WEC: Buemi, Hartley, Hirakawa trio clinches Hypercar title

Hypercar

• Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and José-María Lopez win the 8 Hours of Bahrain
• The trio takes their second win of the season following a faultless display to lead home the sister car of Buemi, Hartley and Hirakawa who become the 2022 FIA WEC Hypercar champions
• The title-contending Alpine ELF Team of Nicolas Lapierre, Matthieu Vaxiviere and Andre Negrao (who arrived to Bahrain level on points with #8 Toyota crew) rounds out the podium
• Peugeot TotalEnergies endure a tough race as the #94 Peugeot 9X8 crosses the line a delayed fourth, while #93 car retires with a transmission problem

LMGTE Pro

• The class sees dramatic closing stages as long-time race leaders James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi fall back from second place with a suspected gearbox issue in the penultimate hour
• This threatened to open-up a sensational title tilt for Porsche GT Team which looked to be out of contention as the race wore on
• However, Calado and Pier Guidi nurse the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo to the chequered flag in fifth place to successfully defend their LMGTE Pro championship
• The LMGTE Pro class is won at Bahrain by Miguel Molina and Antonio Fuoco who were allowed through by Calado in the fifth hour
• Corvette Racing’s Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy place second after a spirited run, capitalising on some full-course yellow fortune early in the race
• The #91 Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Richard Lietz and Gianmaria Bruni looked set for third place but it relinquishes position to teammates Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen in #92 Porsche 911 RSR-19 after taking a late fuel splash on the final tour

LMP2

• WRT takes second successive FIA WEC win as Robin Frijns/Rene Rast and Sean Gelael take conclusive victory
• Title glory goes to Will Stevens/Antonio Felix da Costa/Roberto Gonzalez as they bag a third place in Bahrain
• United Autosports USA place second as the #23 car of Oliver Jarvis, Alex Lynn and Joshua Pierson heads Prema Orlen Team that places fourth after a late fuel splash stop
• The Pro/Am winners – Francois Perrodo, Nicklas Nielsen and Alessio Rovera – also seal the overall end-of-season victory

LMGTE Am

• The #46 Team Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR of Matteo Cairoli, Nicolas Leutwiler and Mikkel Pedersen takes the first win of the season in LMGTE Am
• The #56 Porsche of Ben Barnicoat, Gunnar Jeannette and WEC debutant PJ Hyett makes it a 1-2 for Team Project 1
• Iron Dames take third place after another stellar event (and a the squad’s third consultee podium finish) for Rahel Frey, Michelle Gatting and Sarah Bovy
• The all-female squad moves up to third in the final FIA Endurance Trophy for LMGTE Am Teams standings
• TF Sport celebrates the LMGTE Am title with a solid run to the fourth position for Ben Keating, Henrique Chaves and Marco Sorensen