Bahrain 8h WEC: Hartley keeps #8 Toyota ahead in final practice
Brendon Hartley got the better of Kamui Kobayashi as Toyota undertook qualification simulations in final practice for this weekend's FIA Bahrain World Endurance Championship finale.
Hartley outpaced Kobayashi by four tenths when the Toyota GR010 Hybrids went out on new Michelin tyres right at the start of the one-hour Free Practice 3 session.
The New Zealander knocked six tenths off his first time on his second flying lap in the #7 Toyota to end up on a 1m48.346s. Kobayashi set an unrepresentative time on his first flier, before posting a 1m48.777s aboard the #8 car.
The Alpine A480-Gibson, the only other car in the Hypercar class, trailed the Toyotas and the fastest two LMP2 cars in fifth overall.
Andre Negrao set a 1m51.794s shortly before the session was red-flagged while a corner bollard was replaced at Turn 9.
Antonio Felix da Costa and Filipe Albuquerque both went faster than the Alpine grandfathered LMP1 car in their Oreca 07-Gibson LMP2 cars.
Da Costa's 1m51.188s in the best of the JOTA team's two entries gave him a three tenth margin over the 1m51.524s from Albuquerque in the United Autosports car.
A 1m52.059s lap gave Tom Blomqvist third in class in the second JOTA entry, while Sophia Floersch was fourth in the Signatech-run Richard Mille Racing Oreca with a time of 1m52.681s.
Fastest in the Pro/Am P2 subclass was Realteam Racing's Norman Nato with a 1m52.758s.
Kevin Estre was fastest in GTE Pro for Porsche with a 1m56.590s, which gave him a one tenth margin over Gianmaria Bruni in the other Porsche 911 RSR-19.
The Ferraris, which has received a new Balance of Performance for this weekend's eight-hour race, took third and fourth positions.
James Calado took third in the first of the AF Corse-run 488 GTE Evos with a 1m58.411s, while Daniel Serra was a tenth further back in fourth on 1m58.519s.
Matteo Cairoli was quickest in GTE Am for the Project 1 Porsche squad after leapfrogging AF Corse Ferrari driver Nicklas Nielsen.
The session was extended as a result of the red flag, which lasted approximately nine minutes.
Qualifying for the Bahrain 8 Hours begins at 5:20pm local time on Friday.
FP3 results:
| Cla | # | Drivers | Car | Class | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 |  Sébastien Buemi  Kazuki Nakajima  Brendon Hartley | Toyota GR010 - Hybrid | HYPERCAR | 1'48.346 | |
| 2 | 7 |  Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi  Jose Maria Lopez | Toyota GR010 - Hybrid | HYPERCAR | 1'48.777 | 0.431 |
| 3 | 38 |  Roberto Gonzalez  Antonio Felix da Costa Anthony Davidson | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'51.188 | 2.842 |
| 4 | 22 | Philip Hanson Fabio Scherer Filipe Albuquerque | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'51.524 | 3.178 |
| 5 | 36 |  Andre Negrao  Nicolas Lapierre Matthieu Vaxiviere | Alpine A480 | HYPERCAR | 1'51.794 | 3.448 |
| 6 | 28 |  Sean Gelael  Stoffel Vandoorne Tom Blomqvist | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'52.059 | 3.713 |
| 7 | 1 |  Tatiana Calderon  Sophia Flörsch  Beitske Visser | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'52.681 | 4.335 |
| 8 | 70 | Esteban Garcia Loic Duval Norman Nato | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'52.758 | 4.412 |
| 9 | 20 |  Dennis Andersen Anders Fjordbach  Robert Kubica | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'52.825 | 4.479 |
| 10 | 29 | Frits van Eerd Giedo van der Garde Job Van Uitert | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'53.008 | 4.662 |
| 11 | 31 | Robin Frijns  Ferdinand Habsburg Charles Milesi | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'53.181 | 4.835 |
| 12 | 21 |  Henrik Hedman Juan Pablo Montoya Ben Hanley | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'53.833 | 5.487 |
| 13 | 34 | Jakub Smiechowski Renger van der Zande Alex Brundle | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'55.799 | 7.453 |
| 14 | 92 | Kevin Estre Neel Jani Michael Christensen | Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE PRO | 1'56.590 | 8.244 |
| 15 | 44 |  Miro Konopka Olli Caldwell Nelson Panciatici | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'56.703 | 8.357 |
| 16 | 91 |  Gianmaria Bruni Richard Lietz Frédéric Makowiecki | Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE PRO | 1'57.406 | 9.060 |
| 17 | 51 | Alessandro Pier Guidi James Calado | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE PRO | 1'58.411 | 10.065 |
| 18 | 52 | Daniel Serra  Miguel Molina | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE PRO | 1'58.519 | 10.173 |
| 19 | 56 |  Egidio Perfetti Matteo Cairoli Riccardo Pera | Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE AM | 1'58.696 | 10.350 |
| 20 | 83 | François Perrodo Nicklas Nielsen Alessio Rovera | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 1'58.803 | 10.457 |
| 21 | 47 | Roberto Lacorte Giorgio Sernagiotto Antonio Fuoco | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 1'58.926 | 10.580 |
| 22 | 86 | Michael Wainwright Benjamin Barker Tom Gamble | Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE AM | 1'59.022 | 10.676 |
| 23 | 77 | Christian Ried  Jaxon Evans Matt Campbell | Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE AM | 1'59.061 | 10.715 |
| 24 | 88 |  Khaled Al Qubaisi  Axcil Jefferies Julien Andlauer | Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE AM | 1'59.355 | 11.009 |
| 25 | 85 | Rahel Frey Sarah Bovy Katherine Legge | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 1'59.634 | 11.288 |
| 26 | 98 |  Paul Dalla Lana Augusto Farfus Marcos Gomes | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 1'59.681 | 11.335 |
| 27 | 33 |  Ben Keating  Dylan Pereira Felipe Fraga | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 1'59.730 | 11.384 |
| 28 | 777 | Satoshi Hoshino Tomonobu Fujii Andrew Watson | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 1'59.949 | 11.603 |
| 29 | 54 | Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Giancarlo Fisichella | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 2'00.089 | 11.743 |
| 30 | 57 | Takeshi Kimura Mikkel Jensen Scott Andrews | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 2'00.805 | 12.459 |
| 31 | 60 | Claudio Schiavoni Andrea Piccini Matteo Cressoni | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | ||
| View full results | ||||||
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