Aston Martin and BMW topped the Friday free practice sessions at Bahrain for the season finale of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Marco Sorensen set the pace in practice 1, with a 01:49.697 from the #009 Aston Martin Valkyrie driver. He was 1.455 seconds faster than the #83 Ferrari of Robert Kubica, who was just under half a second faster than Ross Gunn in the sister #007 Aston Martin.
The #93 Peugeot of Paul di Resta was fourth fastest, while Antonio Giovinazzi was fifth in the #51 Ferrari. Giovinazzi, along with his teammates James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi, are the current championship leaders.
The fastest Porsche, the #5 of Julien Andlauer, was ninth. The two Cadillacs were 15th and 16th, Will Stevens in the #38 ahead of Sebastien Bourdais in the sister #12.
In the second session, the #20 BMW of Sheldon van der Linde was quickest, with a 1:48.780. This was 0.262 faster than Sorensen, who set a time over 6 tenths quicker than practice 1. The #93 Peugeot, this time with Jean-Eric Vergne setting the fastest lap, was third, just over 4 tenths off van der Linde.
The two Toyotas were fourth and fifth, Brendon Hartley in the #8 ahead of Kamui Kobayashi in the #7.
Championship leader Giovinazzi was eighth fastest. Their main championship rivals were 15th and 16th, Kevin Estre in the #6 Porsche ahead of Robert Kubica in the #83 Ferrari.
ASP Lexus fast in LMGT3
Benjamin Barker set the pace in LMGT3, with the #77 Proton Ford Mustang GT3 driver setting a 2:02.681 to go quickest.
Second and third were the two Akkodis ASP Lexus machines of Jose Maria Lopez and Ben Barnicot, with Lopez 0.056 off Barker onboard the #87 Lexus. Barnicoat was a further 3 and a bit tenths off his teammate.
Their teammate Finn Gehrsitz, in the #78 ASP Lexus, was quickest in the second session, with a 02:02.613. He was over 4 tenths quicker than Rahel Frey in the #85 Iron Dames Porsche, with Daniel Juncadella in the #3 TF Sport Corvette third, a further 1 and a half tenths off.
See the full results for the sessions on the WEC website – FP1 results and FP2 results.
FP3 takes place tomorrow at 9am UK time, 12pm local in Bahrain. Qualifying will be at 1pm UK time, 4pm Bahrain.
Discussion about this post