A little bit of history was made in the FIA World Endurance Championship tonight when the 27 competitors took to the track for the second Free Practice Session under fully floodlit conditions. There are 495 posts and 5000 lights around the perimeter of the 5.41 km spectacular Bahrain International Circuit, and the FIA WEC’s drivers have now experienced the full effect for the first time as they completed ‘night’ practice under the lights. Saturday’s 6 Hours of Bahrain will be the third race of the 2014 season to run into the hours of darkness, but the first where permanent track lighting is used.
Aston Martin Racing’s No.95 Vantage V8 flew to the top of the LMGTE timesheets in the hands of Dane Nicki Thiim. The LMGTE Am competitor’s lap of 1:58.440 was the quickest of the day so far and a full second ahead of the leading Pro car, the No.51 AF Corse Ferrari of GT Championship leading driver Gianmaria Bruni.
Bruni and his team mate Toni Vilander were chased hard by the No.91 Porsche Team Manthey entry of Jörg Bergmeister and Richard Lietz, the 911 RSR clocking its fastest lap at 1:59.704 – three tenths of a second behind the Ferrari 458 Italia. The German-Austrian duo’s team mates in the No.92 were one tenth behind them – although separated by another LMGTE Am entry, the No.88 Proton Competition Porsche 911 RSR – and just ahead of the Lone Star Le Mans winning No.97 Aston Martin of Darren Turner and Stefan Mücke.
Fourth in the combined LMGTE classification but second in the LMGTE Am class was the rapid Klaus Bachler in the No.88, a car he is sharing with local star Khaled Al Qubaisi and team boss Christian Ried. Also showing well in this session, which required all drivers to complete a minimum of three timed laps as it is officially a night practice, was the No.75 Prospeed Competition 911 RSR of François Perrodo, Emmanuel Collard and the youngest driver in the field, 19-year-old Matthieu Vaxivière.
A third and final practice session of one hour will take place tomorrow at 11h10 which will give the teams the final chance to complete their set up before qualifying which starts at 17h00.
Full results can be found HERE
