8 Hours of Bahrain – Race: Toyota and Porsche share the last two world titles

A race with many stakes at play was launched on Saturday, November 2nd, with the two Toyotas at the front, Ferrari and Porsche close behind. Not to mention that McLaren, in LMGT3, took the top two spots on the grid, promising fierce competition in all directions.

After two warm-up laps, it was on: Porsche No. 6 experienced a catastrophic scenario, after several contacts at the start. Laurens Vanthoor was out of the Top 10, while Toyota No. 7 was surprised by Ferrari No. 51, to end up in 4th place. Ferrari No. 50 also had a very difficult start.

A calm start to the race

In LMGT3, the two McLarens kept their positions at the top of the category, ahead of Ferrari No. 55 and Lamborghini No. 85 of the Iron Dames.

The ranking has remained stable almost everywhere during this first hour of the race and, at this time, Porsche No. 6 was the world champion, as its two rivals (Toyota 7 and Ferrari 50) were not in the lead.

It took a quarter of an hour for the Hypercars to catch up with the LMGT3s, introducing another variant to consider: traffic. It was worth noting the excellent start of the race by Julien Andlauer, who was in 3rd place in the Proton Porsche No. 99.

BIG suspension problems for #78 Akkodis ASP Team. 😰

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— FIA World Endurance Championship (@FIAWEC) November 2, 2024

Plot twist at the head of the race: the Corvette N°82, getting lapped, crashed into the Toyota N°8, handing the lead to the Ferrari N°51. A great result for the constructors’ standings among the Reds. But Miguel Molina’s Ferrari N°50 had a scare in the last sector while overtaking GT cars and the Spaniard overdid it a bit while resisting the N°83.

On the other hand, on the French side, it is truly very difficult: Peugeot and Alpine were simply at the back of the Hypercar pack, far from the front runners.

At the end of the race hour, Julien Andlauer, in the Porsche Proton, successively lost 2nd and 3rd places, with medium tires struggling. And Toyota No. 8 managed to pass in turn, after a battle of four with the two BMWs, who had an excellent start to the race.

In LMGT3, the standings were shaken up after the first pit stops: the No. 81 Corvette from TF Sport took the lead, right under the noses of the McLarens.

Ferrari maintains its course at H+1

Ferrari No. 51 was one of the last ones to stop, and the mechanics lowered the car before finishing all the adjustments. Some time was lost in the process.

Alpine No. 36 took the lead, as it was the last car that had not stopped. Charles Milesi had a very complicated start to the race and was certainly waiting for nightfall to go faster.

The Ferrari’s troubles in the pits benefited the Jota N°12 to take the lead, while the official Porsches were far behind at this stage.

With 6 hours and 35 minutes remaining, all Hypercars were still in the same lap, the Alpine No. 36 driven by Charles Milesi was at the back trailing by 53 seconds from the leading Porsche No. 12.

On the LMGT3 side, the season was over for the Lexus No. 78, a victim of a left rear suspension failure. The Corvette No. 81 was still leading. In each of the categories, the standings were to be taken with a grain of salt, as several cars opted for different tire strategies (changing two or four tires).

The Ferrari No. 51 was gradually catching up with the leading Porsche and was securing the constructor’s title for Maranello at that moment. The Italian prototype made people forget its twelve-second delay by taking the lead, while the Toyota No. 8 was returning to the pits to hand over to Brendon Hartley. The Ferrari No. 50, on the other hand, was completely struggling and saw its slim title chances disappear.

Alert at Toyota

Porsche #6 driven by Kevin Estre, who has been struggling, tried to make up for lost time. Toyota #7, in the running for the world title, had a big scare. Kamui Kobayashi struggled with gear changes for a lap, dropping from third to eighth place.

The French driver in the Porsche #6 was on a blistering pace towards the end of the third hour of the race. The driver from Lyon closed in on the exhaust of the Cadillac, despite being about fifteen seconds behind when he got into the Hypercar. He made a daring overtake on the American car and moved into the Top 10.

Kamui Kobayashi, after fixing his technical issue, found his pace again by driving two seconds faster than the sister car. The Japanese driver quickly moved back to fourth place, the position he was in before the breakdown.

Ferrari #50, which was struggling at the beginning of the race, found its stride after three hours of the race. But there was still a long way to go to get back to the front.

A problem for the BMW #20

At nightfall, we were able to witness an incredible battle between Porsches #5 and #12 and Toyota #7. The Japanese car was on fire. Behind the wheel, Kamui Kobayashi made a very daring overtaking move on the official German car. Here he is on the podium. Shortly after, he made the same move on #12, still at the first turn.

