Toyota GAZOO Racing Celebrates Spectacular 2022 World Endurance Championship Win

Toyota marked an incredible finish to the 2022 World Endurance Championship (WEC) season recently with a one-two victory at 8 Hours of Bahrain, which saw the Toyota GAZOO Racing (TGR) team achieve a clean sweep of this year’s FIA WEC titles. Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López claimed their second win of the season in the No. 7 GR010 Hybrid Electric Hypercar, crowning Toyota as Hypercar Manufacturers’ World Champions.

Teammates Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa finished second to become Drivers’ World Champions, adding to their 2022 24 Hours of Le Mans win. Buemi and Hartley wrote their names in the record books as the first drivers to win three titles in the top WEC category and its predecessor; the World Sportscar Championship. Hirakawa also capped a remarkable rookie season by becoming Japan’s third WEC champion. 

A perfect result in Bahrain was a fitting end to a highly successful season for Toyota GAZOO Racing, which now has a fifth world title double from 10 years of WEC competition, further building on achievements in 2022 that include a fifth consecutive Le Mans win and eighth victory at Fuji Speedway. Success in the WEC ensured the team won every available title in the three FIA series it participated in this season; the  World Endurance, World Rally and World Rally Raid Championships.

The race began under bright sunshine, with air temperatures of 35°C and equally hot on-track action. Buemi led from pole position in the No. 7 GR010 Hybrid Electric Hypercar, while López began the race in third place in the No. 8 GR010 Hybrid Electric Hypercar. Just six seconds separated the top three cars when the opening pitstops arrived, during which López leapfrogged into second place.

After two hours, both GR010 Hybrid Electric Hypercars swapped drivers, with Hartley taking over the No. 8 and Conway getting behind the wheel of the No. 7. The two Hypercars battled throughout this segment of the race, separated by less than one second until Conway took the lead early in the fourth hour as the sun set over Bahrain International Circuit. He continued to push hard to build a gap and at half distance led by a few seconds going into the next pit stops, when Kobayashi took the wheel. Kobayashi gradually extended the No. 7 GR010 Hybrid Electric Hypercar’s advantage to 15 seconds by the end of the fifth hour, before López and Buemi returned to their respective cockpits with less than two hours remaining. 

Further driver changes with 45 minutes to go left Conway to take the chequered flag in the No. 7 GR010 Hybrid Electric Hypercar, finishing 45.471 seconds clear of Hartley in the No. 8 GR010 Hybrid Electric Hypercar. This triggered title celebrations to bring the curtain down on an exciting Hypercar season after 58 hours of competition covering 10,620 km since the first race in Sebring eight months ago.

Over the years, Toyota has been participating in many different forms of motorsports, ‎including Formula One, the World Endurance Championship (WEC) and the Nürburgring 24 ‎Hours endurance race. Toyota’s involvement in these events was overseen by separate ‎entities within the company until April 2015, when Toyota established GR ‎to consolidate its motorsports activities under one in-house brand. Representing ‎Toyota’s belief that ‘the roads build the people’ and ‘the people build the cars’ - GR highlights the role of motorsports as a fundamental pillar of Toyota’s commitment to ‎making ‘ever-better’ cars. Harnessing years of experience garnered under the extreme ‎conditions of various motorsports events, GR aims to forge new ‎technologies and solutions that bring the freedom, adventure and joy of driving to everyone.