Sebastien Buemi believed Toyota was out of contention for the World Endurance Championship manufacturers’ crown when he began the comeback that yielded the Japanese car maker the title in Bahrain. 

The Swiss “thought we were done” in his bid to take the victory Toyota needed to steal the championship from Porsche when the race went green after the second of two late safety cars with 90 minutes of the eight hours remaining. 

Buemi was down in 10th aboard the #8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercar in which he took the win with Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa. 

“I thought we were out of it,” Buemi told Motorsport.com “But I thought, ‘f**k it’ and took a lot of risks — I was going to overtake or DNF.”

Buemi explained that the negative assessment of his chances followed his struggles when battling in the Hypercar pack earlier in the race.

He had led from the pole position claimed by Hartley, only to be punted off after 18 minutes by the #83 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R with Hiroshi Koizumi at the wheel. 

That dropped him to seventh and he struggled to make forward progress and was unable to pass Rene Rast in the #20 WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDh before jumping the German car at the first round of pitstops. 

“Those 20 laps behind the BMW really damaged the tyres,” said Buemi. “So I was thinking I might be able to pass two or three cars, not to overtake everyone and come through to the front.”

Buemi began his charge 15s from the front of the pack, but took the lead in the space of 25 laps when he made the move on Matt Campbell in the #5 Porsche 963 LMDh. 

He explained that Toyota’s tyre strategy proved decisive in the closing stages. The #8 Toyota started the race on Michelin’s medium compound unlike the majority. 

#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 — Hybrid: Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa

Photo by: Andreas Beil

Buemi believed that this was better than the hard on the GR010, but only when the car was in clean air.

“The only way to make the mediums work was to be out front and take it a little bit easy,” he said. 

“But I had to cut short my second stint because I damaged the tyres trying to come back [after the incident with the Corvette]. 

“We considered putting Brendon on the hards, but we decided not to do it to have more fresh tyres for the end of the race.

“We knew the #5 Porsche had been using more tyres than us so at some point it was going to start to struggle.”

Buemi was able to pull away from Campbell, who lost out to the #51 Ferrari 499P LMH with Antonio Giovinazzi at the wheel on the final lap. 

The winning margin for the Toyota over the Italian car Giovinazzi shared with James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi was 27s.  

That became 29s when the Ferrari was penalised for exceeding its tyre allocation and dropped to 14th.

Toyota’s hopes of sealing a sixth consecutive WEC manufacturers’ title rested on the #8 car after the sister GR010 retired late in the sixth hour with a fuel pump issue. 

The Japanese marque went into the Bahrain 8 Hours weekend 10 points behind Porsche in the standings, which became nine after Hartley’s pole. 

Porsche took the 2024 WEC Hypercar drivers’ title with its #6 entry shared by Laurens Vanthoor, Andre Lotterer and Kevin Estre.

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Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre and Andre Lotterer wrapped up the World Endurance Championship Hypercar drivers’ title in the eight-hour Bahrain season finale, but Toyota snatched the manufacturers’ crown from Porsche.

A scintillating final stint battle between Toyota’s Sebastien Buemi and Penske Porsche Motorsport’s Matt Campbell, in which the Swiss came out on top, determined the race and the manufacturers’ title.

A physical pass from Buemi at Turn 10, which he later redressed before taking back the position, secured victory in the #8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID LMH he shared with Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa.

The polesitting crew continued a winning run for Toyota at the Sakhir International Circuit dating back to 2016, but this had appeared anything but probable at junctures in a race controlled for large parts by Ferrari.

Buemi was turned around after 20 minutes by an errant Corvette while leading, and with Buemi on board was 10th when racing resumed after a safety car with 90 minutes remaining.

But Buemi made serene progress, evading mishaps elsewhere, and got the crucial pass complete on Campbell before pulling away to win by 27.539s over the factory #51 Ferrari 499P LMH of Antonio Giovinazzi, James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi.

#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 — Hybrid: Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa

Photo by: Andreas Beil

It made up for disappointment for the sister #7 Toyota crew, which retired with fuel pump problems that ended the slender title hopes of Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries.

The car they shared with Mike Conway had briefly taken the lead in de Vries’s hands during hour five, before the issue that had reared its head in the third hour with Kobayashi at the wheel sent the car tumbling down the order.

Giovinazzi ended up second after a final lap move on Campbell, who shared the #5 PPM 963 with Michael Christensen and Fred Makowiecki, after Ferrari had appeared to be in the box seat for much of the race.

Giovinazzi twice passed the #12 Jota Porsche 963 for the lead, before the privateer car’s challenge for victory was ended by a puncture for Will Stevens, but its own challenge fell away after it needed more fuel at its final stop than those who had topped off under a virtual safety car triggered by a failure in Paul di Resta’s Peugeot 9X8 LMH.

