6 Hrs Bahrain GTE FP1: Aston Martin leads the way in the desert
Starting in daylight and ending under the floodlights encircling the Bahrain International Circuit, the first 90-minute free practice session for Saturday’s 6 Hours of Bahrain has taken place. In perfect weather conditions, temperatures of 26oC air and 33oC track and with no rain on the horizon for the first race this year, the seventh round of the FIA World Endurance Championship has got underway in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
Aston Martin Racing led the way in both the LMGTE Pro and Am categories, its No.97 Vantage V8 (Pro) and No.98 (Am) being the only two cars to dip under the two minute mark across the two classes. Darren Turner and Stefan Mücke set the pace in the manufacturer-led class with a fastest lap in the session of 1:59.087, and Pedro Lamy, Paul Dalla Lana and Christoffer Nygaard in the class for pros and gentlemen drivers with a best time of 1:59.717.
James Calado put his Bahrain track knowledge from his single-seater days to good use and placed the No.71 AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia he shares with Davide Rigon second in the Pro category. The Ferrari was a mere 0.018 seconds ahead of the Shanghai class-winners, Fred Makowiecki and Patrick Pilet in No.92 Porsche Team Manthey 911 RSR. The second factory Porsche was fourth in class, a tenth ahead of the No.99 Aston Martin Vantage which this weekend will feature in its driver line up the three-time Porsche GT3 Cup champion Abdulaziz Al Faisal of Saudi Arabia. The newly re-built No.51 Ferrari brought up the rear of the LMGTE Pro class.
In the Am class it was an Aston Martin 1-2 as the No.95 of the championship leaders David Heinemeier Hansson and Kristian Poulsen – joined once again this weekend by Nicki Thiim – were three tenths of a second behind their team mates in the No.98. Emirati driver, Khaled Al Qubaisi used his considerable local knowledge to put the No.88 Proton Competition 911 RSR he will be driving with Christian Ried and Porsche Junior driver Klaus Bachler into third place in the category.
The second 90-minute practice session will take place between 19h30 and 21h00 local time, during which time the drivers will experience the full power and illumination of the circuits lighting system.
Full timing results can be found HERE
