Audi and Toyota trade lap times on Thursday's practice at Bahrain

The first two Free Practice sessions of the 6 Hours of Bahrain weekend took place at the Bahrain International Circuit today. The first 90-minute session saw the sun setting on the 5.4km circuit and it was the Toyota Racing Toyota TS030-Hybrid that set the quickest time. However in the second session, which was run in the dark, it was the Audis that regained the advantage, with the nr1 Audi of Benoit Tréluyer posting a time that was 0.3 seconds faster with a lap of 1:47.403. The nr21 Strakka Racing HPD-Honda was the faster of the four LMP1 Privateers, with Danny Watts setting the quickest time in the two sessions, just 1.3 seconds adrift of the lead Audi.

Bahrain circuit atmosphere

Photo by: Maclean Photography

The nr35 Oak Racing Morgan-Nissan was the quickest LMP2 in both sessions with the second session being the quickest as Alex Brundle set a lap of 1:53.434, just 0.018 seconds ahead of the nr44 Starworks Motorsports HPD-Honda and 0.109 seconds ahead of the nr24 Oak Racing Morgan-Nissan.

The GTE Pro class was once again a close affair with the nr51 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia going quickest in the first session while the nr97 Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8 of Darren Turner going slightly quicker in the night session with a time of 2:01.849, nearly half a second ahead of the nr77 Team Felbermayr-Proton Porsche of Richard Lietz.

The second Felbermayr Porsche was the top of its class in the second session as Paolo Ruberti posted a 2:04.725 lap, 0.097s ahead of the nr57 Krohn Racing Ferrari 458 Italia of Michele Rogolo. However it was the nr61 AF Corse-Waltrip Ferrari of Rui Aguas that was the quickest of the LMGTE Am cars on day one with a lap time of 2:04.077 in the first session.

Free Practice Three will take place tomorrow at 09:50 (local) with the first of the two qualifying sessions getting underway at 16:00 (local) later in the afternoon.