While Kevin Estre was pushing to catch up with the 9th-placed Ferrari #83, Kamui Kobayashi was increasing his pace to take the lead of the race. After 3 hours and 40 minutes, the BMW #20 was brought back into the garage. The mechanics were focused on the engine. “I had no more power,” admitted Robin Frijns. This gave an easy overtake to the 8th-placed Porsche #6.

New issues for Toyota

After a big smoke in the BMW garage, WRT announced the withdrawal of #20. This is the first retirement in Hypercar. After incredible relays, Kamui Kobayashi and Kevin Estre handed over their steering wheel to Nyck de Vries and Andre Lotterer, respectively.

Ryo Hirakawa and Olivier Rasmussen engaged in a great battle. In the process, both Hypercars lost a lot of time. A situation that benefited the Porsche #6, which closed the gap. In front, the Toyota #7 wanted to send a message by taking the lead of the race. With a high pace, it distanced itself from the Ferrari #51.

The Toyota #7 has once again been hit by a problem. At a slow pace, this benefited Alessandro Pier Guidi, who took back the lead of these 8 Hours of Bahrain. The first full course yellow came shortly after to remove debris from a Mustang GT3.

While the issue seemed to be settled for Toyota #7, it came back in quite a significant way. Nyck de Vries was caught up by backmarkers and lost a considerable amount of time with the leading Ferrari. Porsches #12 and #5 even overtook them.

Porsche with panache

Meanwhile, in GT3, the Corvette #81 from TF Sport was comfortably leading with a twenty-second gap over the McLaren #59 from United Autosports.

After a mistake by Toyota #8, Porsche #6 regained a new position. The German manufacturer wanted to go for the title in style, gaining positions cleanly and not just relying on its lead.

After a new wave of pit stops, no major changes to note in the standings. Nyck de Vries was still struggling and lost more positions. The Dutchman was slowing down. This issue was seemingly a defeat in the quest for the individual title.

The first safety car.

On the French side, Alpine tried to push each of its relays to try to have one less pit stop. The French team was completely out of sync with the other teams. Peugeot seemed to be following this strategy. But with 2 hours 40 minutes to go, it didn’t seem to be paying off since both the Blues and the Lionesses were outside the Top 10.

At 2:33 from the checkered flag, a small fire was detected on the Mustang #88 of Proton Competition. A virtual safety car was deployed initially before the actual car went on track. Will this bring some action and shake up the hierarchy?

Mustang on FIRE! 🧯🔥

What a relief that the driver is ok.

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— FIA World Endurance Championship (@FIAWEC) November 2, 2024

Many cars took advantage of this to make a free pit stop. This notably benefited the Iron Dames, who should complete their final race with a Lamborghini, which were in the middle of the pack. They were in second place after their pit stop.

The restart was very bad for both Toyotas. The #7 dropped to 15th place, the #8 was beaten by the BMW #15 and the Porsche #6 put pressure on it. After a mistake at turn 4, the German car gained another position.

Toyota abandonment

With two hours still on the clock, Corvette #81 made a mistake, which benefited the Iron Dames who took the lead in the GT3 category. At the same time, Toyota #7 was brought into the pit. « We deserved to fight for the victory, believed Nyck de Vries.

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"Toyota will not be crowned in the World Endurance Championship."

While the only BMW still on track was setting a crazy pace, the Peugeot #94 was stopped on the edge of the track. The virtual safety car was deployed.

The race took on a new pace with suspense with the simultaneous stop of the second Ford, on the edge of the track, due to brake issues. The safety car was deployed. Once the green flag was waved, Alpine #36 had a scare. Charles Milesi lost control at turn 4. The Ferrari #50, trying to avoid it, was hit and got a flat tire. Return to the pits at a very slow speed.

Well positioned, the Iron Ladies were penalized with a drive through for not respecting a virtual safety car procedure. At the head of the GT3 category, a fierce battle was taking place between Corvette and Ferrari.

Peugeot fighting for the podium

With the pit stop strategy playing out, the hierarchy was completely shaken up with half an hour to go. The Peugeot #93 was in third place, Alpine was scoring double points. The Toyota #8 was leading the race, and at that moment, securing the world championship title for constructors. Meanwhile, the Porsche #6 was in 10th place.

With 15 minutes to go, the Peugeot lost its podium spot. The Ferrari #51 took the lead. A little further back, the Porsche #6 struggled to climb up the ranks. It was blocked by the Alpine #36. In an overtaking attempt, the two cars made slight contact but without major damage.

With its first position, the #8 offered the constructor’s title to Toyota. The Porsche #5, despite its third position, did not allow its brand to achieve the double drivers-constructors title. With an eleventh position, the #6 was crowned among the drivers. In GT3, the #55 from Vista AF Corse won the race ahead of the two Corvettes.

The battle between #93 and #35 benefited Peugeot, who finished the season with a magnificent fourth place.