Motoring

Record Crowds Witness Thriller

by: BTM - Wed, 10 Dec 2025

Toyota Gazoo Racing powered to a sensational one-two in the Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain to bring the curtains down on an epic 2025 season in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).

This year’s spectacle, which also featured a raft of hugely popular off-track entertainment, was the 14th WEC race to be held at BIC. It featured a stacked 36-car field.

Toyota’s #7 crew of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries steered their GR010 Hybrid Hypercar to first place overall following eight hours of intense wheel-to-wheel battles in both daylight conditions and at night under the bright state-of-the-art floodlights at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC).

BIC enjoyed an historic WEC weekend as a record crowd of over 33,000 fans flocked to ‘The Home of Motorsport in the Middle East’ over the two days of world-class racing and family entertainment. They watched from the edge of their seats tonight as Toyota’s triumphant #7 trio took the chequered flag just ahead of their teammates Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa in their #8 GR010 Hybrid.

Waving the chequered flag at the end of this year’s Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain was former racing driver and four-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner, Frenchman Yannick Dalmas.

Bahrain International Circuit WEC crowd 2025
Taking the win in the WEC’s LMGT3 category were Akkodis ASP Team’s #87 trio of Petru Umbrarescu, Clemens Schmid and Jose Maria Lopez, who shared the duties in their Lexus RC F LMGT3.

At the end of the Le Mans-inspired spectacle, four WEC titles were decided in Bahrain.

Ferrari won the FIA Hypercar World Endurance Manufacturers’ Championship, while Ferrari AF Corse’s #51 crew of Alessandro Pier Guidi, Antonio Giovinazzi and James Calado clinched the FIA Hypercar World Endurance Drivers’ Championship.

Manthey 1st Phorm claimed the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMGT3 Teams, and their #92 crew of Riccardo Pera, Richard Lietz and Ryan Hardwick lifted the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMGT3 Drivers.

Also champions were AF Corse’s #83 crew of Robert Kubica, Yifei Yi and Philip Hanson. They had already secured the FIA World Cup for Hypercar Teams heading into the final round.