The first session of the weekend under the floodlights of the Bahrain International Circuit saw the status quo from the first session remain as the two AF Corse Ferrari 458s topped the LMGTE time sheets in Free Practice 2 with the no51 Ferrari leading the way once again.
Reigning GTE World Champion Toni Vilander set a 1m59.402 lap, just 0.084s ahead of the no71 458 of James Calado. This was the fastest LMGTE lap of the day and was just 0.6 seconds slower than last year’s pole position time of 1m58.805 set by Stefan Mücke and Darren Turner.
The no92 Porsche Team Manthey 911 of Patrick Pilet was 3rd quickest, the only other car to post a sub 2 minute lap during the 90-minute session. The Porsche was followed by the no95 and no99 Aston Martin Racing Vantages while the championship leader Richard Lietz in the no91 Porsche could only manage a best lap of 2m01.019 in 8th overall in LMGTE behind the no72 Ferrari and no77 Porsche.
In LMGTE Am the championship-leading no72 SMP Racing Ferrari 458 bounced back to the top of the time sheets with Andrea Bertolini posting a 2m00.866s lap, just 0.073s ahead of the no77 Dempsey Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR, with Patrick Long setting a 2m00.939 lap. The no50 Larbre Competition Chevrolet Corvette of Kristian Poulsen was 3rd quickest in the AM class.
The no98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage, which had posted the fastest lap in FP1, finished the second session in 5th place in class behind the no96 Aston Martin and ahead of the no88 Abu Dhabi Proton Racing Porsche.
SMP Racing’s only rivals in the championship, the no83 AF Corse Ferrari of François Perrodo, Emmanuel Collard and Rui Aguas could only manage a 2m03.525 lap, nearly three seconds adrift of their title rivals.
The third and final Free Practice session of the 2015 season will take place tomorrow at 11h00 and will give the teams the final opportunity to set the cars up ahead of qualifying for the Bapco 6 Hours of Bahrain at 17h00.
You can watch qualifying live on the FIA WEC APP and for more details CLICK HERE
CLICK HERE for the results from Free Practice 2
