Following the decision by Glickenhaus to not compete in Bahrain, the Hypercar class will feature the two Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010-Hybrids and the Alpine Elf Matmut A480-Gibson.  

With Toyota already claiming the Teams title, all eyes will be on which of the crews can claim the drivers crown.  With a maximum of 26 points on offer for the first weekend and 39 for the 8 Hours of Bahrain on the 6th November, the title race is still very much on as the three crews are split by 30 points, with the no7 Toyota trio of Mike Conway, Jose Maria Lopez and Kamui Kobayashi leading their Toyota teammates Brendon Hartley, Kazuki Nakajima and Sebastien Buemi by just 9 points.

The LMGTE Pro titles are also both yet to be decided with Ferrari holding a 16-point lead over Porsche.  Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado in the no51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE EVO are 12 points ahead of Kevin Estre and Neel Jani in the no92 Porsche 911 RSR-19.  

2016 FIA World Endurance Driver’s Champion Neel Jani could become the first driver to win the FIA World Endurance Driver’s Championship in both LMP1 and LMGTE.

Miguel Molina and Daniel Serra will be in the no52 AF Corse Ferrari, with Molina traveling to Bahrain from Portugal where he secured the 2021 European Le Mans Series title with Italian team Iron Lynx alongside Matteo Cressoni and Rino Mastronardi.

There are 11 entries in the LMP2 category, with former F1 star and newly crowned 2021 ELMS LMP2 champion Robert Kubica replacing Jan Magnussen in the no20 High Class Racing Oreca.

Sophia Floersch also travels to Bahrain on a high after becoming the first female driver to secure an ELMS overall podium place after finishing third in the 4 Hours of Portimão last weekend alongside Ferdinand Habsburg and Richard Bradley.  The young German will join Beitske Visser in the FIA Women in Motorsport supported no1 Richard Mille Racing Team Oreca for the 6 Hours of Bahrain, with Tatiana Calderon re-joining the team for the eight-hour race next weekend after a clash of commitments for the 6 Hours of Bahrain.    

The race for the title is very close with 22 points covering the top five cars, with the no28 JOTA Oreca of Sean Gelael, Stoffel Vandoorne and Tom Blomqvist on 89 points, holding a 1-point lead over the 24 Hours of Le Mans class winning no31 Team WRT Oreca of Charles Milesi, Ferdinand Habsburg and Robin Frijns (88 pts), with the no38 JOTA crew just 7 points further behind on 81.

There are 13 entries in the LMGTE Am category after the withdrawal of the no46 Team Project 1 Porsche. The no83 AF Corse Ferrari is currently leading the championship with reigning champions Francois Perrodo and Nicklas Nielsen, along with their Italian teammate Alessio Rovera on 102 points, 36.5 points ahead of the no33 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage of Ben Keating, Dylan Pereira and Felipe Fraga.