Ferrari seal 1-2-3 in WEC drivers championship as Toyota get 1-2 in 8 Hours of Bahrain. Porsche win title in LMGT3
- Aaron Carroll
- 1 hour ago
- 7 min read
Ferrari have sealed a 1-2-3 finish in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) drivers championship, and the manufacturers title. Toyota took a 1-2 in the 8 Hours of Bahrain, while the No.87 Lexus won in LMGT3 and the No.92 Porsche took that title.
Antonio Giovinazzi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi are you 2025 Hypercar world champions, with the No.83 crew finishing second in the title race, and the No.50 just taking third with a late swap between the two factory cars in the race.
In LMGT3 your champions are Ryan Hardwick, Richard Lietz and Ricardo Pera, who finished fourth and ahead of their rivals to win the title.
As it happened
The final round of the WEC season got underway at 10:00 GMT this morning, with the two Toyotas leading the pack away from the front row of the grid.
They led away in their grid order, No.7 ahead of No.8, followed by the Peugeots and the rest of the grid fanning out as they fought for positions down into turn 1. Will Stevens in the No.21 Cadillac found his way past the No.93 Peugeot for fourth, but would lose the position again 20 minutes later.
There were plenty of battles up and down the order in the early stages of the race, including the trio of Ferraris working their way up the order. The No.51, No.83 and No.50 sat in seventh, eighth and ninth after half an hour of racing.
Kevin Magnussen in the No.15 BMW started tenth, and propelled himself into that Ferrari battle early on in the race, but slowly began to fall down the order, out of the points.
In LMGT3, the No.78 Lexus led away from pole from the two Mercedes. But the race quickly unfolded, with the No.60 Mercedes falling from third to sixth, allowing the No.87 Lexus, No.88 Ford and No.27 Aston ahead.
As the first stint progressed, it began to become clear who had treated their tyres well in the opening laps. Laurens Vanthoor in the No.6 Porsche seemed to have done the best job, climbing the order from 16th to 12th in a matter of a few laps.
Antonio Giovinazzi in the No.51 Ferrari done the same, breaking away from the two sister cars and getting up to fifth, ahead of the No.12 Cadillac and No.009 Aston Martin.
The No.93 Peugeot of Paul Di Resta had a moment just before the first pit stops. He was trying to put another lap on the No.10 Aston Martin, when he took too much kerb at turn 13 and spun around. He lost position to the No.51 Ferrari.
Strategies began to form in the first round of Hypercar pit stops. Most teams took two tyres, a mix of left side and rear tyres, while the No.8 Toyota didn't take any tyres at all. They assumed the lead of the race by 20 seconds when everyone emerged, ahead of the sister No.7.
Giovinazzi kept the No.51 moving up the order, getting by the second of the two Peugeots for third with a move into turn 4. That put the No.94 back into the clutches of the No.93, where Peugeot decided to swap the positions.
In LMGT3, Lin Hodenius had got into the No.61 Mercedes, and he quickly got onto the back of Clemens Schmid, now in the leading No.87 Lexus. Hodenius got the better run out of turn 4 and sailed past the Lexus into the lead of the race.
There was a feisty battle further down the Hypercar order, as Earl Bamber in the No.38 Cadillac lost out, going from just outside the points all the way down to 17th.
Meanwhile out in front, the No.8's older tyres were beginning to hamper their progress, as the sister car obliterated the lead gap. Giovinazzi in the No.51 behind was catching both of them.
As soon as Mike Conway in the No.7 caught Brendan Hartley in the lead, Toyota made the decision to swap the two cars, to aid Conway in fending off the fast approaching Giovinazzi. Hartley tried to defend from Giovinazzi, but the tyre difference was too big. The Italian racer sailed around the outside of turn 4 into second place.
Crucially in the strategy fight, the No.8 car was under fuelled during the first pit stop. That meant they would take their second stop earlier, and possibly avoid a splash at the end of the race.
Meanwhile Nicklas Nielsen in the No.50 Ferrari caught the No.94 Peugeot for fifth, and was trying to find a way past. Ahead of them Di Resta caught Hartley, but the move was not needed as the No.8 crew pulled the GR010 into the pits.
Hartley gave the car to Sebastian Buemi, and he emerged back out in 17th. Back at the front, Giovinazzi was trying all he could to make a move for the lead. The gap was stationary under half a second as the two fought for position.
Another round of pit stops came and went, with the No.7 staying in the lead ahead of the No.51 and the No.8. In LMGT3 the No.87 had retaken the lead in the pit stops, ahead of the two Mercedes in second and third. Interestingly, Ben Keating in the No.33 Corvette had stayed in the car for the entire race. He was the only bronze driver to use up all of his driving time in one go.
