It all comes down to this for TF Sport in the FIA World Endurance Championship. The UK-based team and its pair of Chevy Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs are prepped and ready for the Eight Hours of Bahrain, which is the eighth and final round on this year’s FIA WEC calendar.

A year after both Corvettes finished on the LMGT3 podium, TF Sport is eyeing bigger things Saturday – namely the class Drivers and Teams championships. Each of the yellow Z06 GT3.Rs remain alive for top-three finishes in the LMGT3 championship with the No. 81 Corvette alive for the title heading to the 3.363-mile, 15-turn Bahrain International Circuit.

No. 81 TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3.R – Charlie Eastwood/Rui Andrade/Tom Van Rompuy
A victory last time out for Charlie Eastwood, Rui Andrade and Tom Van Rompuy put the trio and the No. 81 Corvette into championship position heading to Bahrain.

It was the long-awaited first WEC win for the trio and the third podium in four races after scoring points in just one of the first three rounds. They were also runners-up a year ago at Bahrain where Eastwood starred late in a push for the class win.

A second triumph wouldn’t clinch the LMGT3 championship for the No. 81 Corvette but it would be close. The championship leader the No. 92 Porsche needs to finish fourth or better to eliminate the TF Sport Corvette. But a fifth-place finish for the No. 92 coupled with a third-place finish for the No. 21 Ferrari and win plus a point for pole position would give Eastwood, Andrade and Van Rompuy the championship due to two victories for each but no other podiums for the Porsche.
With a win but no pole, TF Sport needs the No. 92 to finish sixth or worse.
Should the Porsche score zero points, the No. 81 Corvette needs to finish second and the No. 21 place no better than sixth. There are also additional scenarios involving the two cars in a head-to-head matchup where tiebreakers can come into play.

No. 33 TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3.R Daniel Juncadella/Jonny Edgar/Ben Keating

The championship picture for Daniel Juncadella, Jonny Edgar and Ben Keating took a major hit after the Fuji race as a post-race penalty sent it out the points and championship contention.
A race win and pole position would put the No. 33 Corvette into a tie with the No. 92 if the latter doesn’t score points; the tiebreaker would go to the Porsche.

After beginning their cooperation in the FIA World Endurance Championship season and further expanding their collaboration in the European Le Mans Championship, TF Sport and Corvette are set to continue their pursuit of further ambitious goals. Read the full story.
Winners in the season-opening race in Qatar, the Juncadella/Edgar/Keating trio can still become only the second entry to take two LMGT3 victories this year by capturing the race at Bahrain.

Juncadella was part of the third-place lineup in class a year ago in TF Sport’s second Corvette. Keating drove a Corvette C8.R at Bahrain on his way to the GTE Am championship, and Edgar has Formula 3 experience at the circuit in the past.

The Eight Hours of Bahrain is scheduled for 2 p.m. AST / 6 a.m. ET Saturday. Full, live streaming coverage of the race and Friday’s 4 p.m. AST qualifying is available on the FIA WEC app and the MAX app in the United States.
Friday’s Free Practice 3 will be available on both apps plus the FIA WEC’s YouTube channel.

TF SPORT PRE-EVENT QUOTES

DANIEL JUNCADELLA, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“We have a good chance at second or third in the championship. We won’t have any of success weight, so we will have that advantage over our rivals. Last year we had a really good delta on tire deg compared to the other cars. That’s where the weight will have some impact. It’s a very particular track with the heat and tire deg, which is incredibly high.
We have a harder compound this year, which isn’t as good as the medium tire for us. But still, I’m hopeful for a positive result for both cars. Hopefully, there are reasons to celebrate after the race. We should be competitive and it’s a cool place to race and the track is nice.

There is a lot of asphalt runoff, which normally isn’t a favorite for me. Being so dusty and sandy with the wind, anything other than the ideal racing line is very slippery. It’s a cooler and more fun track than I thought when I first got there.”

