Toyota claims fifth victory of 2017 FIA WEC season in Bahrain

Toyota Gazoo Racing celebrated its fifth win of the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship season at the Bapco 6 Hours of Bahrain today, as the No.8 Toyota TS 050 HYBRID triumphed at an eventful season finale.

Sébastien Buemi, Anthony Davidson and Kazuki Nakajima claimed a third consecutive WEC win to ensure that the Japanese manufacturer won five races in a WEC season since they entered in 2012.

Buemi took the lead from Neel Jani’s pole sitting Porsche 919 Hybrid in the first hour after fighting through from fourth on the grid in the early exchanges. Nakajima and Davidson were both able to extend the lead and the car eventually took the chequered flag by a full lap.

Davidson in particular had an eventful race, as he raced through the pain barrier after breaking a toe in his left foot in a bizarre pit accident.

Porsche LMP Team claimed second and third in their farewell race as the No.2 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Earl Bamber claimed second position ahead of the No.1 sister car driven by Neel Jani, André Lotterer and Nick Tandy.

Both cars fought back from delays, the No.2 car from an unscheduled pit stop in the first hour after Bernhard inadvertently ran over a marker bollard. Tandy collided with the Gulf Racing Porsche in the fourth hour suffering a puncture and the car then subsequently received a drive-through penalty.

It was Bernhard and Lotterer who crossed the line in the duo of Porsche 919 Hybrid’s for the very last time for the triple FIA WEC and Le Mans winning design.

The No.2 Toyota Gazoo racing TS 050 HYBRID of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and José Maria Lopez was in contention during the first phase of the race but lost two laps after suffering damage when in collision with the LMGTE Pro class leading No.92 Porsche 911 RSR driven by Michael Christensen.

All provisional classifications can be found HERE and results can be found HERE

That’s it for the 2017 season and we thank all our competitors for a great season.  See you all in 2018 ready for the 2018/2019 Super Season!