How never-say-die Toyota salvaged WEC manufacturers' glory in Bahrain

A pair of safety car interruptions helped, but an all-or-nothing final stint from Sebastien Buemi made the difference as Toyota won a sixth straight World Endurance Championship manufacturers’ crown. Here's how the Japanese manufacturer came out on top as the eight-hour Bahrain contest brought the curtain down on 2024

With 90 minutes to go in Bahrain, Toyota’s hopes of hanging onto its World Endurance Championship manufacturers’ crown looked all but gone. One of its GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercars was sitting hors de combat in the pits, and the other was down in 10th place.

Yet when the chequered flag fell at 22:00 last Saturday it had somehow taken the win it needed to yank the silverware out of Porsche’s grasp. That it did owed something to good fortune and two safety cars that shook up the order in the Bahrain 8 Hours, but also some long-game tactics and a win-or-bust performance at the end from Sebastien Buemi in the winning Toyota shared with Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa.

In this article

Gary Watkins

WEC

Be the first to know and subscribe for real-time news email updates on these topics

Share Or Save This Story

Author Gary Watkins

Gary Watkins has, for reasons best known to himself, devoted all his working life to covering sportscar racing. This season is his 33rd as a motorsport journalist, during which time he has reported on major long-distance events on four continents and approaching 80 24-hour races. He reckons a degree in political philosophy makes him well qualified for covering the sometimes Machiavellian world of international sportscars.

Gary, who also writes for Motor Sport, Autocourse, RACER and others, lives in Surbiton close to the former workshops of the Cooper Formula 1 team but spends more time on the road than at home for most of the year.