Kamui Kobayashi has taken pole position for the final round of the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship in Bahrain.
The Japanese ace posted a 01:46:250 in the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid to go quickest ahead of team-mate Brendon Hartley.
Hartley posted a late improvement in the #8 sister car, but came up short by 0.290s.
The #36 Alpine A480-Gibson, driven by Matthieu Vaxiviere, was third fastest, 0.775s down on pole.
Albuquerque snatches LMP2 pole
Filipe Albuquerque has taken pole for the final LMP2 race of the year, snatching it away from Realteam Racing’s Norman Nato at the flag.
Nato looked set for pole, until a 01:49:525 by Albuquerque in the #22 United Autosports ORECA 07-Gibson took it away.
Nato will still start second, with JOTA’s Antonio Felix da Costa third ahead of the #29 Racing Team Nederland ORECA of Giedo van der Garde in fourth.
Robert Kubica was fifth for High Class Racing, ahead of Richard Mille Racing Team’s Sophia Floersch.
Championship leaders Team WRT start the race from seventh, while the #28 JOTA, second in the standings, start ninth.
Estre (once again) takes GTE Pro pole
Kevin Estre had continued his streak of pole positions in the FIA World Endurance Championship with pole position for the Eight Hours of Bahrain.
The Frenchman posted a best lap of 01:56:041 in the #92 Porsche 911 RSR-19 to outqualify James Calado’s #51 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo by 0.160s.
With the point available for pole position, it means that Estre and Neel Jani have now drawn level with Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi in the fight for the championship in GTE Pro.
Estre has now taken pole position at every single regular round of the 2021 WEC season. He only failed to capture pole position for the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Gianmaria Bruni was third-fastest in the #91 Porsche, with Daniel Serra rounding out the top five in the #52 Ferrari.
Ferrari were considerably quicker in this weekend’s qualifying session compared to the session for last week’s Six Hours of Bahrain. The Italian manufacturer was given a BOP boost for this round, but still lodged a protest against the FIA on Saturday for the changes.
Ferrari locks out GTE Am
Ferrari teams locked out the top three in GTE Am qualifying, with Cetilar Racing’s Roberto Lacorte leading the charge.
Lacorte posted a 01:58:712 after a series of quick laps, topping the session by just 0.047s.
The #83 AF Corse Ferrari of Francois Perrodo was second, ahead of the #85 Iron Lynx entry driven by Sarah Bovy.
Egidio Perfetti was the fastest non-Ferrari runner in fourth place in the #56 Team Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR-19, with last week’s race winner Ben Keating fifth in the #33 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage AMR.
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