The season ends with exciting racing and tempers flaring in the LMGTE Pro class.
SAKHIR, Bahrain—They might have won the Constructor’s Championship last week. Still, in this final race on Saturday night, Toyota Gazoo continued to dominate the opening hypercar season as Sebastian Buemi, Brendon Hartley, and Kaz Nakajima took the Eight Hours of Bahrain. Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, and Jose Maria Lopez took their second consecutive title by finishing in the runner-up spot. The French Alpine team was third despite changing gearbox parts early on when their system failed.
Alpine took the first eight laps of the race by moving out in front of both Toyotas but ended up being passed by the duo before Conway pitted at the end of the opening hour. The Buemi team never gave up the lead from that moment on.
The season’s biggest surprise was in the LMP 2 division, which was given to the Belgian WRT Team, who won Lemans this season and took the victory ahead of both British JOTA cars. One of them was Anthony Davidson, who was racing for the last time. The trio of Robin Frijins, Ferdinand Hapsburg-Lothringen, and Charles Millisi took their first championship with their win.
This night, the most controversial division was in the LMGTE Pro class, where the battle between Ferrari’s AF Corse team and their Porsche rivals ended in a controversial win for the Italians.
The controversy continued as Jani interrupted an interview with the winning team, resulting in an obscene gesture by the Swiss driver. Then, the second-place team did not participate in the champagne celebrations, walking off the podium. In contrast, the winning team continued their celebrations with the AF Corse third-place team of Daniel Serra and Miguel Molina.
Ferrari also took the LMGTE Am division for the third time with Francois Perrodo and his co-drivers Nicklas Nielsen and Alessio Rovera. They, in addition, took the race as well. The team finished ahead of the Dempsey-Proton and Team Project 1 Porsche teams. American Ben Keating had an opportunity to win the title but was struck by the Aston Martin of Paul Della Lana in the opening hour, flattening his tire and retiring his car later in the race. Keating was the first of two vehicles who retired from the race, along with another Dempsey-Proton entry.
Next season will begin in the United States, beginning with the prologue and–a week later in early March–with the 100-mile endurance race in Sebring, Florida.
