Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa were crowned the 2022 Hypercar champions in the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid after the trio finished second behind the race-winning #7 car of Jose Maria Lopez, Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi in the bonus-points finale.
The #8 Toyota crew sat only one point clear of Alpine trio Nicolas Lapierre, Matthieu Vaxiviere and Andre Negrao going into the race, but the #36 A480-Gibson turned out to be the slowest car in the Hypercar field and could only finish third, giving the Japanese manufacturer a relatively easy run to the title.
Buemi, Hartley, Hirakawa, however, didn’t seal the crown with a third win of the season, having been ordered by Toyota to let the #7 car through into the lead during the third hour of the race.
The #8 GR010 Hybrid had initially been the quicker of the two cars from Toyota's stable but Conway was able to rapidly close in on Hartley after assuming driving duties from Lopez, prompting the Japanese manufacturer to order a swap.
Hartley, Buemi and Hirakawa lacked the speed to close back in on the #7 Toyota in the remainder of the race and eventually crossed the finish line more than 45s adrift, but second place was enough to add the Hypercar title to the victory they scored at Le Mans 24 Hours in June.
Alpine had qualified dead-last in the Hypercar field and after some early-race heroics from Lapierre, the French manufacturer was not able to put any realistic challenge to either Toyota or Peugeot, the only other competing teams in the class.
It was only reliability issues for the two Peugeot 9X8s that promoted Lapierre, Negrao and Vaxiviere to the final spot of the podium, but even then the trio finished two down in third in what was the last race for Alpine's Oreca-built LMP1 car.
The #94 Peugeot of Gustavo Menezes, Loic Duval and new recruit Nico Muller was the only car from the Stellantis brand that could see the chequered flag, with the #93 entry that had qualified on the front row retired during the penultimate hour.
Even the #94 Peugeot didn’t have an easy run and after a second stoppage just prior to the mid-race point of the race it spent several minutes in the garage, eventually finishing the race six laps down on the winning #7 Toyota.
JOTA wins LMP2 title, WRT takes race win
JOTA clinched the 2022 LMP2 title in Bahrain after Antonio Felix da Costa, Will Stevens and Roberto Gonzalez secured the requisite points with a third-place finish, as WRT ended the season with another fine victory.
With a 28-point lead in the standings thanks to a class victory at Le Mans, the #38 JOTA crew only needed to finish inside the top seven in order to be guaranteed of a first LMP2 title in the WEC’s history.
Although da Costa, Stevens and Gonzalez weren’t able to trouble the frontrunners for victory in the Bahrain 8 Hours, a podium was more than sufficient to defeat the #23 United Autosports crew of Oliver Jarvis, Alex Lynn and Josh Pierson to the crown.
The #31 WRT of Robin Frijns, Rene Rast and Sean Gelael had qualified down in eighth place in the LMP2 field, but a rapid first stint from Rast in the third hour propelled the squad into a lead that it wouldn’t relinquish for the remainder of the event.
It marked third victory of the season for the #31 WRT as well as the fourth of the year for the two-car Belgian squad, with the team’s sister Realteam-branded entry of Ferdinand Habsburg, Norman Nato and Rui Andrade having won at Monza.
Jarvis, Lynn and Pierson finished second in the race ahead of title winners da Costa, Stevens and Gonzalez, while Louis Deletraz, Robert Kubica and Lorenzo Colombo finished fourth for Prema after pitting under one of the full-course yellow periods.
The title in the Pro-Am subclass went to the new-for-2022 AF Corse team after Nicklas Nielsen, Francois Perrodo and Alessio Rovera finishing 10th among all LMP2 entrants.
Its rival Algarve Pro team earned a late drive-through penalty that left it 12th at the finish.
Ferrari clinches GTE Pro title despite late drama
Ferrari duo James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi clinched the last-ever GTE Pro world title despite the late drama that struck the #51 488 GTE car in the penultimate hour of the race.
Calado was running comfortably in second position and ahead of Corvette and the two Porsches when his car developed a serious gearbox problem that prevented him from engaging fourth gear.
Losing between five to eight seconds a lap, the #51 crew plummeted to last place in class and had to desperately try to nurse the car to the finish in order to bag the points for fifth place in the overall GTE standings.
Despite dropping four laps off the lead, Pier Guidi was able to bring the hobbled car home after taking over from Calado. With the #92 Porsche of Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen failing to finish higher than third, Ferrari was - incredibly - able to defend its title in the GTE Pro class.
The Italian manufacturer also clinched the race win courtesy of the #52 car driven by Antonio Fuoco and Miguel Molina, as Nick Tandy and Tommy Milner finished second in the #64 Corvette C8.R.
Going into the race, the #92 911 RSR-19 of Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre was the manufacturer’s best bet for the title, three points clear of Bruni in the #91 car.
However, Christensen and Estre were twice unlucky with the timing of full-course yellows, with the first intervention at the beginning of Hour 2 handing the lead to the #51 Ferrari and the third FCY after the midway point catching them out and dropping them nearly a lap down of the leader.
They moved up to the final spot on the podium after Porsche brought in the second GTE Pro car of Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz for a splash-and-dash on the final lap of the race.
Aston clinches GTE Am title
The Project 1 Porsche team claimed a 1-2 finish in GTE Am with the #46 entry shared by Matteo Cairoli, Mikkel Pedersen and Nicolas Leutwiler winning from Ben Barnicoat, PJ Hyett and Gunnar Jeannette in the #56 car.
