Practice report

Bahrain WEC: Toyotas separated by a tenth in final practice

The two Toyotas were separated by one tenth in final practice for the last round of the 2019/20 FIA World Endurance Championship in Bahrain on Saturday.

Brendon Hartley topped the times aboard the #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid in the opening minutes of the 60-minute session with a 1m43.557s.

The #7 entry with Mike Conway at the wheel was held in the pits for five minutes for a yellow-flag infringement in FP2 and then posted 1m43.659s, just 0.102s slower than the sister car.

It was the second time in the three session of practice that the #8 Toyota had set the pace, despite carrying a 0.54s performance penalty under the LMP1 success handicap system.

Kazuki Nakajima had a brief spin in the #8 Toyota during the session.

Jackie Chan DC Racing led the way in LMP2 courtesy of a 1m48.598s from Will Stevens in the team's Oreca 07.

That put the JOTA-run entry a couple of tenths up on the United Autosports Oreca in which Phil Hanson got down to a 1m48.810s.

The Signatech Alpine Oreca took third in the class times with Thomas Laurent, who posted a 1m49.134s, while Antonio Felix da Costa ended up fourth in the Oreca run under the JOTA Sport banner with a 1m49.767s.

Porsche led the way in GTE Pro for the first time of the Bahrain meeting. Michael Christensen ended up fastest in the best of the factory Porsche 911 RSR-19s with a 1m56.790s laps set early in the session.

That put the Dane nearly a second up on the second-placed Aston Martin Vantage GTE in which Nicki Thiim managed a 1m57.709s.

James Calado was third fastest for Ferrari to make it three manufacturers in the top three. The Brit set a 1m57.964s in the best of the AF Corse-run Ferrari 488 GTE Evos.

A 1m58.321s put Maxime Martin fourth in the second Aston.

The GTE Am division was led by the Aston Martin Racing entry in which Ross Gunn posted a 1m57.947s. Nicklas Nielsen was second in class in the #83 AF-run Ferrari.

Qualifying for the eighth round of the 2019/20 WEC campaign begins at 6:00pm local time.

FP3 results:

Cla	#	Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Time	Gap
1	8	Sébastien Buemi Kazuki Nakajima Brendon Hartley	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	32	1'43.557
2	7	Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi Jose Maria Lopez	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	27	1'43.659	0.102
3	37	Ho-Pin Tung Gabriel Aubry Will Stevens	Oreca 07	LMP2	28	1'48.598	5.041
4	22	Philip Hanson Filipe Albuquerque Paul di Resta	Oreca 07	LMP2	24	1'48.810	5.253
5	36	Thomas Laurent Andre Negrao Pierre Ragues	Alpine A470	LMP2	24	1'49.134	5.577
6	38	Roberto Gonzalez Antonio Felix da Costa Anthony Davidson	Oreca 07	LMP2	25	1'49.767	6.210
7	47	Roberto Lacorte Andrea Belicchi Giorgio Sernagiotto	Dallara P217	LMP2	29	1'51.208	7.651
8	29	Frits van Eerd Giedo van der Garde Nyck de Vries	Oreca 07	LMP2	27	1'51.336	7.779
9	92	Michael Christensen Kevin Estre	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	22	1'56.790	13.233
10	95	Marco Sorensen Nicki Thiim	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE PRO	22	1'57.709	14.152
11	98	Paul Dalla Lana Richard Westbrook Ross Gunn	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	25	1'57.947	14.390
12	51	James Calado Daniel Serra	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	26	1'57.964	14.407
13	97	Richard Westbrook Maxime Martin	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE PRO	23	1'58.321	14.764
14	83	François Perrodo Emmanuel Collard Nicklas Nielsen	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	26	1'58.510	14.953
15	71	Davide Rigon Miguel Molina	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	27	1'58.514	14.957
16	91	Gianmaria Bruni Richard Lietz	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	27	1'58.552	14.995
17	77	Christian Ried Riccardo Pera Dennis Olsen	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	23	1'59.012	15.455
18	86	Michael Wainwright Alessio Picariello Benjamin Barker	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	24	1'59.027	15.470
19	56	Egidio Perfetti Larry ten Voorde Jörg Bergmeister	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	26	1'59.054	15.497
20	57	Ben Keating Dylan Pereira Jeroen Bleekemolen	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	22	1'59.208	15.651
21	90	Salih Yoluc Charles Eastwood Jonathan Adam	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	26	1'59.808	16.251
22	88	Khaled Al Qubaisi Jaxon Evans Marco Holzer	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	28	1'59.934	16.377
23	62	Bonamy Grimes Kei Cozzolino Colin Noble Jr.	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	27	2'00.047	16.490
24	54	Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Giancarlo Fisichella	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	27	2'00.195	16.638
View full results