8 Hours of Bahrain: Toyota clinches 2024 world title with Bahrain victory
Victory in Bahrain for Buemi/Hartley/Hirakawa in the #8 GR010 Hybrid/Michelin enabled Toyota to claim the FIA WEC Manufacturers' world title for the sixth year running in association with Michelin. The Drivers' crown went to the #6 Porsche 963 trio of Kévin Estre/André Lotterer/Laurens Vanthoor.
The chase for the 2024 Manufacturers' crown was more or less settled in the closing moments of the 8 Hours of Bahrain when Sébastien Buemi took the lead in the pole-sitting #8 Toyota. The Swiss driver went on to win the season's finale and earn the necessary 38 points for the Japanese carmaker to make sure of the title, even though a tangle shortly after lights-out had dropped it to 17th place.
The start proved difficult in the traffic, too, for Porsche Penske Motorsport whose #5 and #6 prototypes completed the opening lap no higher than 12th and 14th overall. The latter was involved in another collision halfway into the race and took the flag in 11th place. That sufficed, however, for Kévin Estre, André Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor to pocket the Drivers' title.
The #51 Ferrari spent some time in front, as did the #12 Porsche which lost ground when it left the circuit with two hours remaining. Aided by the different Safety Car interruptions, the Italian car fought back to a podium placing but was subsequently handed penalty.
This handed Peugeot its first top-three finish of the season with its #93 car which had lined up 18th on the grid – the last Hypercar. The #35 Alpine overcame a troubled start to round out the top-four, chased by the #15 BMW (5th) which was poorly rewarded for its strong showing during the first four hours.
Sakhir International Circuit is notoriously abrasive and the track temperature stood at practically 45°C at lights-out, prompting most of Michelin's partners to opt for the hard-compound Pilot Sport. The exceptions were the #8 Toyota, #99 Porsche and #36 Alpine which all started on the medium.
At the halfway point, with Sakhir now shrouded in darkness, the majority of the Hypercars were still lapping on the hard slick. Bucking the trend, however, the #8 Toyota switched from the medium to the hard as the temperature cooled.
The MICHELIN Pilot Sports successfully double-stinted, although the teams ran a variety of strategies, including changing the left-hand tires only during pit-stops, just the two rears, or even three of the four wheels. A number of Hypercars completed three stints on the same front-right tire!
The 8 Hours of Bahrain produced Michelin's 93rd FIA WEC victory and took the total number of titles secured since the championship's creation in 2012 to 12 Manufacturers' crowns (with Audi, Porsche and Toyota) and the same number of Drivers' crowns.
The 13th FIA WEC campaign is scheduled to get under way in Qatar on February 28, 2025.