HYPERCAR
- The final free practice session for the BAPCO Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain sees teams readying for this afternoon’s crucial qualifying session at Bahrain International Circuit
- The #50 Ferrari AF Corse, that opened the season by winning the first round in Qatar, heads the times as Antonio Fuoco sets the fastest lap in the 60-minute session with a 1m49.725s effort
- Fuoco’s lap is a tiny 0.012s quicker than the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercar, as Kamui Kobayashi peaks for the defending Hypercar manufacturer champions
- Placing third is the first of the title challenging entries as Robert Kubica puts in a 1m50.064s lap in the yellow AF Corse Ferrari 499P Hypercar he shares Phil Hanson and Yifei Ye
- That trio is 13 points in arrears to the #51 Ferrari AF Corse entry of James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi and Alessandro Pier Guidi, as they end the FP3 session in seventh position
- Aston Martin place fourth as the #009 Valkyrie continues strong form with Marco Sorensen peaking on a best lap of 1m50.135s I The Heart of Racing run Hypercar
- Just 0.017s off the Aston Martin is the first of the Cadillac Hertz Team Jota V.Series.R Hypercars driven by Alex Lynn, Will Stevens and Norman Nato
- Sixth and making it five manufacturers in the top six is the #94 Peugeot TotalEnergies 9X8 Hypercar as Malthe Jakobsen sets that entries fastest time of the session
- Behind the #51 in eighth place is the #99 Proton Competition Porsche 963 which is the fastest of the German brands three entries in FP3
- The second of the Peugeot 9X8’s is ninth, ahead of the first of the BMWs with the #15 entry rounding out the top ten. The #93 Peugeot gets hit with a 5-minute stop and go penalty late in session for a red flag procedure infringement
LMGT3
- The formbook in the ultra-competitive LMGT3 category sees the #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes top the times, as Martin Berry punches in a 2m03.158s lap to head the 18 car field
- That lap is 0.3s clear of Arnold Robin in the #78 Akkodis ASP Lexus that he shares with Ben Barnicoat and Finn Gehristz
- Akkodis ASP have strength in numbers at the front as the #87 Akkodis ASP Lexus places third after another strong session. Jose-Maria Lopez claims the time of 2m03.605s
- The title challenging #21 VISTA AF Corse Ferrari of Alessio Rovera, Francois Heriau and Simon Mann is fourth after seeing much pace improvement from its Thursday efforts in FP1 and FP2
- An outsider for a title challenge, the #81 TF Sport Corvette, is fifth as Rui Andrade sets a time of 2m03.760s
- Completing the top six and showing improved pace in FP3 is the #95 United Autosports McLaren of Marino Sato, Sean Gelael and Darren Leung
- The #46 Team WRT BMW receives a 5-minute stop/go penalty late in the session after a red flag infringement
- FP3 sees an early red flag when Celia Martin crashes the Iron Dames Porsche but is able to re-join and return to the pits where the car is quickly repaired and returns to the action
- The session also sees brief contact between Ferdinand Habsburg in the Fuji winning #35 Alpine and the #77 Proton Ford Mustang driven by Ben Tuck, but each continues without significant damage
For the FP3 times please click HERE
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