Peugeot’s Paul di Resta was quickest in the opening free practice session for the FIA World Endurance Championship’s 8 Hours of Bahrain.
A warm and sunny Bahrain International Circuit welcomed the WEC for the eighth and final round of the 2024 season.
The ambient temperature in the 90-minute session was above 30 degrees Celsius and the track surface hit 40.
Peugeot looked promising from the green flag as Paul di Resta set the outright pace in his #94 9X8 Hypercar.
His teammate Jean-Eric Vergne of the #93 Peugeot was initially third position before dropping to fourth.
Likewise, AF Corse begun with both Ferrari 296 LMGT3s in the top-three after they took their first win of the season at the previous Fuji round.
A full-course-yellow was deployed with 25 minutes remaining of the relatively drama-free session to test the system.
Peugeot sets promising start in Bahrain
By the end of the session, di Resta set the quickest pace with a 1:50.837.
Frederic Makowiecki took second place in the #5 Porsche Penske 963 with a 1:50.886, followed by Antonio Giovinazzi’s #51 Ferrari 499P.
The Ferrari driver set a 1:51.041 narrowly ahead of the #93 Peugeot 9X8, which was fourth owing to Vergne’s time of 1:51.052.
Laurens Vanthoor rounded out the top-five in the Hypercar class for the #6 Porsche Penske with a 1:51.116.
Kelvin van der Linde topped the LMGT3 category in the #78 Akoddis ASP Lexus RC F LMGT3 with a 1:02.079.
AF Corse’s Alessio Rovera put the #55 Ferrari in second after he drove a 2:02.342 lap time ahead of Iron Lynx’s Matteo Cairoli.
The #60 Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 EVO2 ran a fastest time of 2:02.818 to take third.
AF Corse’s #54 Ferrari took fourth with Davide Rigon’s lap time of 2:03.037 as Proton’s Ben Barker rounded out the top-five.
The #77 Ford Mustang LMGT3 driver set a 1:03.060 having driven exactly 15-minutes in the session.
Free practice 2 will commence at 5.30pm local time or 2.30pm GMT.
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