Toyota HYBRID Racing took their fifth win of the season in Bahrain, with the #7 crew of Alex Wurz, Stephane Sarrazin and Mike Conway taking victory whilst the #8 crew of Anthony Davidson and Sebastien Buemi took the World Drivers’ Championship.
The #7 TS040 led from the second hour of the race after the sister #8 suffered alternator issues in the lead, causing the car a half hour delay in the garage, dropping it down the order, eventually finishing eleventh, enough to claim the title.
In second and third were the two Porsche 919 Hybrids of Neel Jani, Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb, who finished second in the #14, and Mark Webber, Brendon Hartley and Timo Bernhard in the #20. However, the result wasn’t always heading that way, with Australian Webber attempting to overhaul the Toyota in the last hour of the race by double stinting his tyres, however he soon faded, allowing the #14 to pass with 20 minutes to go.
Completing the top five were the two Audi R18 e-tron Quattro’s, with the race a quite affair for the Joest-ran squad after three tub changes across the weekend. In LMP1-L Rebellion Racing once again took victory, with the #13 Rebellion R-One Toyota of Fabio Leimer, Andrea Belicchi and Dominik Kraihamer coming home in front of the sister #12.
The #9 Lotus CLM P1/01 AER retired on lap two due to gear box failure.
In LMP2 KCMG took victory, with the Oreca 03R of Richard Bradley, Matt Howson and Alexander Impertori taking the win by a margin of three laps from the #37 SMP Racing Oreca of Kirill Ladygin, Anton Ladygin and Viktor Shaitar, with their Oreca suffering technical issues in the final laps.
In third, 49 seconds behind the #37, was the partial-season entrant of OAK Racing, with the other OAK-ran car, the full season G-Drive Racing Ligier, finishing fourth after two wishbone failures on the JS P2, the first of which happened on lap one after contact with the #37.
In LMGTE, Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander clinched the 2014 GT Drivers’ World Cup with victory in GTE-Pro, with the Italian/Finish line up taking victory from the #97 Aston Martin of Darren Turner and Stefan Mucke, albeit by 1.879 seconds after Turner gained 15 seconds in 30 minutes on the Ferrari.
Finishing third was another Ferrari, this time the #71, with the result from James Calado and Davide Rigon extending Ferrari’s lead in the GT Manufacturers’ Cup. The two Porsche Team Manthey Porsche 911’s completed the top five, with the #91 coming ahead of the #92.
Aston’s other entry, the #99 Craft-Bamboo Vantage, finished last in class after electrical issues put it three laps down.