Mikkel Jensen upheld honour for the French manufacturer by holding off the attentions of Paul-Loup Chatin’s Alpine A424 LMDh to equal Peugeot’s best finish of the season in fourth alongside Nico Muller and Jean-Eric Vergne,

A 35-point advantage heading into the race, with 38 on the table, meant the title-winning PPM drivers were in a comfortable position and could seal the title despite an eventful race to 11th.

After Vanthoor’s 963 LMDh was elbowed off the road on the opening lap, dropping to 15th, the car had briefly run second but a drive-through penalty for a full course yellow infringement and an additional five-second penalty for overtaking outside the circuit limits consigned them to finishing outside the points.

#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P pit stop action

Photo by: Ferrari

However, that mattered little due to problems for its only remaining rivals. After the #7 Toyota’s demise, the factory #50 Ferrari’s hopes of a remarkable turnaround were finally ended by a left-rear puncture in the seventh hour when Charles Milesi’s spinning Alpine tagged Nicklas Nielsen.

The Le Mans-winning crew also comprising Antonio Fuoco and Miguel Molina also finished outside the points in 12th.

The lone-remaining BMW M V8 Hybrid of Marco Wittmann, Dries Vanthoor and Raffaele Marciello took sixth after its sister car suffered a drivetrain failure, while a quiet race for the sole Cadillac V. Series-R of Sebastien Bourdais, Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn yielded seventh.

After the puncture denied Stevens, Norman Nato and Callum Ilott, who had led for much of the second hour, the sister Jota Porsche of Phil Hanson, Jenson Button and Oliver Rasmussen finished eighth ahead of the customer Ferrari 499P in which Robert Kubica was partnered by Yi Yifei and Robert Shwartzman.

Milesi, sharing with Jules Gounon and Mick Schumacher, withstood contact from Laurens Vanthoor to hold onto the final point in 10th.

#55 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3: Francois Heriau, Simon Mann, Alessio Rovera

Photo by: Shameem Fahath

Ferrari wins LMGT3 war against Corvette

Alessio Rovera, Simon Mann and Francois Heriau delivered a thrilling victory in the LMGT3 class in their #55 AF Corse-run Ferrari 296 GT3 following an enthralling battle the TF Sport’s Corvette Z06 LMGT3R.

They finished 3.022s clear of Charlie Eastwood, Rui Andrade and Tom van Rompuy to narrowly deny the British squad its first win since switching from Aston Martin to Corvette.

The #81 Corvette, joined on the rostrum by the sister car of Daniel Juncadella, Sebastien Baud and Hiroshi Koizumi, had led for much of the race after a surging first stint from van Rompuy to get amongst the United Autosport McLarens that had locked out the front row.

It remained in victory contention even after a remarkable sequence of events in the seventh hour that allowed Rovera into the lead for the first time, as the Italian capitalised on battling between Alex Riberas and Rahel Frey to vault from third into the lead in the space of a few corners.

Eastwood battled past the sister Ferrari of Davide Rigon, that had benefitted from the same exchange to briefly hold second, and then took the lead back from Rovera after a thrilling duel that involved going side-by-side around much of the lap.

But Rovera emerged ahead after the final stops and Eastwood, racing days after the passing of his father, was unable to close in before the finish.

Juncadella held off the Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan of Matteo Cairoli to finish third, while the title-winning Manthey PureRxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Klaus Bachler, Joel Sturm and Alex Malykhin finished ninth after a penalty for an FCY violation.

Photos from Bahrain Race

WEC Bahrain 8 Hours — Race results

Toyota claimed pole position for the Bahrain World Endurance Championship finale to move one point closer to Porsche in the manufacturers’ standings.

Brendon Hartley took the top spot in the Hyperpole session on Friday evening aboard the #8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercar, his first pole since this race last year.

It means that Toyota goes into Saturday’s Bahrain 8 Hours only nine points behind Porsche in the manufacturers’ classification.

Hartley’s 1m46.714s gave him the top spot by three tenths from team-mate Nyck de Vries, who lapped in 1m47.037s aboard the sister Toyota.

“We had a tough day yesterday and were not happy with the few things,” said Hartley.

“I learnt from quali one where I didn’t get the tyre prep quite right and then the car came alive in Hyperpole.”

Antonio Giovinazzi took third with a 1m47.080s, only four hundredths behind the second Toyota, in the best of the factory Ferrari 499P LMHs.

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

Photo by: Shameem Fahath

Top Porsche was the customer Proton 963 LMDh in the hands of Neel Jani, who was a further two tenths back on a 1m47.234s.