Both Project 1 machines were able to pass the #85 Iron Dames Ferrari of Michael Gatting, Rahel Frey and Sarah Bovy that led much of the race in the final two hours, demoting the all-female team to third.
The title went to the TF Sport Aston Martin team after Ben Keating, Henrique Chaves and Marco Sorensen finished third, ahead of the only car that could beat it to the title - the similar Vantage GT3 of Nicki Thiim, Paul Dalla Lana and David Pittard entered by Northwest AMR.
WEC 8 Hours of Bahrain - race results:
| Cla | # | Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 |
 Mike Conway  Kamui Kobayashi  Jose Maria Lopez |
Toyota GR010 - Hybrid | HYPERCAR | 245 | - |
| 2 | 8 |
 Sébastien Buemi  Brendon Hartley Ryo Hirakawa |
Toyota GR010 - Hybrid | HYPERCAR | 245 | 45.471 |
| 3 | 36 |
 Andre Negrao  Nicolas Lapierre Matthieu Vaxiviere |
Alpine A480 | HYPERCAR | 243 | 2 laps |
| 4 | 94 |
Loic Duval  Gustavo Menezes Nico Müller |
Peugeot 9X8 | HYPERCAR | 239 | 6 laps |
| 5 | 31 |
 Sean Gelael  Robin Frijns  René Rast |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 237 | 8 laps |
| 6 | 23 |
Alex Lynn Oliver Jarvis Josh Pierson |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 237 | 8 laps |
| 7 | 38 |
 Roberto Gonzalez  Antonio Felix da Costa Will Stevens |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 236 | 9 laps |
| 8 | 9 |
 Robert Kubica Louis Deletraz  Lorenzo Colombo |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 236 | 9 laps |
| 9 | 41 |
Rui Andrade  Ferdinand Habsburg Norman Nato |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 236 | 9 laps |
| 10 | 22 |
Philip Hanson Filipe Albuquerque Will Owen |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 236 | 9 laps |
| 11 | 28 |
 Oliver Rasmussen  Ed Jones  Jonathan Aberdein |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 236 | 9 laps |
| 12 | 1 |
Lilou Wadoux Paul-Loup Chatin Charles Milesi |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 235 | 10 laps |
| 13 | 10 |
Renger van der Zande  Ryan Cullen Sébastien Bourdais |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 235 | 10 laps |
| 14 | 83 |
François Perrodo Nicklas Nielsen Alessio Rovera |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 235 | 10 laps |
| 15 | 35 |
Jean Baptiste Lahaye Matthieu Lahaye François Heriau |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 235 | 10 laps |
| 16 | 45 |
Steven Thomas  James Allen Rene Binder |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 235 | 10 laps |
| 17 | 52 |
 Miguel Molina Antonio Fuoco |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE PRO | 231 | 14 laps |
| 18 | 64 |
Tommy Milner Nick Tandy |
Chevrolet Corvette C8.R | LMGTE PRO | 230 | 15 laps |
| 19 | 92 |
Michael Christensen Kevin Estre |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE PRO | 230 | 1'16.903 |
| 20 | 91 |
Gianmaria Bruni Richard Lietz |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE PRO | 230 | 1'32.956 |
| 21 | 51 |
Alessandro Pier Guidi James Calado |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE PRO | 227 | 18 laps |
| 22 | 44 |
 Miro Konopka Mathias Beche Richard Bradley |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 227 | 1'30.736 |
| 23 | 46 |
Matteo Cairoli Mikkel Pedersen Nicolas Leutwiler |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE AM | 226 | 19 laps |
| 24 | 56 |
PJ Hyett Gunnar Jeannette Ben Barnicoat |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE AM | 226 | 26.540 |
| 25 | 85 |
Rahel Frey Michelle Gatting  Sarah Bovy |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 226 | 29.714 |
| 26 | 33 |
Ben Keating Henrique Chaves Jr. Marco Sorensen |
Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 226 | 54.062 |
| 27 | 98 |
 Paul Dalla Lana David Pittard Nicki Thiim |
Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 226 | 1'30.998 |
| 28 | 86 |
Michael Wainwright Riccardo Pera Benjamin Barker |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE AM | 226 | 1'41.007 |
| 29 | 54 |
Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Nick Cassidy |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 226 | 1'41.154 |
| 30 | 77 |
Christian Ried Sebastian Priaulx Harry Tincknell |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE AM | 226 | 1'46.820 |
| 31 | 60 |
Claudio Schiavoni Matteo Cressoni Giancarlo Fisichella |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 225 | 20 laps |
| 32 | 777 |
Satoshi Hoshino Tomonobu Fujii Charlie Fagg |
Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 225 | 1'07.219 |
| 33 | 21 |
Simon Mann Christoph Ulrich  Toni Vilander |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 225 | 1'49.290 |
| 34 | 88 |
Fred Poordad Patrick Lindsey Jan Heylen |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE AM | 224 | 21 laps |
| 35 | 71 |
Franck Dezoteux Pierre Ragues Gabriel Aubry |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 224 | 1'53.983 |
| 36 | 34 |
Jakub Smiechowski Alex Brundle Esteban Gutierrez |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 231 | 13 laps |
| 37 | 93 |
Paul di Resta Mikkel Jensen Jean-Eric Vergne |
Peugeot 9X8 | HYPERCAR | 171 | 74 laps |
| View full results | ||||||
