FP1 8H Bahrain: Hartley fastest for Toyota; Porsche 1-2 in LMGTE Pro

The No.92 Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Neel Jani leads LMGTE Pro as Porsche v Ferrari title fight gets set for Saturday 

Realteam Racing lead LMP2, while No.98 Aston Martin leads LMGTE Am with Augusto Farfus lapping fastest. 

Below are the main headlines from FP1.

Hypercar  

• Toyota Gazoo Racing 1-2 in night session to open Bapco 8 Hours of Bahrain 
• Brendon Hartley’s early session 1m48m.490s lap leads sister No. 7 car by 0.4s 
• No.7 crew have a 15-point lead in points standings with 39 points to play for this Saturday 
• Kamui Kobayashi proves to be fastest driver in No.7 points leading car 
• Alpine Elf Matmut place in third position as Nicolas Lapierre is 0.9s of leading Toyota  

Night fever. #GoHyper #ToyotaGAZOORacing @FIAWEC #8HBahrain pic.twitter.com/9cwMJTZsSp

— TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WEC (@TGR_WEC) November 4, 2021

LMGTE Pro  

• Neel Jani takes top spot for Porsche in LMGTE Pro class leading a Porsche GT Team 1-2 in 90-minute session 
• Michael Christensen joins Jani and Kevin Estre in No. 92 for this race, while Frederic Makowiecki is added to Gimmi Bruni and Richard Lietz No.91 crewed car 
• A 1m57.657s lap from Jani outpaces No.91 Porsche by 0.3s, which will aim to protect sister cars title quest this weekend 
• Ferrari miss first 32-minutes of session but No.52 car of Miguel Molina and Daniel Serra place third, while James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi are fourth in class 

#WEC - We are preparing our two #Porsche #911RSR for the upcoming free practice session @FIAWEC #8HBahrain. Look and feel the wonderful flat-6 engine as it is heating up pic.twitter.com/UrMdCVddP6

— Porsche Motorsport (@PorscheRaces) November 4, 2021

LMP2  

• Realteam Racing Oreca-Gibson LMP2 leads class as Norman Nato’s early best lap of 1m50.792s is just good enough for top position 
• No.28 JOTA entry driven by Tom Blomqvist is just 0.028s off Nato’s time  
• Racing Team Nederland, which leads the Pro/Am title chase, are third as Giedo van der Garde sets a 1m58.008 best time 
• Title leaders, Team WRT, are sixth in class behind No.38 JOTA in fourth and United Autosports USA in fifth 

LMGTE Am  

• No.98 Aston Martin heads LMGTE Am as Augusto Farfus peaks with a 1m58.093s lap 
• Brazilian’s best is 0.2s ahead of No.56 Project 1 Porsche as Matteo Cairoli sets a 1m58.321 best 
• Cetilar place third as Antonio Fuoco laps in 1m58.629s for Monza winners 
• Just 0.957s covers the top seven in ultra-competitive class 
• No.83 points leading Ferrari finishes session in fifth place while chasing TF Sport Aston Martin is sixth 

FP2 will commence at 09h00 tomorrow morning local time.