Toyota takes front row in Bahrain to close out 205 WEC season

Toyota GAZOO Racing achieved its best qualifying result of the year by securing pole position and locking out the front row for the 8 Hours of Bahrain, the final round of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) this Saturday.

Kamui Kobayashi set a time of 1:46.826 in the GR010 HYBRID #7 he shares with Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries, earning the team's first pole of the season and the eighteenth of his career, the second-best in the championship's history. Brendon Hartley was second, just 0.151 seconds behind, in the #8 alongside Sébastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa.

The Japanese team aims to break a negative streak in the championship and return to the podium in Bahrain, where it has won the last eight consecutive races. The improvement was evident from the final practice session, where Kobayashi finished second, just 0.012 seconds off the fastest time. The GR010 HYBRID will contest its final race before receiving updates for 2026.

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Peugeot Lurk from the Second Row

The two Peugeot 9X8s will occupy the second row on the grid. Malthe Jakobsen placed the #94 in third position, 0.340 seconds off pole, while Jean-Éric Vergne, who is making his final WEC appearance before taking a sabbatical year, put the #93 in fourth place with a time of 1:47.208.

Alex Lynn, who had taken pole in three of the last four races prior to Bahrain, finished fifth in the Cadillac #12 of Hertz Team JOTA. The American, along with teammates Will Stevens and Norman Nato, keeps the mathematical hopes alive of snatching the title from Ferrari, although they need a perfect result.

"I am very happy to be on pole again. It's the result of the great work and effort from the team," stated Kobayashi. "We've had a difficult season, so I am very proud to be able to turn things around and achieve a one-two today. Everyone pushed very hard for this, but tomorrow is another day and we know it won't be easy."

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Ferrari Aims to Seal the Championship

Antonio Giovinazzi qualified seventh in the Ferrari #51 of AF Corse. The Italian, along with James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi, arrives in Bahrain with a 13-point lead in the drivers' championship over the #83 of AF Corse, which Robert Kubica placed in twelfth position.

The worst luck went to Porsche Penske Motorsport. Kévin Estre, the reigning world champion, locked up the wheels at the first corner during his initial flying lap, setting the tone for a frustrating session. The #6 finished last of the 18 Hypercars on the grid, complicating the Frenchman's and Laurens Vanthoor's aspirations to overturn Ferrari's lead in the title fight.

Hartley expressed satisfaction with the team's result: "A very good qualifying for the whole team. We are very happy with the performance. I did a pretty clean lap, although with some small mistakes and I was a bit conservative in some places. Kamui nailed it and beat me to pole."

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Gehrsitz Shines in GT3 with Lexus

In the LMGT3 category, Finn Gehrsitz consolidated an exceptional result for Lexus and Mercedes by taking his second pole of the year with the Akkodis ASP Team. The 21-year-old German, the third driver to achieve multiple poles in LMGT3 history in WEC, was the fastest in the Hyperpole session with a time of 2:01.661.

Lorcan Hanafin was second for Iron Lynx Mercedes, 0.326 seconds behind, with his teammate Lin Hodenius in third. Clemens Schmid completed the top four positions in the second Lexus from Akkodis ASP.

As for the title contenders, Simon Mann placed the Ferrari #21 of VISTA AF Corse in eighth position as they seek to cut the 11-point gap to the lead. Manthey 1ST Phorm, the current championship leader, struggled with pace and Ryan Hardwick could only manage seventeenth in the Porsche #92. Tom Van Rompuy, in the TF Sport Corvette #81, finished fourteenth and remains a mathematical contender for the title.

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"Everything needs to fit together perfectly here to produce a good time, but we arrived feeling very well prepared and worked hard during free practice," commented Gehrsitz. "That paid off and I was able to do an incredible lap. I think we also have a car to fight for the podium and the win."

The 8-hour race will start on Saturday at 14:00 local time (12:00 CET) in daylight and will extend into the night, promising a visual spectacle to close the WEC season at the Bahrain International Circuit.

Full Qualifying Results - 8 Hours of Bahrain WEC 2025

Hypercar - Starting Grid

LMGT3 - Starting Grid