Bahrain WEC: Toyota bounces back to top final practice

Having trailed both its LMP1 rivals on Thursday, the Japanese manufacturer led third practice from start to finish, courtesy of Brendon Hartley’s time of 1m44.285s in the #8 TS050 Hybrid.

Ginetta moved up to second in the final 30 minutes of the session, with Ben Hanley lapping the Sakhir circuit in 1m44.389s in the #5 G60-LT-P1. 

Toyota and Ginetta were the only two teams to finish clear of the LMP2 field, as cold conditions and reported rain drops meant times were significantly slower than on Thursday.

The #6 Ginetta finished third with Guy Smith at the wheel, 2.6s off the pace, while the Rebellion of Gustavo Menezes was classified a further three tenths adrift in fourth.

The Swiss outfit’s Oreca-built R13 was consigned to the garage for the final part of the session, with both the engine cover and the front bodywork removed as mechanics frantically worked to fix an as-yet unknown technical issue.

The #7 Toyota propped up the LMP1 timesheets, Jose Maria Lopez finishing nearly 3.5s down on the sister TS050 Hybrid.

Phil Hanson put the United Autosports Oreca on top in the LMP2 class with 40 minutes to go, his time of 1m1m45.970s putting the Anglo-American team two tenths clear of the Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca of Will Stevens.

JOTA’s Oreca was third thanks to a time of 1m46.767s by Antonio Felix da Costa.

Andre Negrao slammed into the barriers at the exit of Turn 13 in his first flying lap, but managed to get his Signatech Alpine Oreca back to the pitlane for repairs.

Ferrari topped a session in the GTE Pro class for the first time this weekend, with Davide Rigon setting the quickest time in GTE Pro in the #71 488 GTE.

Rigon displaced the #95 Aston Martin of Nicki Thiim from the top 15 minutes into the session and was unchallenged for the rest of the morning.

Allesandro Pier Guidi made it two Ferraris in the top three with a time of 1m56.367s, as the two Porsches ended slowest of all in GTE Pro.

The GTE Am class was topped by Ben Barker in the #86 Gulf Racing Porsche. 

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Practice results:

Cla	#	Drivers	Car	Class	Time	Gap
1	8	Sébastien Buemi Kazuki Nakajima Brendon Hartley	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	1'44.285
2	5	Charles Robertson Ben Hanley Jordan King	Ginetta G60-LT-P1	LMP1	1'44.389	0.104
3	22	Philip Hanson Filipe Albuquerque Paul di Resta	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'45.970	1.685
4	37	Ho-Pin Tung Gabriel Aubry Will Stevens	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'46.159	1.874
5	38	Roberto Gonzalez Antonio Felix da Costa Anthony Davidson	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'46.767	2.482
6	6	Michael Simpson Chris Dyson Guy Smith	Ginetta G60-LT-P1	LMP1	1'46.886	2.601
7	1	Bruno Senna Gustavo Menezes Norman Nato	Rebellion R13	LMP1	1'47.190	2.905
8	7	Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi Jose Maria Lopez	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	1'47.700	3.415
9	42	Nicolas Lapierre Antonin Borga Alexandre Coigny	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'48.687	4.402
10	29	Frits van Eerd Giedo van der Garde Nyck de Vries	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'49.584	5.299
11	26	Roman Rusinov Job Van Uitert Jean-Eric Vergne	Aurus 01	LMP2	1'49.842	5.557
12	47	Roberto Lacorte Andrea Belicchi Giorgio Sernagiotto	Dallara P217	LMP2	1'49.857	5.572
13	36	Thomas Laurent Andre Negrao Pierre Ragues	Alpine A470	LMP2	1'50.656	6.371
14	33	Mark Patterson Kenta Yamashita Anders Fjordbach	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'51.664	7.379
15	71	Davide Rigon Miguel Molina	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	1'56.095	11.810
16	95	Marco Sorensen Nicki Thiim	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE PRO	1'56.364	12.079
17	51	James Calado Alessandro Pier Guidi	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	1'56.367	12.082
18	97	Alex Lynn Maxime Martin	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE PRO	1'56.460	12.175
19	86	Michael Wainwright Andrew Watson Benjamin Barker	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	1'57.221	12.936
20	77	Christian Ried Riccardo Pera Matt Campbell	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	1'57.345	13.060
21	98	Paul Dalla Lana Darren Turner Ross Gunn	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	1'57.359	13.074
22	91	Gianmaria Bruni Richard Lietz	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	1'57.743	13.458
23	54	Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Giancarlo Fisichella	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'58.264	13.979
24	92	Michael Christensen Kevin Estre	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	1'58.291	14.006
25	83	François Perrodo Emmanuel Collard Nicklas Nielsen	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'58.381	14.096
26	70	Motoaki Ishikawa Olivier Beretta Kei Cozzolino	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'58.478	14.193
27	90	Salih Yoluc Charles Eastwood Jonathan Adam	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	1'58.488	14.203
28	88	Khaled Al Qubaisi Adrien de Leener Thomas Preining	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	1'58.872	14.587
29	57	Ben Keating Larry ten Voorde Jeroen Bleekemolen	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	1'58.880	14.595
30	56	Egidio Perfetti David Heinemeier Hansson Matteo Cairoli	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	1'59.073	14.788
31	62	Bonamy Grimes Johnny Mowlem Charles Hollings	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'59.138	14.853
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