JONNY EDGAR, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“Bahrain last year obviously was very good for the team with a double podium. I think with it being a high-deg track, we should expect to be pretty good on the tires. The Corvette is normally pretty good on tires. I’m looking forward to being back at a track that I’ve been to before. From Le Mans onward, all the tracks have been new to me so it’s nice to be back at a track that I’ve been to before. I know the track quite well so I’m excited to go back. Hopefully, we can finish the year with a good weekend. We’ve had quite a lot of bad luck from quite early in the season, and it would be nice to finish with a good race.”

BEN KEATING, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“There is still a lot at stake for us at Bahrain, namely a top-three finish in the championship. That would be a really good achievement in my first year back with TF Sport and the Corvette in the WEC. I’ve won this race before and enjoy the track. Let’s see how it goes but we will go out racing hard, for sure.”

CHARLIE EASTWOOD, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“If you go into a championship race with a chance and don’t believe you can do it, it’s definitely the wrong mindset. I totally think we can get the championship. It doesn’t take much with so many points on offer. I did the permutations the other day that the Porsche needs to finish sixth or something like that. But in such a tight field like we saw in Fuji, in a blink we win it and in the same blink the 33 finishes eighth.
We were very similar in pace and very similar in every sense. Back in 2020, I had a 20-point lead going into the last race and lost.

Going in this year 24 points behind, hopefully we can win it this time. It’s not vastly different from our situation going into Portimão for ELMS, and that worked out great for us. So hopefully we can get a repeat of that at Bahrain. The Corvette is super good around there. We were very fast and nearly got our first win there last year. As a team and driver crew, we are better than we were this time last year.
The hard tire will help some of the others, for sure. But I am very much looking forward to it.”

RUI ANDRADE, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“I’m excited to have the opportunity to go into Bahrain and still have a shot at the championship. We didn’t have the easiest of starts to the year but since Le Mans the entire 81 crew has been on fire with three podiums and a special win in Fuji. It won’t be easy but we will give it our all, just like we did at Portimão in winning the ELMS championship. It will be a long and difficult race but after our Corvettes finished P3 and P2 in last year’s Eight Hours of Bahrain, everyone at TF is very motivated to try and climb one step higher on the podium and finish the year on a high.”

LMGT3 Teams Standings

1. No. 92 Manthey 1ST Phorm – 105
2. No. 21 Vista AF Corse – 94
3. No. 81 TF Sport – 81
4. No. 33 TF Sport – 66
5. Heart of Racing Team – 63

Also :

Fresh from claiming its first championship with Corvette in the European Le Mans Series LMGT3 class, British team TF Sport has announced a two-year extension of its partnership with the fabled American brand.
With this renewal, it will continue to race the Z06 GT3.R around the world through to the end of 2027.

Tom Ferrier’s team switched from Aston Martin to Corvette machinery at the beginning of the FIA WEC’s LMGT3 era, and has gone on to score significant success with the General Motors marque in the seasons since.

After running the Corvette in the FIA WEC in 2024, a European Le Mans Series program was added at the beginning of this year, with an expansion into the Asian Le Mans Series occurring this winter. A return to both the FIA WEC and ELMS is expected in 2026, and the team is hoping to add a second car to its parallel ELMS effort.

“We are very proud and pleased that our relationship with TF Sport is continuing into the future,” said Corvette Racing program manager Jessica Dane.
“It’s gratifying for all of us at Corvette Racing and Chevrolet to see the team progress and achieve success with their Corvettes in multiple championships this year. TF Sport is an ideal example of a customer team that is committed to this platform and program.
We are excited for more into the future alongside Tom [Ferrier] and his team”

Team owner Ferrier added: “Exactly 12 months ago at Bahrain we scored our very first podium finishes with the Corvette Z06 GT3.R. Now a year on we are European champions, Le Mans podium-finishers and double WEC race-winners, still with a chance of a World Championship.

“That is all down to the persistent hard work from everyone at Corvette Racing and Pratt Miller Motorsports along with our own crew at TF.
I could not be happier to extend this partnership over the next two years and hopefully for many more. It is a pleasure to work with such talented and driven individuals.”

