MOTORSPORT – TOYOTA Gazoo Racing, the most successful team in the history of Bahrain’s World Endurance Championship (WEC) race, concludes the 2025 season hoping to end a difficult campaign on a high note.
In the team’s home race at Fuji Speedway last time out, Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway, and Nyck de Vries challenged at the front in their #7 GR010 Hybrid until misfortune intervened. They will resume the fight for the team’s first podium of the year in Bahrain.
Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, and Ryo Hirakawa won the race in Bahrain a year ago – Toyota’s 10th triumph at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) and an incredible eighth in a row, including every event since it switched to its current eight-hour format. This season they aim to bounce back after a disappointing Fuji race, which effectively ended in the opening minutes when their #8 GR010 was hit by another Hypercar.
BIC’s 5.412km circuit has suited the GR010 in recent years. The #7 car’s retirement last year ended a run of four consecutive one-two Hypercar finishes – six when including results from its predecessor, the TS050 Hybrid.
The annual WEC Rookie Test once again takes place on Sunday next week, when Ben Barnicoat and Sacha Fenestraz will drive a GR010 as part of Toyota Gazoo Racing’s commitment to offering opportunities to new drivers.
Barnicoat, who competed last month with Bahraini-British GT team 2 Seas Motorsport in the 2025 GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup, participated in the Rookie Test in 2024 while Fenestraz will make his Hypercar debut.
“It’s been a challenging year for the whole team, but we want to end it with a positive result in Bahrain,” said Kobayashi, who is also the Toyota Gazoo Racing team principal.
“We have some great memories of races there and our car has worked well on this track in the past. We’ll see if that’s the case again this year, but we will be pushing until the final laps to stand on the podium again.”
Buemi added: “Bahrain is a special place for me and for the team, and I very much enjoy racing there. We’ve had so much success at this track in the past, but last year was particularly memorable.
“To fight back to win the race and the world championship was an amazing feeling. I know it will be difficult to repeat that victory this year, but we will all fight hard to finish the season strongly.”
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