Bahrain 8h WEC: Kobayashi puts #7 Toyota on pole for decider
The #7 Toyota will start the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship title decider in Bahrain on pole position after Kamui Kobayashi topped Hypercar qualifying on Friday.
The point that comes with pole means that Kobayashi and co-drivers Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez only have to finish Saturday's Bahrain 8 Hours to retain their championship.
Third place in the three-race Hypercar field will be enough to give them the title even if teammates Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima win the race aboard the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid.
Kobayashi posted a 1m46.250s on his first run, which was more than six tenths up on Hartley's 1m48.895s.
Both Toyota drivers went out for second runs: Kobayashi didn't set a representative time, while the three tenths Hartley found to get down to a 1m46.540s wasn't enough to wrest the pole.
The Alpine-Gibson A480 ended up 0.775s off the pace, closer than in qualifying for the first race of the Bahrain double-header, courtesy of a 1m47.025s from Matthieu Vaxiviere.
Filipe Albuquerque snatched LMP2 pole position right at the end of the 10-minute prototype session. The Portuguese found seven tenths on a second set of tyres aboard the United Autosports Oreca 07 Gibson.
His 1m49.525s was enough to beat the 1m49.819s from Norman Nato, who did not improve on a second run in the TDS-run Realteam Oreca.
Antonio Felix da Costa took third place in the first of the JOTA Oreca, his 1m49.910s coming on the second flying lap of his solo run.
Giedo van der Garde was fourth, and second in the Pro/Am sub-class behind Nato, aboard the Racing Team Nederland Oreca run by TDS with a 1m50.149s on his second run.
The WRT entry that took P2 honours in the six-hour Bahrain race last weekend was only seventh in Ferdinand Habsburg's hands.
Porsche driver Kevin Estre took his fifth GTE Pro pole of the season despite a strong challenge from Ferrari and losing his first lap time to a track limits violation.
The Frenchman's 1m56.041s, slightly quicker than his deleted lap, in the #92 Porsche 911 RSR gave him a margin of less than two tenths over James Calado in the fastest of the AF Corse-run Ferrari 488 GTEs, which have received a Balance of Performance boost for this race.
Pole for the Porsche means that Estre and full-season teammate Neel Jani have drawn level on points with Ferrari pairing Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi.
Estre and Jani are joined for this weekend's eight-hour race by Michael Christensen, who drove with them at the Portimao and Le Mans 24 Hours rounds.
Calado's 1m56.201s was four tenths up on third-placed Gianmaria Bruni's Porsche. The Italian lost his first two lap times as a result of going off track and posted his legitimate time of 1m56.541s after the chequered flag had fallen.
Daniel Serra brought up the rear of the GTE Pro pack in the second Ferrari with a time of 1m56.603s.
Ferrari came out on top in GTE Am after its cars received a similar power increase to the Pro cars under the latest BoP.
Roberto Lacorte took the top spot with a 1m58.712s aboard the AF Corse-run Cetilar Racing entry by just four hundredths from Francois Perrodo in the championship-leading AF car.
The WEC 8 Hours of Bahrain will be streamed live on Motorsport.tv. Click here for more information.
Qualifying results (Hypercar and LMP2):
Qualifying results (GTE Pro and Am):
| Cla | # | Drivers | Car | Class | Avg Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 92 |  Kevin Estre  Neel Jani  Michael Christensen | Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE PRO | 1'56.041 | |
| 2 | 51 |  Alessandro Pier Guidi  James Calado | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE PRO | 1'56.201 | 0.160 |
| 3 | 91 | Gianmaria Bruni  Richard Lietz Frédéric Makowiecki | Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE PRO | 1'56.541 | 0.500 |
| 4 | 52 |  Daniel Serra  Miguel Molina | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE PRO | 1'56.603 | 0.562 |
| 5 | 47 | Roberto Lacorte Giorgio Sernagiotto Antonio Fuoco | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 1'58.712 | 2.671 |
| 6 | 83 | François Perrodo Nicklas Nielsen Alessio Rovera | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 1'58.759 | 2.718 |
| 7 | 85 | Rahel Frey  Sarah Bovy Katherine Legge | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 1'58.958 | 2.917 |
| 8 | 56 |  Egidio Perfetti Matteo Cairoli Riccardo Pera | Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE AM | 1'58.989 | 2.948 |
| 9 | 33 |  Ben Keating  Dylan Pereira Felipe Fraga | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 1'59.087 | 3.046 |
| 10 | 98 |  Paul Dalla Lana Augusto Farfus Marcos Gomes | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 1'59.096 | 3.055 |
| 11 | 88 |  Khaled Al Qubaisi  Axcil Jefferies Julien Andlauer | Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE AM | 1'59.359 | 3.318 |
| 12 | 54 | Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Giancarlo Fisichella | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 1'59.492 | 3.451 |
| 13 | 77 |  Christian Ried  Jaxon Evans Matt Campbell | Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE AM | 1'59.936 | 3.895 |
| 14 | 57 |  Takeshi Kimura Mikkel Jensen Scott Andrews | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 2'00.301 | 4.260 |
| 15 | 777 | Satoshi Hoshino Tomonobu Fujii Andrew Watson | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 2'00.364 | 4.323 |
| 16 | 86 | Michael Wainwright Benjamin Barker Tom Gamble | Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE AM | 2'01.282 | 5.241 |
| 17 | 60 | Claudio Schiavoni Andrea Piccini Matteo Cressoni | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 2'01.941 | 5.900 |
| View full results | ||||||
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