The #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercar driven by Jose-Maria Lopez, Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway took victory in the Bapco 6 Hours of Bahrain Saturday afternoon, the penultimate race in the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship and extended their points advantage as they chase a second FIA World Drivers’ Championship.
The #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing of Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley placed second after losing touch with the sister Toyota after small pit-stop issues during the race. The result sees Toyota seal the 2021 FIA Hypercar World Endurance Championship for manufacturers and teams.
HYPERCAR
Toyota Gazoo Racing took a 1-2 finish for the second race in succession as Jose-Maria Lopez, Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway take third successive victory of the 2021 season. Kobayashi brings #7 GR010-HYBRID Hypercar home after leading majority of race which is held in sweltering conditions.
The #8 GR010-HYBRID Hypercar of Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Kazuki Nakajima have to settle for second after losing time in pits to #7 car. The #36 Alpine ELF Matmut A480 place in third position a lap down on Toyotas after losing some time in opening hour after contact and small technical issue.
LMGTE PRO
Kevin Estre and Neel Jani take third LMGTE Pro win of the season after a faultless display from #92 Porsche GT Team crew. The win means that Estre and Jani are now just one point behind Calado and Pier Guidi in title fight with one round to go.
Porsche enjoyed pace advantage throughout the race with #91 Porsche riding shot gun in second place. Richard Lietz and Gimmi Bruni spend much of race within a few seconds of the #92 Porsche as they take best result of the season.
Calado and Pier Guidi took third position in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari and the 24 Hours of Le Mans class winners keep slender lead in title fight which will go down to the wire next weekend. Miguel Molina and Daniel Serra claim fourth place in #52 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo.
LMP2
Team WRT takes second straight win as Ferdinand Habsburg, Robin Frijns and Charles Milesi execute brilliant tyre preservation strategy to lead home LMP2 field. The Belgian squad heads home #28 JOTA of Stoffel Vandoorne, Tom Blomqvist and Sean Gelael which fought back from tough opening stint which saw the car drop down the order after a collision with the 98 Aston Martin.
Filipe Albuquerque driven United Autosports USA entry had entertaining battle with Blomqvist at start of final hour, but the Portuguese driver had to relinquish position
The #38 JOTA Oreca of Anthony Davidson, Antonio Felix da Costa and Roberto Gonzalez takes third place, which mean they stay in title contention with one round remaining. Da Costa made thrilling pass on countryman for final podium position in LMP2 at turn one as two briefly make contact with just 15-minutes remaining
Racing Team Nederland and Realteam Racing fight out Pro/Am battle in thrilling last hour fight. After leaping to the head of the LMP2 at the start of the race, Giedo van der Garde overtook Loïc Duval with 35-minutes remaining to ensure Pro/Am division victory and seal fifth place overall.
Richard Mille Racing claim best result of season as Beitske Visser, Sophia Floersch and Gabriel Aubry finish strong sixth. Th e#34 Inter Europol Competition Oreca suffered a succession of issues and a penalty to drop out of contention for a top six place after early race heroics.
LMGTE AM
The #33 TF Sport took the first 2021 LMGTE Am victory as Ben Keating, Felipe Fraga and Dylan Pereira hold off late Porsche charge. The Aston Martin crew claw back points in title race as championship leaders #83 AF Corse Ferrari could only manage fifth place
Fraga finishes race with double stint to head off #77 Dempsey Proton and #56 Team Project 1 Porsches and score first win of season for Aston Martin.
Matt Campbell threatens to catch Fraga but is unable to just get close enough and settles for second position. Matteo Cairoli, Egidio Perfetti and Riccardo Pera finish in third position.
