Japan rules in Bahrain: Toyota and Lexus on Pole

Text & Images: Rick Kiewiet

Japan ruled in qualifying for the BAPCO 8 Hours of Bahrain, as Toyota Gazoo Racing locked out the Hypercar front row and Lexus continued the nation’s dominance by securing LMGT3 pole.

Toyota claims first pole since a year.

Kamui Kobayashi delivered a flawless performance in the No. 7 GR010 Hybrid, setting a 1:46.826 on his sole flying lap after an extra warm-up tour to bring the tyres to temperature. His time proved untouchable, edging teammate Brendon Hartley in the No. 8 car by 0.151 seconds. The result marked Toyota’s first pole in a year and extended its formidable record at the Bahrain International Circuit, where the Japanese manufacturer has been the benchmark for nearly a decade.

Behind them, Peugeot TotalEnergies enjoyed its strongest qualifying of the Hypercar era. Malte Jakobsen secured third on the grid in the No. 94 9X8, fractionally ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne in the sister No. 93 to complete a Peugeot lockout of the second row. The French marque’s pace was an encouraging sign after a challenging season, with both cars within four-tenths of pole.

Alex Lynn placed fifth in the No. 12 Cadillac V-Series.R, a strong recovery for the American brand after receiving a Balance of Performance hit for this round. The No. 009 Aston Martin Valkyrie AMR-LMH followed in sixth with Marco Sørensen at the wheel, though the British manufacturer was left disappointed after leading the first part of qualifying before Ross Gunn’s off curtailed its Hyperpole challenge.

Championship leader Antonio Giovinazzi led Ferrari’s charge in seventh with the No. 51 499P, the only Ferrari to make Hyperpole. Both Antonio Fuoco and Robert Kubica fell just short of the cut-off, qualifying 11th and 12th. Porsche’s best effort came from Julien Andlauer in eighth in the No. 5 963, ahead of the No. 007 Aston Martin and the No. 15 BMW of Dries Vanthoor completing the top ten.

Further down the order, Alpine failed to progress either A424 to Hyperpole, while Kevin Estre endured another difficult session in the No. 6 Porsche Penske 963, ending up 18th after a lock-up and a compromised final flyer behind his teammate.

Lexus Leads the Way in LMGT3

In LMGT3, Lexus continued Japan’s qualifying success as Finn Gehrsitz scored pole position for the No. 78 Akkodis ASP Team RC F LMGT3. The German’s 2:01.661 lap was more than three tenths clear of the field, earning both Lexus and Akkodis ASP their fourth pole of the season and second for Gehrsitz personally.

Iron Lynx secured Mercedes-AMG’s best result of the year, locking out the second and third positions. Lorcan Hanafin edged teammate Lin Hodenius by just 0.03 seconds, though both were unable to match the leading Lexus.

Clemens Schmid placed fourth in the sister No. 87 Lexus, ahead of Timur Boguslavskiy’s No. 31 Team WRT BMW and Zacharie Robichon’s No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin, which completed the top six.

Among the title contenders, Simon Mann was best placed in eighth aboard the No. 21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3 — the only championship challenger to make Hyperpole. TF Sport and Manthey both struggled, with Tom van Rompuy 14th in the No. 81 Corvette after a setup gamble failed to pay off, and Ryan Hardwick down in 17th for the championship-leading Manthey 1st Phorm Porsche.

After a hectic qualifying session that included a last-minute alternator belt fix, the No. 54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari of Thomas Flohr recovered to start 16th.

The 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship concludes tomorrow with the BAPCO 8 Hours of Bahrain, which begins at 14:00 local time.