Keating was trying to fend off fellow bronze Thomas Flohr in the No.54 Ferrari for fifth. Flohr eventually found the edge and squeezed past. Meanwhile the championship leading No.92 Porsche had worked its way from the back of the grid up to seventh place after two hours and 15 minutes of racing.
Ryan Hardwick in that Porsche had also done the entire race distance, and caught Keating for sixth. A late lunge down into turn 8 was Hardwicks favoured way past Keating, moving the championship leading car up the order.
Outside of that battle, the race had begun to settle down, including the battle for the overall lead, which had a gap of around two seconds with five hours and 20 minutes remaining.
The No.59 looked to have some sort of braking issue, so the United Autosports team were forced to pull the McLaren into the garage for repairs.
As Jenson Button attempted to get past and lap the No.54 Ferrari, he tagged Thomas Flohr and sent him spinning. Flohr hit the inside wall at turn 3 hard, moving the tyre barrier and bringing out the safety car. The driver was thankfully okay.
On the restart, Sebastian Buemi jumped the sister Toyota into the lead, but all eyes were on the No.009. Alex Riberas began to set the timing sheets alight, moving up the order and eventually taking the lead of the race.
It wouldn't last too long though, as Riberas was given a drive through penalty for a safety car infringement. He dropped down to fifth place due to the penalty, behind the sister No.007, which also came alive with the newfound pace.
After another round of pit stops for both classes there was a battle for the lead in LMGT3. The No.61 Mercedes made a move on the No.87 Lexus, but Clemens Schmid in the Lexus wouldn't go down without a fight, retaking the lead of the race.
Back at the front, the No.8 Toyota also fell foul to a drive-through, this time for a pit stop infringement. This dropped them out of second and down to the bottom end of the top 10.
There was plenty of offset strategies up and down the field, so the order fluctuated back and forth during the second half of the race. It appeared however, that the Toyotas did always end up back at the front eventually.
With under three hours remaining, the No.7 led the No.51 by 20 seconds, with the No.009 in third by another 20 seconds.
Antonio Fuoco in the No.50 Ferrari had a good battle with Malthe Jakobsen in the No.94 Peugeot, with Ryo Hirakawa in the No.8 Toyota joining in too. The Ferrari and Toyota were much quicker overall, but the Peugeot was rapid on the straights, making it very hard to pass. Eventually though, both cars did get past.
In the time it took Hirakawa to get by though, James Calado in the No.51 Ferrari had caught him and he too passed the Peugeot. Calado began to put pressure on the Toyota, getting by and moving into third place.
Earl Bamber in the No.38 Cadillac had a weird spin at the final corner, locking the rears and spinning off to the runoff, but getting going again.
Daniel Juncadella and Augusto Farfus were having a good fight over fifth in LMGT3, some very aggressive but fair racing going on, with Juncadella winning out in the No.33 Corvette. The aggression and hand gestures used by Juncadella would have reminded Farfus of his battle with Tommy Milner in the 24 Hours of Daytona earlier in the year.
The races second safety car came out for Dries Vanthoor in the No.15 BMW. Just a lap after he set his cars best race lap, the rear right suspension failed, forcing the Belgian into a spin at turn 11, and putting them out of the race.
The safety car allowed everyone to pit, meaning no one would need any sort of splash at the end. The order before the restart was the No.7 Toyota from the sister No.8, ahead of the three Ferraris (No.51, No.83 and No.50), with the No.009 in sixth.
Crucially, there was a lot of lapped traffic between the No.7 in the lead and the No.8 in second, that would give Nyck De Vries a big lead to begin with. The SC came into the pits with half an hour of the season remaining.
At the restart, it was quite calm in the field, especially with Alessandro Pier Guidi in the No.51 Ferrari. In their current position they would win the championship, so no risks needed to be taken.
Nicklas Nielsen in the No.50 Ferrari had a side by side moment with Robert Kubica, as he sailed past the No.83 into fourth. Will Stevens in the No.12 quickly caught the back of the pole too.
In LMGT3 the No.87 still led the way, with the No.92 in fourth looking set to seal the title.
They all stayed as they were at the finish line. Toyota Gazoo Racing took one last 1-2 finish for the GR010, before they race in their new Evo Hypercar next year.
Ferrari sealed both the drivers and manufacturers title with a 3-4-5 finish. Antonio Giovinazzi, James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi led a Ferrari 499P 1-2-3 in the drivers standings.
In LMGT3 it was the No.87 that took victory, with the No.92 Porsche sealing their championship victory.
That's all for the WEC in 2025, we will see you again in March for the season opener of the 2026 season in Qatar.
