WEC Bahrain: Ferrari champions, Toyota dominates

Ferrari are 2025 WEC, a sports car title for the first time since 1972 after their cars stormed home third, fourth, and fifth in Saturday’s eight hours of Bahrain. Not only is Ferrari manufacturer’s champion, but its cars ended 1-2-3 in the drivers’ chase. And the 2025 Le Mans-winning yellow number 83 took the privateers’ crown too. Manthey Porsche meanwhile redeemed a day to otherwise forget when it won back-to-back LMGT3 crowns.

Saturday was however all about Toyota Gazoo Racing, which locked out the front row of the grid and dominated the race to jump up from fourth and steal second in the championship from Porsche and Cadillac. It was also Toyota’s first 2025 WEC victory on a day when Peugeot and Aston Martin shone to see to it that all eight Hypercars led a race through the season. Lexus meanwhile made it a double for Toyota with LMGT3 victory over Mercedes-AMG, Aston Martin, and the champion Porsche.

The number 7 Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway, and Nyck de Vries Gazoo Toyota GR010 Hybrid controlled the race from the front to claim the team’s first win in a year, since it dramatically stole the 2024 makers’ title from Porsche in Bahrain. Teammates Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, and Ryo Hirakawa in the number 8 car bounced back to see to it that Toyota did it again, leaping to second in the chase as they disposed of the departing Porsche and Cadillac.

Bahrain was however all about Ferrari, which appeared to have the pace to take the Toyotas on but rather concentrated on the championship. The team engineered the delayed number 50 499P of Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen, and Antonio Fuoco into third to see them complete the championship 1-2-3 by edging the number 6 Porsche in the title chase.

The champion number 51 499P of James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi, and Antonio Giovinazzi moved over to let the 50 by with a lap left to race.

Behind them, Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye, and Phil Hanson’s Le Mans-winning yellow privateer champion number 83 Ferrari came home fifth to clinch second in the overall standings, with Ferrari brass John Elkann and Benedetto Vigna on hand to join the sea of red celebrations.

In a relatively clean race that saw only one notable incident when the Flohr, Castellacci, Rigon GT3LM was taken out by the overtaking Button Cadillac Hypercar, there were a few other safety car periods to clean up debris and remove stricken cars. The other Lynn, Stevens, Nato number 12 Cadillac V-Series.R however enjoyed a solid race to finish sixth.

Behind them, the number 009 Riberas, Sørensen, De Angelis Aston Martin Valkyrie led at a point but suffered a penalty to see it home seventh ahead of the Rast, van der Linde BMW, which fought back to eighth. Peugeot went in the other direction when a mid-race strategy call backfired to see both the Jenson, di Resta, Vergne and Jakobsen, Pourchaire, Duval 9X8s slip to ninth and tenth after a literal war with the Chatin, Habsburg, Milesi and Gounon, Makowiecki, Schumacher Alpines which ended up eleventh and twelfth.

The French quartet kept the departing Porsche out of the points on a Hypercar day the Stuttgart carmaker will want to forget. Estre and Vanthoor, in contention for the drivers’ title, and Campbell’s number 6 963 ended an unlucky thirteenth ahead of the sister Andlauer, Jaminet, Heinrich number 5 963 in fourteenth.

The delayed number 007 Tincknell, Gamble, Gunn Aston Martin followed from retiring Button sharing the Bamber, Bourdais number 38 Cadillac after Jenson took a 30-second stop-go for taking that Ferrari out. The privateer Jani, Pino, Varrone Proton Porsche in seventeenth was last of the Hypercar runners home.

While Porsche suffered in Hypercar, its LMGT3 day went far better when Ryan Hardwick, Richard Lietz, and Riccardo Pera drove their Manthey 911 GT3 R from eighteenth on the grid to finish fourth in class and clinch back-to-back titles. Ahead of them, José María López, Clemens Schmid, and Petru Umbrărescu scored Lexus’ second LMGT3 win of the season to end a fine day for Toyota.

They came out on top of an epic race-long battle with Hodenius, Berry, Martin’s Mercedes-AMG GT3 and the James, Robichon, Drudi Aston Martin. The champion Porsche ended fourth from the surviving Vista AF Corse Ferrari Heriau, Mann, Rovera Ferrari and the Keating, Edga, Juncadella Corvette.

So, Ferrari ultimately dominated the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship, scoring 245 points over a close fight for second topped by Toyota with 171 points, Porsche on 165, and Cadillac with 158 points. It was even closer for fifth as four points split BMW, Alpine, and Peugeot, with Aston Martin eighth.

The AF Corse Ferrari took the privateer Teams’ Cup from Proton Porsche. And the number 92 Manthey Porsche beat the number 21 AF Ferrari to the LMGT3 Teams’ title as the number 87 Akkodis Lexus leapfrogged the number 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin, number 81 TF Sport Corvette, and others to third.

Ferrari crews Alessandro Pier Guidi, Antonio Giovinazzi, and James Calado beat Philip Hanson, Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen to the drivers’ title. Porsche duo Kévin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor were third from Cadillac trio Alex Lynn, Norman Nato, and Will Stevens.

Toyota men Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway, and Nyck de Vries. And Riccardo Pera, Richard Lietz, and Ryan Hardwick took the LMGT3 drivers’ crown from Alessio Rovera, François Hériau, and Simon Mann, and Clemens Schmid, José María López, and Petru Umbrărescu.

While Porsche has exited the WEC, Hyundai brand Genesis joins in 2026, with Ford and McLaren following in 2027. It is not yet known whether any more Porsche privateers will join the Proton team, but with a new Gazoo Toyota coming and several changes across the board, the knives will be out to stop Ferrari from a back-to-back title and a fourth Le Mans 24 victory on the trot. Roll on WEC 2026!