the title even as they dropped from second to fourth at the final restart.

This was the second consecutive LMGT3 title for both Manthey and Porsche, after Joel Sturm, Alex Malykhin and Klaus Bachler won the inaugural title in 2024 with the 911 GT3 R.

The #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 made the biggest gains after the safety car, as Mattia Drudi propelled the car he shared with Ian James and Zacharie Robichon as high as second.

Drudi even briefly challenged the Lexus for the lead but fell into the clutches of the #61 Mercedes, with Martin repassing the Italian late on to grab second.

This was the first podium of the season for Mercedes, which hadn’t finished higher than eighth prior to Bahrain.