Antonio Fuoco took fifth on the grid in the second of the AF Corse-run factory Ferraris with a 1m47.527s.

That put him just ahead of the championship-leading factory Penske-run Porsche in which Kevin Estre took sixth with a 1m47.542s.

The second of the Penske cars was seventh in Matt Campbell’s hands, while Norman Nato was eighth in the only one of the two Jota customer Porsches to make it through to Hyperpole for the fastest 10 cars in opening qualifying.

The two BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDhs brought up the rear of the times, Dries Vanthoor ahead of Robin Frijns.

Frijns, however, did a time lost to a track limits infringement that would have put him seventh.

Cadillac failed to make it through to Hyperpole with its solo V-Series.R LMDh run by Chip Ganassi Racing, Alex Lynn ending up 13th after only posting a representative time when the chequered flag had already fallen.

Both Peugeot 9X8 2024 LMHs and Alpine A424 LMDhs were knocked out at the first stage of qualifying.

#95 United Autosports McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo: Joshua Caygill, Nicolas Pino, Marino Sato

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

The United Autosports team locked out the LMGT3 front row as McLaren took its second class pole of the season after the Inception Racing IMSA SportsCar Championship squad took qualifying honours at the Le Mans 24 Hours in June.

Josh Caygill grabbed the top spot in the times in the best of the McLaren 720S GT3 EVOs when he lapped in 2m02.201s, just two thousandths of second quicker than team-mate James Cottingham’s 2m02.203s.

The McLarens ended up more than a tenth clear of Francois Heriau, who posted a 2m02.367s in the best of the AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3s.

Sarah Bovy, the only driver to take two poles in LMGT3 this year, ended up fourth in the Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.

Alex Malykhin, who has already been crowned LMGT3 champion with team-mates Joel Sturm and Klaus Bachler, took fifth in the Manthey PureRxing Porsche 911 GT3-R despite carrying 35kg of success ballast.

Both WRT BMW M4 GT3s failed to make the cut for Hyperpole in the hands of Darren Leung and Ahmad Al Harthy.

The Bahrain 8 Hours, the eighth and final round of the 2024 WEC, begins at 14:00 local time on Saturday.

Photos from Bahrain Friday Practice & Qualifying

WEC Bahrain 8 Hours — Qualifying results

Porsche has revealed it is planning to introduce an evo joker update on its 963 LMDh for next year — at the same time as revealing it has already used one.

The performance upgrades for the German manufacturer’s campaigns in the World Endurance Championship and the IMSA SportsCar next year are focussed on the front suspension, as were those introduced on the 963 prior to its victorious start to the 2024 season at the Daytona 24 Hours in January. 

Porsche had previously not confirmed that it had taken one of the five jokers allowed to each manufacturer over the initial five-year lifecycle for an LMDh.

Urs Kuratle, head of the LMDh programme at Porsche Motorsport, explained that the updates planned for next year represent a bigger change than those introduced for 2024.

“It is another step because we didn’t know what we wanted to do at that time — it is a further evolution,” he said. 

“From this year to next year there will be some [changes to] mounting points and some hardware; there are more parts involved.

“We need more adjustability in the car, a wider range, more buttons for the engineers to press.” 

Urs Kuratle, Head Porsche LMDh

Photo by: Porsche

The changes for 2024 were more subtle, according to Kuratle. He had previously talked about updates to sensors without revealing that they constituted a joker. 

Kuratle has now confirmed that Porsche had to take a joker for the changes that included an upgrade of the front brake pressure sensors.

Porsche has yet to get written confirmation from the FIA and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, which jointly run the WEC and IMSA, to push on with the latest development, Kuratle said.

Should that be forthcoming, the new parts will be on its factory Porsche Penske Motorsport cars and the customer JDC-Miller MotorSports IMSA entry at the US governing body’s official sanction test at Daytona on 15-17 November. 

The rule makers do not disclose which manufacturers have been granted a joker nor communicate that information with the other manufacturers. 

A change in this policy is understood to have been discussed in the relevant technical working group during the summer.

It is believed that Porsche is the only manufacturer of an LMDh to have played a joker so far. 

A major upgrade of the 963’s twin-turbo V8 engine in the pipeline was planned for introduction over the course of this season, but was shelved after its cars, both customer and privateer, successfully came through the Le Mans 24 Hours in June. 

Toyota, Peugeot and Ferrari have all undertaken upgrades of their Le Mans Hypercars since their respective introductions in 2021, ’22 and ’23. 

There has been no confirmation from Toyota and Peugeot on how many they have used, but it is understood that Ferrari has only invoked one. 

This was centred on rear brake cooling and came on stream for this year’s Interlagos WEC round in July. 

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