The debut year of the TF Sport-Corvette partnership peaked with a double-podium finish at the season-ending 8 Hours of Bahrain, which provided the kickstart for a strong sophomore campaign.
In FIA WEC competition, a win in the season-opening Qatar 1812KM was followed by podium finishes at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and 6 Hours of Sāo Paulo, before another victory in the most recent round, the 6 Hours of Fuji.

The team’s No. 81 Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R of Tom van Rompuy, Rui Andrade and Charlie Eastwood still has an outside shot of winning the LMGT3 title, as it is 24 points behind the current leader. The sister car, meanwhile, has had its ups and downs and sits fourth in the championship after being mathematically eliminated in Japan.

In the ELMS, meanwhile, Eastwood, Andrade and Hiroshi Koizumi scored Corvette’s maiden title in the series, following a campaign which featured wins at Imola and Portimāo.

The team also made a one-off appearance at this year’s Rolex 24, fielding a WeatherTech-backed machine with a star-studded driver line-up in partnership with Trackhouse in GTD Pro.

Lexus on Pole Again in LMGT3 as Mercedes-AMG Impresses

Lexus again led the way in the LMGT3 class, with Finn Gehrsitz in the No. 78 Akkodis-ASP entry giving the brand a second pole of the season.

Gehrsitz headed the leaderboard throughout the Hyperpole session with his 2:01.661 time on his second flier not being bettered.

The Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG squad enjoyed its strongest showing of the season to line up second and third, Lorcan Hanafin in the No. 60 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo pipping the sister No. 61 car of Lin Hodenius by just 0.02 seconds, but they were both three tenths adrift of the leading Lexus.

The second Lexus of Clemens Schmid which endured a gearbox problem that left it with virtually no running in FP2 was fourth, two-tenths further back.

Next up was the best of the Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVOs courtesy of Timur Boguslavskiy in the No. 31 machine, while the top six was completed by Zacharie Robichon in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo – the last car within a second of the pole-sitter.

Seventh fastest was Giammarco Levorato in the lead No. 88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3, while the first of the title contenders Simon Mann in the Vista AF Corse No. 21 Ferrari 296 GT3 could only manage eighth.

The top ten was completed by the No. 46 BMW of Valentino Rossi and the pick of the United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 Evos, the No. 59 car.

Neither Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R progressed to Hyperpole, the No. 33 will line up 11th while the title-fighting No. 81 machine was only 14th.

Porsche brought up the rear of the LMGT3 leaderboard, with the points-leading No. 92 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R of Ryan Hardwick down in 17th.

The No. 54 Ferrari headed to the pits after completing an installation lap and was worked on in the garage, resulting in it being under investigation by officials. Thomas Flohr did head back out, was only 16th.

The eight-hour Bahrain season finale is due to start Saturday at 2 p.m. local time (6 a.m. ET).

SAKHIR, Bahrain (November 7, 2025) TF Sport and its two Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs will look to race their way toward the front Saturday in search of another race win and championship in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s Eight Hours of Bahrain.

Both of the yellow Corvettes missed out on the Hyperpole portion of LMGT3 qualifying Friday. The No. 33 Z06 GT3.R of Ben Keating, Jonny Edgar and Daniel Juncadella winners to start the season in Qatar is the highest-starting of the two Corvettes and will start 11th in the 18-car class.
Keating missed advancing into Hyperpole for the 10 fastest qualifier by an eyelash 0.021 seconds around the 3.363-mile, 15-turn Bahrain International Circuit. Both Corvettes, as did the entire field, struggled with tire life and grip on the abrasive Bahrain circuit.

The six fastest qualifiers and eight of the top-10 in Q1 were in front-engine racecars that had a slight advantage in front-end grip and handling.
Tom Van Rompuy in the No. 81 Corvette was 14th in class as he and teammates Charlie Eastwood and Rui Andrade eye the fight for the LMGT3 championship.

The trio arrived at Bahrain third in points, one spot ahead of the No. 33 TF Sport Corvette, and needs at least a second-place finish and some luck to claim the class title.
Eastwood, Andrade and Van Rompuy won the most recent WEC race at Fuji in September and have finished on the podium in three of the last four races dating back to the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

There is continued hope in the TF Sport garage as both the Corvettes finished on the class podium a year ago at Bahrain.
The Eight Hours of Bahrain is scheduled for 2 p.m. AST / 6 a.m. ET Saturday. Live-streaming will be available on the FIA WEC app and the MAX app in the United States.

