Toyota Gazoo Racing has gone fastest in second practice for the Eight Hours of Bahrain, with Brendon Hartley leading team-mate Kamui Kobayashi.
Hartley posted a 01:47:673 in the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid in the Friday morning session, 0.527s clear of Kobayashi in the #7 sister car.
The two hybrid hypercars were well clear of their only rival, the #36 Alpine A480-Gibson, which was 1.3s slower than Hartley.
In LMP2, Giedo van der Garde set the quickest time in class in the #29 Pro/Am-entered ORECA 07-Gibson from Racing Team Nederland.
The Dutch-flagged, TDS Racing-operated car lapped the Bahrain International Circuit in a time of 01:50:513, a mere 0.046s faster than the #22 United Autosports ORECA 07-Gibson of Filipe Albuquerque.
Championship leaders Team WRT were third fastest thanks to Ferdinand Habsburg, with Inter Europol Competition fourth ahead of the #44 ARC Bratislava ORECA driven by WEC debutant Olli Caldwell.
AF Corse find pace
AF Corse topped the session in GTE Pro, with the two Ferrari 488 GTE Evos putting in a significantly better showing than they did in the opening session on Thursday night.
Miguel Molina even topped the charts in the #52 Ferrari with a 01:57:509, four-tenths ahead of the #91 Porsche 911 RSR-19 driven by Fred Makowiecki.
Both Ferraris remained out in the garage for half of Thursday’s opening session and set lap times that were three seconds slower compared to their rivals, even as they were given a power boost as part of an updated BOP bulletin on Wednesday.
Ferrari and Porsche are engaged in a close championship fight, with both the drivers and manufacturers titles set to be decided on Saturday.
The #92 Porsche, second in the championship standings, was third courtesy of Kevin Estre. The championship-leading #51 Ferrari rounded out the class in fourth, just over half a second behind its sister car.
Hoshino finds the gravel
The session was only briefly interrupted once as the #777 D’Station Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR of Satoshi Hoshino spun into the gravel at turn 2. The car needed to be recovered, leading to a full-course yellow. The car did eventually make its way back out on track.
The GTE Am timetable was topped by the #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19, with Matt Campbell setting a 01:58:489 ahead of the #47 Cetilar Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo.
Track action for the Eight Hours of Bahrain continues with the third and final free practice session at 13:20 pm local time.
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