WEC: Toyota wins in Bahrain, taking the manufacturer’s crown. Lotterer, Vanthoor and Estre win drivers’ titles
Toyota secured the FIA World Endurance Championship manufacturers’ title with victory at the season-ending 8 Hours of Bahrain, while André Lotterer, Laurens Vanthoor and Kévin Estre took the drivers’ title despite finishing outside the top ten.
The No. 8 Toyota Gazoo Racing trio of Sébastien Buemi, Ryō Hirakawa and Brendon Hartley took a dazzling victory in the action-packed 8 Hours of Bahrain. The race was halted because there were two safety car periods that led to dramatic shootouts in both WEC classes.
Buemi was pushed out of the lead by the GT cars in the first hour and put in a superb drive to chase down the #5 Porsche Penske 963 and regain the lead in the final hour. This result gave Toyota its fourth consecutive FIA Hypercar World Endurance Manufacturer Championship title and sixth FIA WEC Top Manufacturer title, including two manufacturers’ titles won during the LMP1 era.
The #6 Porsche Penske crew of Lotterer, Vanthoor and Estre secured the drivers’ title despite finishing 10th after receiving two penalties in the final hour. Their title was unaffected by this setback, as their closest rival, the #50 Ferrari AF Corse, finished 11th, while the #7 Toyota driven by Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries retired mid-race.
Title winners Lotterer, Vanthoor and Estre were the only team to achieve two wins in Qatar and Fuji this season, with Lotterer celebrating his second FIA WEC title in his final race as a Porsche factory driver.
The #51 Ferrari AF Corse 499P of Antonio Giovinazzi, Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado took second place. However, a post-race penalty of 4 minutes and 55 seconds for exceeding the maximum allowed tire quota relegated the trio to 14th place.
This moved the #5 Porsche 963 of Matt Campbell, Michael Christensen and Frédéric Makowiecki to second in the final results, while the #93 Team Peugeot TotalEnergies of Mikkel Jensen, Nico Müller and Jean-Éric Vergne moved up to third and gave the French manufacturer its first place in 2024. And his only podium finish.
In LMGT3, the #55 VISTA AF Corse Ferrari took its first win of the season. Alessio Rovera made a thrilling move to take the lead after a close battle with the #81 TF Sport Corvette and the Iron Dames Lamborghini. Rovera held off Eastwood’s late charge in the #81 Corvette (which Eastwood shared with Rui Andrade and Tom van Rompuy) to secure victory for himself and teammates François Hériau and Simon Mann.
TF Sport achieved its best weekend of the season as its second car, the #82 Corvette driven by Daniel Juncadella, Hiroshi Koizumi and Sébastien Baud, finished third after recovering from an early penalty due to contact with the race-winning #8 Toyota. The rest of the top six included the Iron Lynx Lamborghini in 4th, the #91 Manthey EMA Porsche in 5th and the #59 United Autosports McLaren in 6th.
