Ferrari crowned FIA World Endurance Champions in Bahrain

In its third campaign in FIA WEC’s top-tier, the legendary Italian marque has been the benchmark all year in the Hypercar class, winning the opening four races with its 499P prototype to establish an advantage that none of its rivals was ultimately able to overcome.

The result represents the Prancing Horse’s first global endurance racing success since lifting the laurels in the World Sportscar Championship more than half-a-century ago in 1972, ending up a commanding 74 points ahead of closest competitor Toyota in the Manufacturers’ classification.

To complete Ferrari’s joy, its three crews locked out the top three positions in the Drivers’ standings. Courtesy of a fourth-place finish in Bahrain, Antonio Giovinazzi, James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi clinched the crown behind the wheel of the #51 Ferrari AF Corse entry, having led the way since triumphing on home turf at Imola back in April.

The runner-up spoils went the way of 24 Hours of Le Mans winners Robert Kubica, Phil Hanson and Yifei Ye in the privately-run #83 AF Corse 499P, with the #50 Ferrari AF Corse crew (Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina) taking third. 

The final race of the season was won by outgoing Manufacturers’ World Champion Toyota.

Toyota might be FIA WEC’s most successful manufacturer by some margin, but the 2025 season has been a tough one for the brand, and heading to Bahrain International Circuit, neither of its crews had set foot upon any step of the podium this year, let alone the highest one. This evening, they occupied the top two spots.

Having locked out the front row of the grid in qualifying 24 hours earlier, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s pair of GR010 Hybrid Hypercars dominated proceedings in the desert over the course of a compelling eight-hour contest that started in daylight and ended after dark.

The pole-sitting #7 Hypercar piloted by Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries led the majority of the race, ultimately taking the chequered flag a shade under 20 seconds ahead of the sister #8 car shared by Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa.

New Zealand’s Hartley – four times a world champion in FIA WEC’s top-tier – took charge early on courtesy of an audacious tyre strategy. A drive-through penalty for overtaking under yellow flags during Buemi’s stint behind the wheel subsequently dropped the #8 entry down the order, but the fortuitous timing of a late safety car intervention threw the trio a lifeline, which they grasped with both hands to complete a Toyota one-two and extend the marque’s phenomenal Bahrain record. 

The #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R (Alex Lynn / Norman Nato / Will Stevens) wound up sixth in the race ahead of Aston Martin THOR Team’s #009 Valkyrie (Marco Sørensen / Alex Riberas / Roman De Angelis) in seventh – on a day that had at one stage promised much more for the famous British manufacturer, whose new-for-2025 Hypercar deservedly led a world championship event for the very first time in the hands of the Spaniard.

Results are HERE