All five drivers' championships remain up for grabs as the WEC makes its annual visit to the Middle East, which retains its now-traditional season finale calendar slot. And it couldn't be closer in the Hypercar World Endurance Drivers' Championship, as the two leading crews from rivalling brands arrive in Bahrain level on points.
The Signatech-run Alpine A480 began the season in the best possible fashion with victory at Sebring, with Nicolas Lapierre, Andre Negrao and Matthieu Vaxiviere taking another maximum score at Monza to extend their advantage heading to Japan. But on the first running of the Fuji 6 Hours since 2019, Alpine was no match for the Toyota GR010 HYBRIDs as a 1-2 led by the Le Mans 24 Hours-winning #8 trio of Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa set up a winner-takes-all title decider.
