It feels fitting that after the closest, most dramatic FIA WEC season to date, the major honors were split across the top three Hypercar manufacturers, with Toyota, Porsche and Ferrari all taking a slice of the pie.
Porsche’s No. 6 crew held on to claim the Hypercar Drivers’ World Championship despite finishing down the order in the finale. Toyota snatched the manufacturers crown in the final hour of the season with a spirited drive from Sebastien Buemi. And Ferrari, despite missing out on a title, will look back on the 2024 season fondly after claiming its second Le Mans victory in a row back in June.
It really was a remarkable campaign, one which had a bit of everything. It produced its fair share of thrills and spills on track and off, regular doses of drama and controversy and a number of historic milestones.
With the dust settled during the off season, there will be so much to unpack and reflect on before the WEC paddock reconvenes next year in Qatar for Season 13. Right now, though, it’s time to celebrate the newly-crowned champions after the wild end to the season in Sakhir.
For Porsche Penske Motorsport, it was a truly memorable day, even if it wasn’t quite the fairytale ending that everyone within the organization dreamed of.
Having claimed a sweep of IMSA GTP titles, a GTD Pro championship with AO Racing and the FIA WEC LMGT3 and Hypercar World Cup honors with Pure Rxcing and HERTZ Team JOTA prior to Bahrain, completing the set in the Middle East with both Hypercar titles felt almost inevitable.
WEC season finales never fail to produce drama, and on this occasion, the wily old fox that is Toyota pulled off the upset, coming in and stealing the manufacturers title after a late-race showdown between Buemi and Matt Campbell.
The safety car periods and a full course yellow which bunched up the field and set up a nail-biting final hour played a huge role. They allowed the pole-sitting No. 8 Toyota to recover from its dramas earlier in the race by the time it emerged from the pit lane for the final time. All of a sudden, having looked down and out with three hours to go, Toyota’s outlook changed. Buemi was strapped in, held a tire advantage over Campbell ahead in the No. 5, and had a chance to cap off an amazing performance with one final overtake for the win.
“When I jumped in towards the end I was like P10, and I knew how hard it was to make progress, so I didn’t think we could come back,” Buemi explained. “But what happened was, with my tire advantage I was able to make moves every lap or two and we managed to execute a shorter stop at the end, jumping the No. 6 Porsche, the Ferrari, and it meant all I had to do was to catch the No. 5.