Bahrain: Toyota No. 8 fastest in FP3 while Porsche tops GTE Pro times
The third and final free practice session for this week’s 8 Hours of Bahrain, round 8 of FIA WEC Season 8, is now complete. After 60 minutes of action, below are the main headlines from FP3.
LMP1
• Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Brendon Hartley set a pace-setting time of 1:43.557 early in the session with the No. 8 Toyota TS050 HYBRID
• Mike Conway was 0.102s adrift of Hartley’s time in the No. 7 car he shares with Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez
• No. 7 Toyota served a 5 minute stop-and-go penalty at the start of FP3 as a result of overtaking under yellow in FP2
• Scene is set for a thrilling duel between the two Toyota TS050 HYBRIDS which will battle it out for the 2020 LMP FIA World Endurance Drivers’ Championship - only seven points separate both crews
LMGTE Pro
• In LMGTE Pro, the No. 92 Porsche GT Team entry was top of the pile as Michael Christensen posted a time of 1:56.790 in the Porsche 911 RSR – 19
• Christensen’s lap was 0.919s ahead of the No. 95 Aston Martin Vantage AMR driven by Marco Sørensen and Nicki Thiim. The No. 97 entry was fourth in the sister car
• Third in class was the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari entry with James Calado setting a time of 1:57.964 in the Ferrari 488 GTE Evo
• All three FP sessions saw a different manufacturer take the fastest time with Aston Martin quickest in FP1, Ferrari in FP2 and Porsche in FP3
LMP2
• Jackie Chan DC Racing fastest out of the six LMP2 entries with Will Stevens setting the pace with a lap of 1:48.598 in the ORECA 07 - Gibson
• Second in class was No. 22 United Autosports entry as Phil Hanson clocked a time 0.212s adrift of the pace-setting JCDCR entry
• Rounding out the top three was the No. 36 Signatech Alpine Elf entry with Thomas Laurent’s time of 1:49.134
• No. 29 Racing Team Nederland entry spun during the session with Frits Van Eerd at the wheel
LMGTE Am
• The No. 98 Aston Martin Racing entry proved the car to beat in LMGTE Am as Ross Gunn set a time of 1:57.949 in the Aston Martin Vantage AMR
• Pace-setting No. 98 car had a small impact out on track with Paul Dalla Lana at the wheel but after a short pitstop was back on the track
• Second fastest was AF Corse’s Nicklas Nielsen in another the Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, the Danish driver 0.563s behind Gunn’s pace-setting time
• Dempsey Proton Racing’s No. 77 entry was third fastest as Italian Riccardo Pera clocked a time of 1:59.012 in the Porsche 911 RSR
Qualifying for the LMP and GT classes will commence later today at 18h00 local time.
