Toyota Gazoo Racing roared to a sensational one-two finish in a drama-filled Bapco 8 Hours of Bahrain, and in the process captured both the Hypercar drivers’ and manufacturers’ world titles to cap a historic 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC).
Toyota’s crew of Mike Conway, Jose Maria Lopez and Kamui Kobayashi in the #7 GR010 Hybrid led teammates Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa in their #8 car to the chequered flag.
The two Toyotas each posted a total of 245 laps in all, with the #7 victors finishing 45.471 seconds ahead of the runners-up.
With the result, the Buemi-Hartley-Hirakawa triumvirate came away with enough points to seal the Hypercar World Endurance Drivers Championship, ahead of the #36 Alpine Elf Team crew of Andre Negrao, Nicolas Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxiviere, who steered their A480-Gibson to third overall last night with 243 laps done.
Toyota Gazoo Racing also won the Hypercar World Endurance Manufacturers’ Championship ahead of Alpine.
Toyota Gazoo Racing thus triumphed for the sixth straight WEC race in Bahrain and eighth overall, while keeping their perfect record of four wins from four editions under the eight-hour format.
