Toyota resets WEC form book with front row sweep for Bahrain finale

With a shock front-row lockout secured for the 8 Hours of Bahrain, Toyota Gazoo Racing looks finely poised to fight for its first win since the 2024 running of the same event 12 months ago.

The reigning FIA World Endurance Championship manufacturers’ champion, which has struggled throughout the campaign and has developed a new-look aero package for 2026 in response, looked its old self again as Kamui Kobayashi and Brendon Hartley paced the field in Hyperpole for the first time this year.

Kobayashi in the No. 7 GR010 took an extra lap than most to warm up his Michelins, and delivered on his only flying lap with a 1m46.826s. This eclipsed teammate Hartley in the No. 8, who pushed on his first timed lap and set a 1m46.977s, by 0.151s.

"The team has worked hard all season. It's been really tough," Kobayashi said. "We won the championship last year but this year we are struggling. This is our last race for this GR010 and we have had big success with it. Next year, we have a different car with a different face. We are pretty happy with the car here – the race pace is good, and we were successful in qualifying. We want to win this race as the last race of this car."

While it might have been an upset by 2025 standards, Kobayashi's pace-setting run makes it seven poles in a row for Toyota in Bahrain.

The second row on the grid will be occupied by the two Peugeot 9X8s, which have looked strong over a single lap as well as long runs all week so far. Both set times within four tenths, with Danish ace Malthe Jakobsen's 1m47.166s in the No. 94 9X8 besting the sister car with Jean-Éric Vergne at the wheel.

Alex Lynn was fifth in the No. 12 Cadillac Hertz Team Jota V-Series.R, with Marco Sorensen sixth in the No. 009 Aston Martin THOR Team Valkyrie. It was an encouraging outing for the British marque, which showed pace throughout practice and has high hopes for a season-best result tomorrow.

The No. 51 Ferrari was the fastest of the title-contending cars. Antonio Giovinazzi qualified seventh in his 499P. The No. 5 Porsche, No. 007 Aston Martin and No. 15 BMW rounded out the top 10.

The No. 51 was the only 499P to progress to Hyperpole, with both Antonio Fuoco in the No. 50 and Robert Kubica in the No. 83 coming up less than 0.05s shy of 10th-placed Julien Andlauer in the opening round, and settling for 11th and 12th respectively.

Elsewhere, it was a disappointing session for Alpine Endurance Team, as neither of its A424s advanced to the second phase. Kevin Estre, meanwhile, was 18th aboard the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 after another scrappy outing. The Frenchman lost his first flying lap to a huge lock-up into Turn 1, while his final flyer was compromised by a misjudged attempt to slipstream the sister No. 5 Porsche into the final corner. The defending champions in the No. 6 have a lot of work to do tomorrow to turn things around and take the fight to their rivals.

Akkodis ASP Team Lexus came up big in the qualifying shootout, with Finn Gehrsitz leading the way for teammates Ben Barnicoat and Arnold Robin. Jakob Ebrey/Getty Images

Lexus claimed its second LMGT3 pole position of the season with the No. 78 AKKODIS ASP RC F LMGT3. Finn Gehrsitz bossed the shootout, setting a 2m01.661s to go three tenths up on the other runners in the class.

"We worked well to prepare on the sim back at home and we came here really well prepared, analyzing every corner," Gehrsitz said. "At this track, everything has to work perfectly to achieve a good lap time. It's a special moment in my first season in WEC."

Mercedes-AMG’s speed during practice also translated to qualifying, as Iron Lynx’s two cars came closest, claiming second and third on the grid off the back of strong performances from Locan Hanafin and Lin Hodenius in the No. 60 and No. 61, respectively.

The No. 87 Lexus will join the No. 61 on row two after Clemens Schmid’s efforts while the No. 31 Bend WRT BMW took fifth.

Further down the list, it was notable that Simon Mann ended up eighth in Hyperpole aboard the No. 21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari after pushing to set a 2m02.763s. The American, who is fighting for the title with Francois Heriau and Alessio Rovera, was the only driver in the title race to take part in the shootout. The other two title-contending cars will start outside the top 10, needing to fight their way into points-paying positions during the race.

Tom van Rompuy could only muster 14th in the No. 81 TF Sport Corvette, while Ryan Hardwick, in the points-leading 1st Phorm Porsche, will start tomorrow’s race from the back row; his best time was almost a second off the cutoff line.

The 2025 champions will be crowned Saturday night under the floodlights, with the 8 Hours of Bahrain set to go green at 2:00pm local time.

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