This 2025 FIA WEC 8 Hours of Bahrain race report by regular endurance-racing correspondent and motorsport fundi, Dr Nick van der Meulen, outlines the final race of the season.
Ferrari sealed the WEC driver’s, constructor’s and privateer’s championship at the final round of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship, held in Bahrain. There were three constructors, namely Ferrari, Porsche and Cadillac that had a chance at the constructors’ title, but Cadillac and Porsche faded away as the race progressed.
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Return to Form
The race, however, was all about Toyota Gazoo Racing. The marque has dominated this event in recent years and this year was no exception. Kamui Kobayashi took pole position with Toyota #7 (Kobayashi/Conway/de Vries), with the sister car locking out the front row of the grid. They dominated from the beginning, but a drive-through penalty for Toyota #8 (Buemi/Hartley/Hirakawa) dropped them down the order.
The trio worked hard and carved their way back to second position. Toyota #7 took a comfortable victory ahead of #8, their first victory (and podium!) of the season. They took a maximum haul of points, resulting in the marque finishing runner up in the constructor’s championship. The victory was Toyota’s ninth straight victory at Bahrain and 11th at the circuit in total.
Fast Ferraris
Ferrari performed strongly in Bahrain, finishing third, fourth and fifth, respectively. The #50 machine (Nielsen/Fuoco/Molini) finished ahead of the sister #51 (Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi) after a strategic swap in the closing minutes of the race. This ensures that #51 are drivers’ champion, with #50 placing third.
The AF Corse customer #83 (Kubica/Ye/Hanson) finished fifth in the race and claimed the runner-up position in the drivers’ championship. This result ensured the marque claiming the constructor’s championship – their first world sportscar championship since 1972. Giovinazzi and Pier Guidi are the first ever world sportscar champions to hail from Italy.
In His Own Words
“Even before the race finished, I was almost in tears,” admitted Calado, now four times a world champion and the fourth British driver to claim FIA WEC’s biggest prize. “It’s extremely emotional, of course, but this is really down to the team, because from when we started at Sebring in 2023 to now, you can’t imagine the effort and improvements that have been put into the whole program to get us to where we are today.
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“To become manufacturers’ and drivers’ champions, and also be second and third in the [Drivers’] championship just shows our strength, and we never give up. It was definitely a tricky second half of the season, but today we executed perfectly as a team, and that is reflected in the results. I need to extend a big thanks to everyone involved in this project, and my two team-mates in particular. What an amazing achievement!”
Factory Battles
JOTA Team Cadillac had a lukewarm weekend at Bahrain. Caddy #12 (Lynn/Nato/Stevens) ran solidly to finish sixth, while #38 (Bourdais/Bamber/Button) finished well outside the points after Button tagged Thomas Flohr’s #54 Ferrari GT3 into the wall and immediate retirement. The race was the 2009 F1 champ’s last of his storied professional career.
Aston Martin had another good showing in Bahrain. Aston #009 (Riberas/Sorensen/de Angelis) briefly led the event, passing Toyota #7, but they used more tyres than their competitors. They faded as the race progressed, but still finished a credible seventh. The sister car, #007 (Tincknell/Gamble/Gunn), finished outside the points.
WRT BMW had another difficult race at Bahrain, the drivers complaining of a lack of pace. The #20 machine (Rast/Frijns/S. van der Linde) managed to score points for finishing eighth. The #15 machine (D. Vanthoor/Marciello/Wittmann) pitched into a spin in the final hour of the race, after the right rear suspension let go.
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Getting Better
Peugeot locked out the second row in qualifying, but lacked race pace to their rivals. The drivers fought hard, particularly Jakobsen driving #94, but will feel scant reward for taking the final points on offer. Peugeot #93 (Di Resta/Jensen/Vergne) finished ninth and #94 (Duval/Jakobsen/Pourchiare) tenth.
Leaving WEC
Porsche has withdrawn from the Hypercar class for 2026 (as we reported here), citing financial reasons. They will continue to use the cars in IMSA for 2026, though. The rumblings in the paddock indicate that the marque was not pleased with the way BoP was handled, however, all marques were affected at some stage in the season. They will likely feel their decision was justified after their performance this weekend. None of the three machines scored points and the marque conceded second place in the constructor’s championship as a result.
GT3LM Class
The LMGT3 class was dominated by Akkodis Lexus #87 (Umbrarescu/Schmid/Lopez), once Schmid scythed past Hodenius’s Iron Lynx Mercedes #61 (Berry/Hodenius/Martin) at half distance. The last dash to the chequered flag following the safety car (addressing BMW #15) saw a three-way tussle between #87, #61 and Heart of Racing Aston Martin #27 (James/Robichon/Drudi). Lopez, the slowest of the three in the dying stages, managed to eke out enough of a lead to take the chequered flag. Martin snuck past Drudi to take second position.
Manthey Porsche #92 (Pera/Lietz/Hardwick) started 17th, but managed to carve their way through the field to finish fourth. Championship rivals Vista AF Corse Ferrari #21 (Rovera/Heriau/Mann) crossed the finish line in fifth place. This ensured that Manthey Porsche won the GT teams championship, with the drivers of #92 winning the LMGT3 world championship.
Points Scored
The top ten finishers in each class score points. There are three points-scoring allocation forms, with different allocations for 6-hour, 8-10-hour and 24-hour events, respectively.
Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi won the 2025 Hypercar (and overall) world championship with 133 points each, ahead of Hanson/Kubica/Ye with 117 and Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen with 98 points apiece. Estre/L. Vanthoor finished fourth in the championship with 94 points, while Nato/Lynn/Stevens rounded off the top five with 93 points. Sheldon van der Linde was classified ninth in the standings with 47 points.
Ferrari won the Hypercar constructor’s championship with 245 points ahead of Toyota with 171 points and Porsche on 165 points. Cadillac finished fourth in the standings with 158 points, well clear of BMW (87) and Alpine (86).
LMGT3 Champions
In the LMGT3 class, Pera/Lietz/Hardwick won the world championship with 123 points ahead of Rovera/Heriau/Mann (Vista AF Corse Ferrari #21) with 109 points. Schmid/Lopez/Umbrarescu snatched third place in the standings (86 points) from Eastwood/Andrade/van Rompuy (81 points) after the latter’s failure to score in Bahrain. Kelvin van der Linde was classified eighth in the standings, with 52 points.
Testing takes place in Bahrain next week, with various drivers getting an opportunity to test Hypercars. This includes Kelvin van der Linde, who will test the BMW Hypercar alongside brother Sheldon. The 2026 World Endurance Championship kicks off in Qatar on 28 March 2026.
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