Toyota Takes Pole for Season Finale; LMGTE Pro Falls to No.91 Porsche

Brendon Hartley scorched to a superb pole position at the Bahrain International Circuit this evening to put he and teammates Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa in the best place possible to take the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship tomorrow.

The Kiwi set a blistering lap of 1m46.800s to lead the No.93 Peugeot TotalEnergies entered 9X8 Hypercar.

Porsche hold the advantage in LMGTE Pro as Gimmi Bruni claimed the point ahead of the usual sustained challenge from the AF Corse Ferrari team.

The age-old battle between the two legendary manufacturers will see the No.51 Ferrari and No.92 Porsche fight for the crown as they did last season.

However, the No.51 title defending Ferrari ended the session spectacularly as Alessandro Pier Guidi spun on his push lap right at the end of the session.

In LMP2 the Realteam by WRT squad took a maiden pole of 2022 as Norman Nato left it until the final seconds to claim the top spot.

Nato swept to a brilliant 1m50.330 lap to beat the points leading No.38 Oreca-Gibson driven by Will Stevens.

The LMGTE Am category witnessed Sarah Bovy reprising her Monza heroics with a superb pole position for the Iron Dames Ferrari team.

Title leader TF Sport will start the race from second position after Ben Keating was just unable to wrest the pole from Bovy.

Tomorrow’s Bapco 8 Hours of Bahrain is scheduled to begin at 14.00 local time. Follow all the action on the official WEC App

Headlines from Qualifying at BAPCO 8 Hours of Bahrain......

Hypercar 

• Toyota Gazoo Racing take pole as Brendon Hartley sweeps to top spot at Bahrain International Circuit
• Kiwi sets a scintillating 1m46.800s lap in No.8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercar to grab his second pole of 2022 after his Le Mans success
• The No.93 Peugeot 9X8 is second as Paul di Resta sets his best lap of 1m47.610s
• No.7 Toyota Gazoo Racing entered Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercar is third with Mike Conway at wheel with best lap of 1m47.738s
• No.94 Peugeot fourth with Gustavo Menezes at wheel
• Title challengers Alpine ELF Team with Mathieu Vaxiviere at the wheel places fifth 

LMGTE Pro 

• The No.91 Porsche GT Team takes pole position as Gimmi Bruni sets fastest time of 1m56.143s
• Bruni enjoys his second pole of season adding to his Spa achievement
• Italian leads the No.52 AF Corse Ferrari car driven by Antonio Fuoco in dramatic session
• Fuoco laps just 0.2s off the Porsche as the title support cars qualify ahead of the two main title protagonists
• The No.92 Porsche GT Team qualified by Michael Christensen is third  on a 1m56.439s lap
• Alessandro Pier Guidi in the No.51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo spins spectacularly while attempting to grab the bonus pole points
• Nick Tandy qualified the Corvette Racing entered C8.R fifth peaking on a 1m57.539s

LMP2 

• Norman Nato leaves it late with excellent last ditch effort in Realteam by WRT entry
• French ace sets a 1m50.330s lap to beat the LMP2 points leading No.38 Jota Oreca-Gibson driven by Will Stevens by just 0.137s
• United Autosports USA’s Filipe Albuquerque looked to have claimed pole but had his lap cancelled for track limits
• Portuguese had set a best of 1m50.445s lap but Nato beat that before the stewards scratched the lap
• Disappointed United Autosports USA team start race third in LMP2
• AF Corse are fourth with Alessio Rovera also claiming Pro/Am top spot
• Mathias Beche claims best season start for ARC Bratislava with fifth

LMGTE Am 

• Iron Dames take sensational second WEC pole as Sarah Bovy doubles up on Monza performance
• Belgian sets a 1m59.186s lap to again head season long qualifying rival Ben Keating in TF Sport Aston
• Bovy’s blistering time is over 0.5s ahead of the championship elect Aston Martin
• TF Sport fight back after difficult FP1 session to ensure strong starting position to protect 20-point title lead
• No.77 Dempsey Proton Porsche places in third position as Christian Ried puts German team in strong position to try and attack TF Sport tomorrow

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