Toyota No. 7 car closes on World Championship Drivers’ title after dominant victory in Bahrain
The No.7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercar driven by Jose-Maria Lopez, Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway won today’s Bapco 6 Hours of Bahrain, the penultimate round of the FIA World Endurance Championship. It is the No. 7 car’s third consecutive victory.
Kobayashi took the Toyota Gazoo Racing Hypercar to the chequered flag 51s ahead of the sister No. 8 car driven by Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley. In doing so, the No. 7 crew has successfully extended its World Championship lead over the No. 8 car by 15 points, making the trio firm favourites going into next week’s season-finale.
The runner-up crew struggled with tyrewear in the sweltering conditions at the Bahrain International Circuit as temperatures seared to close to 35 degrees Celsius this afternoon. During the second half of the race, the team also lost time due to a slow pitstop and felt the impact of a full course yellow – putting an end to their chances of catching their team-mates.
Toyota’s 1-2 finish today sees the Japanese manufacturer secure the first-ever Hypercar World Endurance Championship title and marks Toyota’s 34th WEC victory.
The No.7 @TGR_WEC GR010 Hybrid Hypercar driven by @pechito37, @kamui_kobayashi and @Mikeconway26 took victory in the BAPCO 6 Hours of Bahrain this afternoon. In doing so trio extended their points advantage as they chase a second #WEC title.#6HBahrain pic.twitter.com/yGCDSyqjPW
— WEC (@FIAWEC) October 30, 2021
Alpine Elf Matmut claimed the third podium spot in the Hypercar cateogory with the team finishing one lap down on the Toyotas after losing time in the opening stint following contact with the No. 88 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche.
The Alpine A480 Gibson, which was shared by Andre Negrao, Nicolas Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxiviere, also suffered from a throttle pedal issue which hampered the trio’s times out on track.
Now the teams have a very short break before they return to the Bahrain International Circuit for the final round of the year – the season-closing Bapco 8 Hours of Bahrain – which takes place next weekend (5-6 November).
Team WRT wins first race in Bahrain as LMP2 title fight heats up
In what is their debut FIA WEC season, Belgian squad Team WRT continued its fine run of form with a superb victory in the highly-competitive LMP2 field which saw plenty of action from start to finish.
Drivers Robin Frijns, Ferdinand Habsburg and Charles Milesi executed brilliant tyre preservation strategy to lead home LMP2 field in their Oreca 07 Gibson by nearly a minute.
It is the No. 31 car’s second straight victory after triumphing at Le Mans back in August and sees the team move ahead of the No. 28 JOTA car in the fiercely fought LMP2 title-fight as both crews are now separated by just five points.
#LeMans24 #6HBahrain #WEC @followWRT pic.twitter.com/r40S915fUh
— WEC (@FIAWEC) October 30, 2021
British squad JOTA claimed a double podium with the No. 28 car driven by Stoffel Vandoorne, Tom Blomqvist and Sean Gelael making an impressive comeback after a difficult start and a spin which saw the pole-sitting car drop down the running order.
Meanwhile, the sister No. 38 car is still in contention for this year’s title after Anthony Davidson, Antonio Felix Da Costa and Roberto Gonzalez finished third – the trio 12 points adrift of their team-mates in the standings.
Anglo-American squad United Autosports USA enjoyed a close fight for third as Filipe Albuquerque battled alongside fellow countryman Antonio Felix Da Costa in the race’s closing hour. Albuquerque was eventually passed by Da Costa, however, with 18 minutes to go and was forced settled for fourth - 15s adrift of the No. 38 JOTA car.
It is still mathematically possible for United Autosports to win this year’s LMP2 championship but P4 today has made it more difficult as they now lie 25 points adrift of category leaders, Team WRT.
As has been the case all season, the LMP2 battle provided plenty of on-track action from the outset, which included a spectacular opening stint from Giedo Van Der Garde in the No. 29 Racing Team Nederland entry who briefly led the category. The team eventually finished fifth place and secured the Pro/Am honours, which they now lead by nine points over DragonSpeed USA going into the final race of the year.
Richard Mille Racing equalled its best result of the season after a solid run from Beitske Visser, Sophia Floersch and Gabriel Aubry to finish in sixth place. Floersch also did an impressive job of keeping Realteam Racing’s Norman Nato behind her in the final laps, the two cars separated by just 0.234s at the finish line.
Realteam Racing and High Class Racing claimed P7 and P8 respectively while Polish squad Inter Europol Competition finished ninth after a succession of issues including a spin on track after impact from another LMP2 car. The team lost further time as they had to return to the pits with a damaged left door.
ARC Bratislava finished P10, while DragonSpeed USA finished last after the team was knocked out of contention when Juan Pablo Montoya lost a wheel after coming out of the pits.
