Bahrain WEC: Toyota #7 wins race to claim title

The #8 Toyota was never in the hunt with the 0.54s performance penalty it was carrying under the LMP1 system of success handicaps. The gap between the two TS050 Hybrids would have been more than a lap but for a safety car period just after the halfway mark.

The neutralisation of the race all but wiped out a lead of just over a minute for the #7 Toyota.

Buemi briefly looked as though he might be able to mount a challenge after taking back the controls of the #8 early in the fifth hour, but dropped away from Conway during the second stint on a set of new Michelins.

Kobayashi and Nakajima took over their respective mounts for the run to the flag in the final race for the TS050 at the end of the LMP1 era, the margin between them standing at 1m04s when the chequered flag fell. 

Conway said: "I feel good. It's been a long season with all that's going on in the world. To clinch this title is a huge credit to my teammates – they made me look good. It was a tough race, but we did what we had to do."

LMP2: JOTA claims one-two finish United dramas

The JOTA Sport squad finished one-two in LMP2, the Oreca 07 entered under the Jackie Chan DC Racing banner coming out on top in a thrilling battle with the sister car run under the team's own flag.

Gabriel Aubry barged past Antonio Felix da Costa with 10 minutes of the race to run to seal victory, together with Will Stevens and Ho-Pin Tung, on what looks certain to be the Jackie Chan-branded entry's final WEC race.

Da Costa, who shared the JOTA entry with Anthony Davidson and Roberto Gonzalez, had sneaked ahead of the sister car at the final round of pits but couldn't pull away from Aubry. When the reigning Formula E champion was baulked by a GTE Am Ferrari, Aubry made his bold move at Turn 10 and then sealed the position into Turn 11.

The Racing Team Nederland Oreca shared by Nyck de Vries, Giedo van der Garde and Frits van Eerd took third place. United Autosports, which wrapped up the P2 title with Filipe Albuquerque and Phil Hanson at the Le Mans 24 Hours in September, ended up nearly half a minute behind in fourth after being in hunt for the first five hours.

An undisclosed fuel glitch, which meant Paul di Resta was slow into the pits at the same stop that he took a five-second penalty garnered by Albuquerque for causing a collision, dropped them out of contention.

GTE: Porsche wins, Aston earns title

Porsche finished one-two in GTE Pro as Aston Martin duo Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen claimed the drivers' title to go with the manufacturers' crown that the British manufacturer sealed at Le Mans.

Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen took victory in the factory Porsche 911 RSR by 2.8s from the sister car of Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz after leading for much of the duration. A distant third place went to the AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of David Rigon and Miguel Molina, who ended up more than a minute behind the Porsches.

Thiim and Sorensen were in the hunt at the beginning of the race until losing time in a full-course yellow virtual safety car and then dropped out of contention with a brake issue that afflicted all four Vantage GTEs in the race. They eventually ended up two laps in arrears in fifth place, which was more than enough to give them the crown ahead of Maxime Martin, who finished fourth in the sister Aston with Richard Westbrook.

James Calado lost an outside chance of the title when his teammate in their AF Corse-run Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, Daniel Serra, tagged a GTE Am and suffered a broken wheel.

The GTE Am title went to Emmanuel Collard, Nicklas Nielsen and Francois Perrodo, who overhauled an eight-point deficit to the drivers of the TF Sport Aston Martin. Second place behind the Project 1 Porsche of Jorg Bergmeister, Larry ten Voorde and Egidio Perfetti allowed them to leapfrog Jonny Adam, Charlie Eastwood and Salih Yoluc in the final points.

The Aston drivers finished down in eighth after losing time to a change of front brakes at the start of the final hour.

Race results:

Cla	#	Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Gap
1	7	Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi Jose Maria Lopez	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	263
2	8	Sébastien Buemi Kazuki Nakajima Brendon Hartley	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	263
3	37	Ho-Pin Tung Gabriel Aubry Will Stevens	Oreca 07	LMP2	247	16 Laps
4	38	Roberto Gonzalez Antonio Felix da Costa Anthony Davidson	Oreca 07	LMP2	247	16 Laps
5	29	Frits van Eerd Giedo van der Garde Nyck de Vries	Oreca 07	LMP2	247	16 Laps
6	22	Philip Hanson Filipe Albuquerque Paul di Resta	Oreca 07	LMP2	247	16 Laps
7	36	Thomas Laurent Andre Negrao Pierre Ragues	Alpine A470	LMP2	246	17 Laps
8	92	Michael Christensen Kevin Estre	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	235	28 Laps
9	91	Gianmaria Bruni Richard Lietz	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	235	28 Laps
10	71	Davide Rigon Miguel Molina	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	235	28 Laps
11	97	Richard Westbrook Maxime Martin	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE PRO	234	29 Laps
12	95	Marco Sorensen Nicki Thiim	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE PRO	233	30 Laps
13	56	Egidio Perfetti Larry ten Voorde Jörg Bergmeister	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	232	31 Laps
14	83	François Perrodo Emmanuel Collard Nicklas Nielsen	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	232	31 Laps
15	88	Khaled Al Qubaisi Jaxon Evans Marco Holzer	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	232	31 Laps
16	54	Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Giancarlo Fisichella	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	232	31 Laps
17	86	Michael Wainwright Alessio Picariello Benjamin Barker	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	232	31 Laps
18	57	Ben Keating Dylan Pereira Jeroen Bleekemolen	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	231	32 Laps
19	51	James Calado Daniel Serra	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	231	32 Laps
20	77	Christian Ried Riccardo Pera Dennis Olsen	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	231	32 Laps
21	90	Salih Yoluc Charles Eastwood Jonathan Adam	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	231	32 Laps
22	98	Paul Dalla Lana Pedro Lamy Ross Gunn	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	231	32 Laps
23	62	Bonamy Grimes Kei Cozzolino Colin Noble Jr.	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	231	32 Laps
24	47	Roberto Lacorte Andrea Belicchi Giorgio Sernagiotto	Dallara P217	LMP2	231	32 Laps
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