Di Resta Stars for Peugeot; Christensen Quickest Again for Porsche

The Headlines from FP2 at BAPCO 8 Hours of Bahrain......

Hypercar 

• Peugeot TotalEnergies take the fastest lap honours in the second 90-minute free practice session at Bahrain International Circuit
• As dusk settles on desert track Paul di Resta surges to a rapid 1m49.613s lap in the No.93 Peugeot 9X8 Hypercar 
• The Scotsman’s best beats the early pace setting No.8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercar which had topped the times in the first half of the session in the hands of Brendon Hartley

• The Kiwi had set a 1m49.658s lap as he and teammates Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa aim to add the 2022 WEC title to their Le Mans triumph in June
• Alpine ELF Team, levels on points with the No.8 crew, place third as Mathieu Vaxiviere gets to within 0.032s of Hartley’s time
• The top three cars are separated by a mere 0.077s
• The No.7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid is fourth as Mike Conway claims a best of 1m49.773s to head the second of the Peugeots
• Gustavo Menezes is fastest driver for the No.94 car as team appears to concentrate on race pace and long runs for the majority of the session

LMGTE Pro 

• Michael Christensen is again the fastest LMGTE Pro driver as he  laps in a 1m57.192s best 

• The No.92 Porsche GT Team entered 911 RSR holds a significant advantage over Ferrari with a 0.8s cushion
•  The Dane and his teammate Kevin Estre head into the weekend 11 points adrift of James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi in the LMGTE Pro title chase.  
• AF Corse again place second and third with the No.51 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi this time outpacing the sister Ferrari 488 GTE Evo. Calado sets best time of 1m57.995s
• Miguel Molina is 0.4s shy of Calado’s best as the Spaniard sets a 1m58.391s lap to go third
• Fourth is the No.91 Porsche 911 RSR-19 as Richard Lietz gets his first serious running of the day and sets a 1m58.514s lap
• Nick Tandy in the Corvette Racing entered C8.R places fifth in class after driving for all bar six laps of the two sessions

LMP2 

• AF Corse LMP2 car stays at the top of the LMP2 category but this time it is Alessio Rovera who claims bragging rights
• The young Italian sets a scintillating pace with a 1m51.787s lap to lead the No.22 United Autosports USA entry. AF Corse also top Pro/Am division

• Filipe Albuquerque had set an early benchmark time on a 1m51.993 s lap as he and his partners Phil Hanson and William Owen aim to end a difficult 2022 campaign on a high at BIC
• Third is Fuji victors, the WRT Oreca-Gibson, as Robin Frijns laps just 0.114s off Albuquerque’s best  
• The second United Autosports USA entry ends session fourth but is involved in an incident at T13 with Alex Lynn and WRT’s Robin Frijns making contact. The incident is placed under investigation

LMGTE Am 

• Team Project 1 again top the LMGTE Am class but this time it is the No.46 911 RSR leading the way

• Matteo Cairoli, so often the quickest driver in free practice session, does it again with a best of 1m59.717s
• Dempsey Proton Racing are second and third to make it a Porsche 1-2-3 clean sweep
• No.77 entry leads the No.88 machine as Harry Tincknell and Jan Heylen set times respectively
• Fastest Ferrari is the No.54 AF Corse machine as Nick Cassidy ensures that 0.5s covers the top quartet
• Points leaders TF Sport improve on first session with a 2m01.074s lap from Henrique Chaves to place eighth in class

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