WEC Bahrain
WEC Bahrain: #7 Toyota tops wind-delayed, rain-hit first practice
The two Toyotas led the way in an interrupted first session of practice for Saturday’s World Endurance Championship finale in Bahrain.
Gary Watkins
Edited: Nov 2, 2023, 4:11 PM
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Kamui Kobayashi and Sebastien Buemi ended up 1-2 in their respective Toyota GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercars, setting their times straight after a 45-minute stoppage in Free Practice 1 for the Bahrain 8 Hours.
The red flag resulted from a loose advertising hoarding being blown onto the track by high winds and then attention to banners elsewhere around the Bahrain International Circuit.
Buemi had been fastest before the break with a 1m49.976s, which he improved to a 1m49.960s straight after the resumption.
Kobayashi then went almost exactly a tenth faster with a 1m49.856s to end up quickest.
The four Porsche 963 LMDhs in the WEC Hypercar field filled out positions three to six, the two Penske-run factory cars sandwiched between the two customer entries.
Gianmaria Bruni was fastest of the Porsche pack in third place with a 1m50.290s set immediately after the stoppage aboard Proton Competition’s car.
Laurens Vanthoor was just three hundredths behind in the first of the Penske cars with a 1m50.328s, while Michael Christensen was less than a tenth behind on 1m50.403s in the US team’s other entry.
Will Stevens took sixth aboard the Jota Porsche on 1m50.507s.
The solo factory Cadillac V-Series.R run by Chip Ganassi Racing was seventh courtesy of a 1m50.542s from Alex Lynn
Ferrari took eighth and ninth in the FP1 classification, James Calado’s 1m51.482s aboard the best of the 499P LMHs shading Miguel Molina’s 1m51.722s in the sister car.
The two Peugeot 9X8 LMHs ended up 10th and 11th in the hands of Nico Muller and Paul di Resta ahead of the Vanwall Vandervell 680 LMH with Esteban Guerrieri driving.
FP1 had been declared wet on its resumption as a result of spots of rain reported at handful of corners.
The session was quickly extended to its full 90-minute duration to take account of the stoppage, but the rain intensified with just over half an hour.
This brought the entire 36-car field into the pits, with only a handful of cars returning to a wet but drying track for the final minutes.
Filipe Albuquerque was quickest in LMP2 for the United Autosports squad after trading fastest times with Gabriel Aubry in Vector Sport ORECA-Gibson 07.
Albuquerque got down to a 1m54.100s, which gave him a margin of more than half a second over Aubry’s beset of 1m54.654s.
Ferdinand Habsburg took third for WRT ahead of Oliver Rasmussen in Jota’s LMP2 entry.
The TF Sport-run D’Station Aston Martin Vantage GTE ended up quickest in GTE Am with Tomonobu Fujii’s hands.
The Japanese driver’s 1m59.516s was just six thousandths ahead quicker than Daniel Serra’s best in the Kessel Ferrari 488 GTE.
Second practice for the Bahrain race is due to start at 17:30 on Thursday.
WEC Bahrain - FP1 results:
Main Information Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info
Driver Info
Main Information Additional Data
Cla Team # Drivers Car Laps Time Interval km/h 1
Toyota Racing HYPERCAR
7 M. Conway
K. Kobayashi
J. Lopez Toyota GR010 - Hybrid 35
1'49.856
177.352 2
Toyota Racing HYPERCAR
8 S. Buemi
B. Hartley
R. Hirakawa Toyota GR010 - Hybrid 39
+0.104
1'49.960
0.104 177.184 3
Proton Competition HYPERCAR
99 N. Jani
G. Bruni
H. Tincknell Porsche 963 22
+0.434
1'50.290
0.330 176.654 4
PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT HYPERCAR
6 K. Estre
A. Lotterer
L. Vanthoor Porsche 963 24
+0.472
1'50.328
0.038 176.593 5
PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT HYPERCAR
