Brilliant one-two for Toyota Gazoo Racing in Bahrain
Toyota Gazoo Racing scored their first win of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season on Saturday (8 November), posting a spectacular one-two finish in the 8 Hours of Bahrain.
Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries converted pole position into victory in their No7 GR010 Hybrid to extend the team’s winning streak in Bahrain to nine consecutive races.
Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa, in the No8 GR010 Hybrid, recovered from a mid-race penalty to complete the perfect result in second place, just 19.378 seconds behind. Maximum points in Bahrain also secured the team the runners-up spot in the manufacturers’ World Championship.
Conway started from pole alongside Hartley, holding position before building a small advantage over the chasing pack. The first pit stops at the end of the first hour saw the GR010 Hybrids adopt different strategies. Hartley only took on fuel while Conway changed tyres. This created a strategic tyre offset which saw the momentum swing between the two cars in the opening hours.
Conway reclaimed the lead at the 90-minute mark while Hartley lost a further place to the No51 Ferrari just before handing over to Buemi. After dropping down the Hypercar field, Buemi moved swiftly up to third as rivals made their pit stops. De Vries took over the No7 and retained the lead, while Buemi brought the No8 back into second around the next pit stops. After a safety car in the fourth hour, the GR010 Hybrids swapped positions before briefly slipping behind the No009 Aston Martin, which soon took a penalty.
As the race moved into its second half, Kobayashi and Hirakawa took over their respective cars, effectively in first and second. The No8 car’s chances were hampered by a drive-through penalty for an earlier yellow flag infringement, which dropped it to ninth. But Hirakawa fought back strongly and overtook several cars to move back into the top six. An early fuel stop gave him a clear track, and he set a rapid pace to make up positions, including an exciting battle to pass the No4 Peugeot for third late in the sixth hour.
On older tyres, Hirakawa was unable to hold off the No51 Ferrari. But the No8 soon had new rubber when Hartley took the wheel at the final driver change and continued the fightback. Out front, Kobayashi’s consistently fast pace stretched his advantage to more than half a minute by the time he handed the No7 to de Vries for the last 80 minutes.
A safety car in the final hour gave all cars an opportunity to make their final pit stops and set up a tense finish. With 32 minutes of racing to go, de Vries controlled the restart from the front while Buemi held off the No51 Ferrari. The pair stayed clear of trouble during the final laps to complete the one-two.
Victory brings a challenging season to a positive close. The team now turn their focus to 2026 to build on this momentum. Next season sees the introduction of an updated car which will be raced by an unchanged driver line-up. Conway, Kobayashi and de Vries will race together for a third consecutive season, while Buemi, Hartley and Hirakawa compete alongside each other for a fifth year.
Team quotes
Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car No7): “It has been a very tough season, and we had to wait until the last round to enjoy a result like this, and an unexpected second place in the manufacturers’ World Championship. It was not an easy race but a big effort from everyone in the team made this possible. We executed a clean race with no mistakes. We never gave up all season, and winning here is a great reward. Thanks to the whole team – engineers and pit crew here, plus everyone in Cologne and Higashi-Fuji – for their hard work. Thanks also to our Toyota colleagues in Bahrain and the local fans here who have really supported us.”
Mike Conway (driver, car No7): “It’s an amazing result. Before the race I felt we had a good chance but to come away with a one-two is incredible and I am so happy for the team. Finishing second in the World Championship is pretty cool as well because we didn’t even think about that coming into the weekend. I am just so happy to get a nice result to finish a tough season. It’s been a perfect way to celebrate my mum’s birthday. She’s here to watch the race, and it’s been nice to share it with her.”
Nyck de Vries (driver, car No7): “It’s obviously fantastic to finish the season with a one-two for the team. It’s a reward for everyone who has worked so hard all year, not just at the track but also back at the factories in Cologne and Higashi-Fuji. Everyone has been pushing hard all year and until now it didn’t work out as we hoped, but we bounced back today. It was a great race, we executed it well, made no mistakes and everyone played their part in achieving the win. Car No8 also drove well to fight back up to second place; their strategy worked out well. All in all, I’m very pleased to end the season on top like this.”
Sébastien Buemi (driver, car No8): “Congratulations to car No7 and the whole team. To finish first and second is a fantastic result and I think everyone deserves to enjoy the moment because we have all worked so hard to get back to the front. Considering the season we had up to now, finishing second in the World Championship is a nice boost for everyone’s morale going into next season, when we hope to come back stronger and fight for the title.”
Brendon Hartley (driver, car No8): “I am very happy to finish the season with a one-two. It was our goal today but at some point, it looked like it would be difficult. It had been looking positive in the first half of the race and we were off strategy, meaning we would have new tyres at the end. The fight back after our penalty was phenomenal from all three drivers, along with the flawless pit work and the strong strategy. Car No7 did a great job to win, congratulations to them.”
Ryo Hirakawa (driver, car No8): “Congratulations to car No7 for their victory and to the whole team for this result. We did our very best to win and we were able to come back after the penalty. The safety car helped us a bit, but we showed good performance today. I’m very happy to get second in the World Championship as well. It’s a nice surprise and it’s the result of pushing until the end in every race. Next year the target is very clear, and we are looking forward to fighting at the front like this again.”
8 Hours of Bahrain – race result
1st 7 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing 237 laps
2nd 8 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing +19.378secs
3rd 51 Ferrari AF Corse (Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi) +26.342secs
4th 50 Ferrari AF Corse (Fuoco/Nielsen/Molina) +26.504secs
5th 83 AF Corse (Kubica/Ye/Hanson) +39.729secs
6th 12 Cadillac Team JOTA (Lynn/Nato/Stevens) +40.527secs
*Official results on https://fiawec.alkamelsystems.com/
*As the final classification, the No94 Peugeot, originally in 5th place, received a penalty and dropped in position, while the No7 moved up to 7th place.
ENDS
