WEC 2022 championship will be settled in the season’s last race, November’s 8 Hours of Bahrain.
FUJI, Japan—Following their disaster two months ago in Italy, Toyota Gazoo Racing got their composure back Sunday afternoon, placing Sebastian Buemi, Brendon Hartley, and Rio Hirakawa in a 1-2 finish ahead of their sister seven rival. The French Alpine Elf team of Andre Negrao, Matthieu Vauxiviere, and Nicholas Lapierre took third.
The winners now go into the last race in November in Bahrain, tied with the Alpine trio in the drivers’ championship, with Toyota leading the manufacturers’ title by 28 points.
It was not the number eight Toyota that took the race lead early, but the seven rivals, who began the race with pole sitter Kamui Kobayashi, who teamed up with Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez. The trio had the lead early in the race, but luck turned against them later when Conway could not find a rhythm. With Buemi in the quicker car, the order was for the Swiss to overtake his English rival and never looked back, winning the race easily.
While the hypercar class was relatively easy to predict, the LMP 2 class thrilled most of the fans in attendance. The leading series JOTA entry, driven by Antonio Felix da Costa, Roberto Gonzalez, and Will Stevens, held the lead up to the last hour of the race, with Stevens taking the final turn. But the British driver took a risk, and despite his efforts to try and save fuel, he had to make the last stop. The gamble was in vain as the team of Robin Frijins, Sean Gelael, and Dries Vanhoor in their Belgian WRT entry went on to win, with the second JOTA of Oliver Rasmussen, Edward Jones, and Johnathan Aberdein taking the final podium place.
Everyone knew the GTE PRO class would be a battle between rivals Ferrari and Porsche in its next to last race. Initially, it seemed like the Stuttgart-based squad would get a well-deserved victory and take the lead in the class championship. But fate would not be on their side. Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre were not only passed by one Ferrari but two. The Italian pair continued to battle one another, with class series leaders Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado increasing their championship lead with the victory.
In the final class, the GTEAM, TF Sport’s Ben Keating kept his lead in the championship with a fine win, but right behind him was the trio of the Iron Dames team, led by Rahal Fry, Michelle Gatting, and Sarah Bovy, who slotted into the car at the last moment. But it was to no avail. Keating and co-drivers Henrique Chavez and Marco Sorensen had no trouble. Still, the home team of D’ Station Racing, with Satoshi Hoshino, Tomonobu Fuji, and Charles Fagg at the controls, placed their car for the first time on the podium.
Now, the 8 Hours of Bahrain awaits on November 22.
