The halfway stage of the final FIA World Endurance Championship race in 2025 sees TOYOTA GAZOO Racing running one-two at the front of the field
Nyck de Vries in the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercar holds a slender advantage over the #8 sister car driven by Sébastien Buemi
The BAPCO Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain saw a relatively uneventful third hour spiced up in the fourth after a safety car period was called
Thomas Flohr crashed the #54 VISTA AF Corse Ferrari LMGT3 car at the exit of Turn Three after 3hrs 15mins, when being lapped by the battling Jenson Button in the #38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA entry and Sheldon van der Linde in the #20 BMW M Team WRT; the incident was placed under investigation, with Button subsequently being handed a 30-second stop/go penalty
Flohr emerged unscathed from the impact, which brought out the first safety car of the race approaching the halfway mark
At the green flag, Buemi wrested the lead from the sister car of de Vries as he made the most of fresher rubber
Behind the Toyotas, Alex Riberas in the #009 Aston Martin Heart of Racing Valkyrie exploited his four fresh Michelin tyres to snatch second from de Vries, prior to going after Buemi for the lead!
Riberas completed that mission after 3hrs 50mins by powering past Buemi, marking the first time an Aston Martin Valkyrie had led in FIA WEC
Outside of the top three, the #51 Ferrari AF Corse of Alessandro Pier Guidi runs fourth ahead of the #93 Team Peugeot TotalEnergies 9X8 piloted by Jean-Éric Vergne
Completing the top six is the #50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P Hypercar, with Miguel Molina having taken over from Nicklas Nielsen
The rest of the top ten after four hours of racing reads as follows: 7th #83 AF Corse Ferrari; 8th #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA; 9th #35 Alpine Endurance Team; 10th #36 Alpine Endurance Team
Early in hour three, Kévin Estre (#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport) and Alex Lynn (#12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA) made contact at Turn One in a thrilling duel, with the latter having to serve a five-second penalty at his next pit-stop, dropping him from seventh to 11th
LMGT3
LMGT3 sees the #87 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus continue to lead, although José María López lost what had been an ever-growing advantage following the deployment of the safety car in the fourth hour
The Argentine ace, along with team-mates Petru Umbrărescu and Clemens Schmid, is hunting a second win of the 2025 campaign after achieving Lexus’ maiden victory in the series at Interlagos in July
Second in LMGT3 is the #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG, as Maxime Martin enjoys his first stints behind the wheel
The Belgian heads the #27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin, with Ian James completing his mandatory 2hrs 20mins driving time and fending off the #92 title-leading Manthey 1st Phorm Porsche
Fifth is the #33 TF Sport Corvette, with Jonny Edgar now undertaking his stints inside the cockpit of the car that won the opening race of the season in Qatar in March
The top six is rounded out by the #21 VISTA AF Corse Ferrari, with Simon Mann aiming to overturn the 11-point discrepancy to the table-topping Manthey Porsche
Problems struck for the #59 United Autosports McLaren, as Sébastien Baud pitted early in the fourth hour with a suspected alternator problem
Watch FIA WEC live or on-demand via the official FIA WEC TV app – your full-access pass to the FIA World Endurance Championship including the iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans. Don’t miss a moment. For further information, check out the app.