5 D. Cameron
M. Christensen
F. Makowiecki Porsche 963 24
+0.547
1'50.403
0.075 176.473 6
HERTZ TEAM JOTA HYPERCAR
38 A. Felix da Costa
W. Stevens
Y. Yifei Porsche 963 35
+0.651
1'50.507
0.104 176.307 7
CADILLAC RACING HYPERCAR
2 E. Bamber
A. Lynn
R. Westbrook Cadillac V-Series.R 22
+0.686
1'50.542
0.035 176.251 8
FERRARI AF CORSE HYPERCAR
51 A. Pier Guidi
J. Calado
A. Giovinazzi Ferrari 499P 21
+1.626
1'51.482
0.940 174.765 9
FERRARI AF CORSE HYPERCAR
50 A. Fuoco
M. Molina
N. Nielsen Ferrari 499P 17
+1.866
1'51.722
0.240 174.390 10
PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES HYPERCAR
94 L. Duval
G. Menezes
N. Müller Peugeot 9X8 24
+2.015
1'51.871
0.149 174.157 11
PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES HYPERCAR
93 P. di Resta
M. Jensen
J. Vergne Peugeot 9X8 18
+2.361
1'52.217
0.346 173.620 12
FLOYD VANWALL RACING TEAM HYPERCAR
4 E. Guerrieri
T. Vautier
R. Briscoe Vanwall Vandervell 680 32
+3.064
1'52.920
0.703 172.539 13
United Autosports LMP2
22 F. Lubin
P. Hanson
F. Albuquerque Oreca 07 20
+4.244
1'54.100
1.180 170.755 14
VECTOR SPORT LMP2
10 R. Cullen
M. Kaiser
G. Aubry Oreca 07 34
+4.798
1'54.654
0.554 169.930 15
TEAM WRT LMP2
31 S. Gelael
F. Habsburg
R. Frijns Oreca 07 34
+4.828
1'54.684
0.030 169.885 16
Jota Sport LMP2
28 D. Heinemeier Hansson
P. Fittipaldi
O. Rasmussen Oreca 07 31
+5.118
1'54.974
0.290 169.457 17
PREMA RACING LMP2
63 D. Pin
M. Bortolotti
D. Kvyat Oreca 07 30
+5.206
1'55.062
0.088 169.327 18
Alpine Elf Endurance Team LMP2
36 M. Vaxiviere
J. Canal
C. Milesi Oreca 07 29
+5.219
1'55.075
0.013 169.308 19
PREMA RACING LMP2
9 F. Ugran
B. Viscaal
J. Correa Oreca 07 34
+5.275
1'55.131
0.056 169.226 20
TEAM WRT LMP2
41 R. Andrade
R. Kubica
L. Deletraz Oreca 07 29
+5.392
1'55.248
0.117 169.054 21
United Autosports LMP2
23 J. Pierson
T. Blomqvist
O. Jarvis Oreca 07 33
+5.545
1'55.401
0.153 168.830 22
INTER EUROPOL COMPETITION LMP2
34 J. Smiechowski
F. Scherer
A. Costa Oreca 07 23
+5.846
1'55.702
0.301 168.391 23
Alpine Elf Endurance Team LMP2
35 A. Negrao
M. Rojas
O. Caldwell Oreca 07 33
+6.222
1'56.078
0.376 167.845 24
D'Station Racing LMGTE AM
777 L. Talbot
C. Stevenson
T. Fujii Aston Martin Vantage AMR 22
+9.660
1'59.516
3.438 163.017 25
Kessel Racing LMGTE AM
57 T. Kimura
E. Masson
D. Serra Ferrari 488 GTE EVO 32
+9.666
1'59.522
0.006 163.009 26
GR RACING LMGTE AM
86 M. Wainwright
R. Pera
B. Barker Porsche 911 RSR - 19 22
+9.694
1'59.550
0.028 162.971 27
AF Corse LMGTE AM
21
F. Dezoteux
S. Mann
K. Cozzolino Ferrari 488 GTE EVO 22
+9.806
1'59.662
0.112 162.818 28
AF Corse LMGTE AM
54 T. Flohr
F. Castellacci
D. Rigon Ferrari 488 GTE EVO 21
+9.814
1'59.670
0.008 162.807 29
ORT BY TF LMGTE AM
25 A. Al Harthy
M. Dinan
C. Eastwood Aston Martin Vantage AMR 24
+9.860
1'59.716
0.046 162.745 30
IRON DAMES LMGTE AM
85 S. Bovy
M. Gatting
R. Frey Porsche 911 RSR - 19 20
+10.112
1'59.968
0.252 162.403 31
Corvette Racing LMGTE AM
33 B. Keating
N. Varrone
N. Catsburg Chevrolet Corvette C8.R 18
+10.206
2'00.062
0.094 162.276 32
Proton Competition LMGTE AM
77 C. Ried
M. Pedersen
J. Andlauer Porsche 911 RSR - 19 15
+10.375
2'00.231
0.169 162.048 33
IRON LYNX LMGTE AM
60 C. Schiavoni
M. Cressoni
A. Picariello Porsche 911 RSR - 19 18
+10.389
2'00.245
0.014 162.029 34
RICHARD MILLE AF CORSE LMGTE AM
83 L. Perez Companc
L. Wadoux
A. Rovera Ferrari 488 GTE EVO 29
+10.407
2'00.263
0.018 162.004 35
PROJECT 1 - AO LMGTE AM
56 P. Hyett
G. Jeannette
M. Cairoli Porsche 911 RSR - 19 26
+10.542
2'00.398
0.135 161.823 36
NORTHWEST AMR LMGTE AM
98 I. James
D. Mancinelli
A. Riberas Aston Martin Vantage AMR 22
+10.632
2'00.488
0.090 161.702 View full results
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