8 Hours of Bahrain: The Grand Finale for the Hypercar Title

Since the beginning of the season, Toyota has not been deprived of victory…except for the most important race: the 24 Hours of Le Mans, last June, after losing its duel against Ferrari.

The Scuderia, thanks to the N°51, was able to pocket the largest payout ever awarded in a round of the WEC for drivers. The victory in the Le Mans classic earns 50 points in one go, a scoring system dedicated to 24-hour races.

The only other exceptions in the calendar happen to be the 1000 Miles of Sebring, as well as the 8 Hours of Bahrain: instead of the usual 25 points awarded to the winners of six-hour races, the eight-hour format earns 38 points for first place.

Finally, it should be noted that the pole position earns an additional point over the weekend. Ferrari has so far earned two (Sebring and Le Mans), while Toyota has claimed all the others (Spa, Monza, and Fuji). Thus, as we approach this final event of the season, there are still 39 points to be awarded.

The detailed scoring system of the WEC in 2023 can be read here.

Ferrari has a slight chance

The top of the championship is currently occupied by the Toyota No. 8 (Hartley/Buemi/Hirakawa) with 133 points. This places the leaders of the world ranking with a small fifteen-point lead over the Toyota No. 7 (118 points with Kobayashi/Lopez/Conway).

But the Japanese have no margin for error if Ferrari suddenly regains its pace after difficult free practice sessions: car number 51, greatly aided by its victory at Le Mans, sits in 3rd place in the championship with 102 points. That’s a 31-point deficit against the Toyota car number 8 and a 16-point deficit against car number 7. Car number 50, on the other hand, faced a 38-point deficit after car number 8 took pole position: it is impossible for them to become world champions since they haven’t won any races and a tie in points would automatically be disadvantageous for them.

Indeed, it would take a major cataclysm for Toyota to lose the world title. A double retirement, for example, which hasn’t happened since the demotion of the Japanese cars at Silverstone in August 2018. At that time, it had granted the victory to the Rebellion team.

In these conditions, in Hypercar:

Buemi/Hartley/Hirakawa world champions if*…

-They win the 8 Hours of Bahrain, with or without the pole position (38 or 39 points), finish 2nd with or without the pole (27 or 28 points), or finish 3rd with the pole position (23+1 points), regardless of the result of car number 7, car number 51, and car number 50.

-They finish 4th with or without the pole (18 or 19 points) and the N°7 does not win.

-They finish 5th: with or without the pole (15 or 16 points) and the Toyota N°7 does no better than 2nd with or without the pole (27 or 28 points)

-They finish 6th: with the pole position (13 points) and the Toyota N°7 does no better than 2nd without the pole position (27 points); without the pole position (12 points) and the Toyota N°7 does no better than 3rd with or without the pole position (23 or 24 points).

– They finish 8th: [b]with or without the pole position[/b] (6 or 7 points), regardless of the result of N°51, and N°7 does not do better than 4th [b]with or without the pole[/b] (18 or 19 points).

-they finish 9th: with the pole position (3+1 points), and the Toyota No.7 does not do better than 4th without the pole (18 points); without the pole, the Toyota No.7 does not do better than 5th, even with the pole (15+1 points). In both cases, if the Ferrari No.51 does not win, even with the pole (39 points).

-they finish 10th: with the pole position (3 points) and the Toyota N°7 doesn’t do better than 5th, even with the pole position (16 points); without the pole position (2 points) and the Toyota N°7 doesn’t do better than 5th, even with the pole position (16 points). In both cases, if the Ferrari N°51 doesn’t win.

-They finish beyond the Top 10: with the pole position (2 points), the Toyota N°7 doesn’t do better than 5th, even with the pole position (16 points), the Ferrari N°51 doesn’t win, even with the pole position, and the N°50 doesn’t win with the pole position; without the pole position, the Toyota N°7 doesn’t do better than 5th without the pole position (15 points), and the Ferrari N°51 doesn’t win.

– The Toyota No. 7 and the Ferrari(s) retire, regardless of their result.

Number 8 must not lose more than fourteen points to Number 7 (a tie would give Number 7 the win based on the number of victories), and no more than 31 points to Number 51.

Kobayashi/Conway/Lopez world champions if…*

– ils gagnent : with or without the pole position (38 or 39 points) and the Toyota No. 8 doesn’t do better than 3rd without the pole position (23 points).

-they finish 2nd: with the pole position (28 points) and the Toyota No. 8 doesn’t do better than 6th, even with the pole position (13 points); without the pole position (27 points) and the Toyota No. 8 doesn’t do better than 6th without the pole position (12 points).

-They finish 3rd: with the pole position (24 points) and the Toyota N°8 does no better than 7th without the pole position (9 points); without the pole position (23 points) and the Toyota N°8 does no better than 8th, even with the pole position (7 points).

-they finish 4th: with the pole (19 points) and the Toyota No. 8 doesn’t do better than 9th, even with the pole (

4 points) Without the pole position (18 points), and the Toyota N°8 only managed to finish 9th without the pole (3 points).

-They finish 5th: with the pole position (16 points), and the Toyota #8 finishes outside the Top 10 without the pole (1 point); without the pole (15), the Toyota #8 retires, the #51 doesn’t do better than 2nd, even with the pole.

The Toyota No.7 must not lose more than 16 points to the Ferrari No.51, and must gain at least 15 points on the Toyota No.8: the No.7 has won four races, compared to only one by the No.8; if they have the same number of points, the title would go to the No.7.

Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi world champions if*…

-They win by necessity: with the pole position (39 points), the Toyota N°8 doesn’t do better than 9th, even with the pole position (4 points), and the Toyota N°7 doesn’t do better than 4th, even with the pole position (19 points); without the pole position (38 points), the Toyota N°8 abandons the race, and the N°7 doesn’t do better than 4th, even with the pole position (19 points).

The Ferrari No.51 must recover at least 32 points from Toyota No.8 and at least 17 points from Toyota No.7.

The LMP2 title is also up for grabs

This is not technically a World Championship, but rather an FIA Trophy for LMP2 drivers. For the last race of the intermediate category in the global championship, we needed a big finale!

The title will be contested between three cars: the WRT N°41 (Deletraz/Kubica/Andrade) is leading the championship with 135 points. It is followed by the surprising winner of the 24 Hours, the Inter Europol N°34 (Scherer/Costa/Smiechowski), which trails by 33 points and has a 34-point advantage over the United N°22 (Lubin/Hanson/Pierson).

The last two mentioned have no other choice but to impose themselves and rely on a huge underperformance (or even a withdrawal) from the WRT N°41. The fight promises to be intense, with top-notch referees!