Sebastien Buemi has set the fastest time for Toyota Gazoo Racing in opening practice for the 8 Hours of Bahrain.
The Swiss driver lapped the Bahrain International Circuit in a time of 01:43:457, which was enough to put the #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid up on its sister car by nearly half second. Mike Conway, driving the #7 Toyota, set a time of 01:43:949.
In LMP2, Racing Team Nederland went fastest thanks to an early flyer from Giedo van der Garde. The Dutchman set a 01:47:955 early on in the session, after which the #29 ORECA 07-Gibson remained at the top for the rest of the 90 minute session on Thursday evening.
Andre Negrao, driving the #36 Alpine A470-Gibson, was just under two-tenths down on the Dutchman, with Antonio Felix da Costa third in the #38 JOTA ORECA 07-Gibson ahead of newly crowned LMP2 champions United Autosports down in fourth place.
Jackie Chan DC Racing’s #37 ORECA 07-Gibson logged the fifth-fastest time, with Cetilar Racing rounding out the reduced six-car LMP2 field.
In GTE Pro, substitute driver Richard Westbrook got his weekend off to a good start by setting the quickest time for Aston Martin Racing. Westbrook is subbing for Alex Lynn aboard the #97 Aston Martin Vantage AMR after Lynn contracted COVID-19, and immediately set the fastest time of 01:56:560 in the late stages of the session to go fastest.
Before Westbrook’s flyer, Porsche was headed for a one-two with Richard Lietz setting a 01:57:177 in the #91 Porsche 911 RSR-19. Lietz was dropped to second, ahead of team-mate Michael Christensen in third place in the #92 Porsche.
The two Ferrari’s rounded out the top six in class, with both AF Corse entries failing to set lap times quicker than those set by the fastest GTE Am entries.
In GTE Am, Ross Gunn topped the timing sheets for Aston Martin Racing. Gunn set the benchmark time of 01:57:666 early on in the session and the #98 Aston Martin Vantage AMR remained on top of the timing sheets for the rest of the session.
Ben Barker set a late flyer in the #86 Gulf Racing Porsche 911 RSR to go second fastest, while Jeroen Bleekemolen was third for Team Project 1. All three cars were quicker than the #51 GTE Pro Ferrari.
The top five in GTE Am was rounded out by Team Project 1’s #56 Porsche and the championship leading #90 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage AMR, both of which set quicker times than the second of the two AF Corse GTE Pro entries.
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