The #7 Toyota trio of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez is on course to win the world championship with two hours remaining in the Eight Hours of Bahrain.
While the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid of Sebastien Buemi currently holds the race lead, the #7 sister car of Conway holds a comfortable second, which will be enough for them to clinch the world title.
The #8 car holds a lead of some 30 seconds, despite an earlier stop that saw the team change a steering wheel after some gearshift issues.
The #36 Alpine A480-Gibson holds third after an earlier gearbox issue, with Andre Negrao six laps down.
Team WRT holds the lead in LMP2, with Robin Frijns currently out in front in the #31 ORECA 07-Gibson ahead of the #28 JOTA ORECA of Stoffel Vandoorne.
Fabio Scherer sits in third place in the #22 United Autosports ORECA, with Anthony Davidson holding fourth in the #38 JOTA ORECA, working through his final stint as a professional racing driver.
The battle for top honours in GTE Pro has continued to heat up, with Porsche’s Kevin Estre in the lead after a strategic gamble from Porsche.
Ferrari was leading at the halfway point of the race. The lead was briefly traded back and forth when the #92 Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Michael Christensen came in for a short fuel stop. Porsche then pitted the #92 car under a full course yellow with fresh tyres for Estre, after which the Frenchman quickly increased pace.
He subsequently caught and passed the #51 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of James Calado and remains out in front, with Alessandro Pier Guidi now in second in the #51 car.
Miguel Molina sits in third in the #52 Ferrari, with Gianmaria Bruni fourth in the #91 Porsche.
Antonio Fuoco leads GTE Am in the #47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, ahead of second-placed Jaxon Evans in the #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche 911 RSR-19.