TF SPORT POST-QUALIFYING QUOTES

DANIEL JUNCADELLA, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“Thankfully, we made a big step forward from FP1 to FP2. FP1 was miserable. I wouldn’t say it was the tire or the track or the car; it was a combination of everything. We made a lot of changes for FP2 on the setup, and they were all great. I was very happy with that session.
In terms of the race, everyone is going to suffer during the day and in the first couple of hours.
As it gets dark and a bit colder, everything will feel nicer and I think we should be good.”

(Opening of the race) “Ben will probably have the hardest bit. Ultimately, I think the race will be decided at the end. But it depends.
Last year, there were some interventions toward the end of the race to make it a bit of a sprint to the finish.
This is a track that with the conditions and runoffs that there could not be many interventions. Then the first stints will be very important. Ben is an endurance beast. Even though he may have the toughest job in the heat, he will go through it. He’s very good.”

BEN KEATING, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“From my standpoint, given the fact that we can no longer win the championship or if I had been in the previous situation, there’s nothing else to play for. It’s all or nothing, and we’re racing for a win because that’s what we need to get second or third in the championship
. The 27 Aston Martin is only a few points behind, and the front-engine cars have been superfast all weekend.

The series has been nice to them based on previous history with the medium tire. This hard tire is just different. In previous years, the front-engine cars burned through the front-mediums because there was too much weight up there. Now the hard tire withstands that weight. They can do a better fast lap and when everyone’s tires fall off, they’re still quick.

“We know we have a perfect driver lineup and an excellent car. It will take some luck for sure. I do expect us to take some risks, maybe not do what we should do and gamble to get lucky for a win. There are lots of ways you can gamble and be really well-positioned if you have a safety car.
There are lots of other ways where you can gamble big and be really well-positioned if you don’t have a safety car. You have to choose one or the other. That’s what all the smart guys back in the garage are figuring out.”

CHARLIE EASTWOOD, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“The hard thing about tracks like this is that you have to adapt a lot. Many of the Bronze guys have spent so much of their lives being told certain ways to brake, to turn and accelerate. That changes from the first lap to the fifth lap to the 20th lap.

That’s where we’re in a good place. Tom (Van Rompuy) and Ben (Keating) are very experienced racing drivers and have been doing it probably longer than I have. They’ve been in scenarios like this before, whereas there may be some fast Silvers and Bronzes who might can nail a maximum lap where here it’s about keeping calm, staying under the limit and trying not to slip the tire so you’ve got that extra life at the end of a double-stint.”

TOM VAN ROMPUY, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R:

“We tried something that we thought would help us during the race, especially when it got a bit fresher. Obviously, it wasn’t that much of a good choice. Maybe it will be in the race, but on one lap we seem to be missing something. On my side, not the best run I’ve ever had. Hopefully we have a really good racecar and can climb a few positions in the race.”

(On the championship) “Obviously we are going to fight to win it. This will be a tough mission, but we never give up. Let’s see. It’s an eight-hour race and if we can keep it clean then I think we might have a chance. You never know on the strategy or if we can have a bit of luck on our side.

“Since Le Mans, we have taken a really strong jump by finishing on the podium in almost every race and winning in Fuji, which got us to third in the championship. With that success, we’re carrying a bit of weight for this last race. The good thing is that the surrounding contenders are on similar weights. I’m curious to see what that brings. We never give up, and we’ll fight to the line.”

(Building momentum throughout the season) “The potential has always been in the car and in the team. Last year we had some hiccups and the reliability wasn’t always on point… just some small things. We’ve all made a wonderful step there, so that’s No. 1.
There has also been really good execution as well from the team and the drivers. From the driver side, we don’t take penalties and doing everything the team asks at the point it’s needed.
Also, excellent execution by the team on the pitstops and strategy. It is a mix of all these things together which put us in the position we are in this weekend.”