Bahrain: Ferrari to the front of LMGTE Pro
The second Free Practice session for the 8 Hours of Bahrain, the final round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, took place this morning – the first session for the competitors in daylight – with marginally lower temperatures and in breezy condition
After 90 minutes of action, below are the main headlines from FP2.
LMP1
• Toyota Gazoo Racing’s José María López set the fastest time of 1:42.857 early in the session in the No.7 Toyota TS050 HYBRID he shares with Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi
• Kazuki Nakajima in the sister Toyota was a full 1.14s adrift due to split practice strategies and the success handicap in place. He shares the wheel with Brendon Hartley and Sébastien Buemi
• The duel in the desert between the two Toyota entries is for the 2020 LMP World Endurance Drivers’ Championship, Toyota having already claimed the Manufacturers’ title
Ahhhhh, that sound and action 🤩🤩🤩#8hBahrain #WEC #FridayFeeling pic.twitter.com/IDfnZ5n80H
— WEC (@FIAWEC) November 13, 2020
LMGTE Pro
• In LMGTE Pro the No.71 AF Corse Ferrari of Miguel Molina and Davide Rigon led the way with a lap of 1:57.193 for the Spaniard in his Ferrari 488 GTE EVO
• Molina’s lap was 0.22s ahead of the No.91 Porsche 911 RSR – 19 of Richard Lietz and Gimmi Bruni. The sister Porsche of Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen was fifth, making up for lost time after a mechanical issue in FP1
• Third in class was the second Ferrari entry, with James Calado setting a time of 1:57.801 – the entire class closing up in terms of times as more track time is had
• FIA GT Manufacturer Champions Aston Martin were fourth and sixth in class, the No.97 Vantage AMR holding the advantage over the No.95
LMP2
• Racing Team Nederland continued its strong challenge in LMP2 with Nyck de Vries setting the pace in the opening part of the session with a lap of 1:48.601
• Second in class was the Signatech Alpine Elf entry of Thomas Laurent, Andre Negrao and Pierre Ragues – the No.36 Alpine A470 Gibson 1.7s adrift of pace-setting No.29 car
• Just one tenth of a second behind in third place in class was the No.22 United Autosports entry of LMP2 points leaders Phil Hanson, Filipe Albuquerque and Paul di Resta (1:50.407) with Jackie Chan DC Racing closely behind in fourth place
LMGTE Am
• The No. 88 Dempsey Proton Racing proved the car to beat in LMGTE Am as WEC debutant Jaxon Evans set a fastest time of 1:57.773 in the Porsche 911 RSR
• Second fastest in LMGTE Am was Team Project 1’s Jeroen Bleekemolen in another Porsche 911 RSR, the Dutch driver just 0.116s adrift of the fastest Am time
• The second Team Project 1 entry driven by Jorg Bergmeister rounded out the top three with a time of 1:58.205 making it a Porsche 1-2-3 in the Am category
Full FP2 results HERE.
The third and final Free Practice session is scheduled for this afternoon at 13h45. Qualifying will follow at 18h00.
