No.7 Toyota Races to the Front; Ferrari Exerts Authority in LMGTE Pro

Headlines from 4 Hours of racing at BAPCO 8 Hours of Bahrain...... 

Hypercar – Led by No.7 Toyota  

• Toyota Gazoo Racing continues to run 1-2 as the clock ticks to four hours of action at the Bahrain International Circuit 
• But the order changes after 3hrs 10mins as Mike Conway in No.7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid makes a move on Brendon Hartley driven No.8 car to take over in the lead 
• The No.7 heads the No.8 by a mere 2.7s at the halfway point of the race 
• Peugeot TotalEnergies places third with its No.94 entry mostly driven by Nico Mueller in his first race for the team 
• But Mueller’s stint starts badly when he stops briefly on track under Full Course Yellow, before a systems reset sees him return to the race 
• Trouble later strike though as Loic Duval stops again on track before making it back to the pits for more work to be carried out 
• That allows Alpine ELF Team with Nicolas Lapierre in the cockpit up in to fourth place after Andre Negrao had completed much of fourth hour 
• But title protagonists are disappointed with pace compared to Toyotas and they sit 80-seconds behind their rivals 
• Delayed No.93 Peugeot 9X8 is fifth as repairs are carried after on-track stoppage in third hour 
• Jean-Eric Vergne fights on, although two laps adrift of the leaders 

• LMGTE Pro – Led by No.51 AF Corse Ferrari 
• Ferrari exerts authority in LMGTE Pro as No.51 AF Corse 488 GTE Evo leads sister No.52 car by 15-seconds 
• Alessandro Pier Guidi completes third and fourth hours in control with a gap that stays consistently around the 22-second mark over Miguel Molina in the No.52 car  
• Porsche’s pace starts to fade in the mid-race phase and the No.92 car of Michael Christensen slip behind the Corvette which exploits fresher tyres 
• Nick Tandy stabilises third as Corvette appears to improve its pace in slightly cooler conditions 
• Porsches fall away as Christensen places fourth in No.92 Porsche 911 RSR-19 ahead of Richard Lietz in No.91 911 RSR-19 

LMP2 – Led by No.31 Team WRT 

• No.31 WRT Oreca-Gibson pushes to the front as Rene Rast grabs lead from Phil Hanson in third hour 
• Rast the hands over to Sean Gelael who completes his second stint of the race before he hands over to Robin Frijns 
• Frijns enjoys a slender seven second lead over the No.22 United Autosports USA entry driven by Oliver Jarvis 
• United Autosports USA place second and third as the No.23 with William Owen in cockpit holds off Will Stevens in No.38 Jota Oreca-Gibson 
• Prema Orlen Team still in fourth position and acts as sandwich between the Jota entries with No.28 in fifth in hands of Oliver Rasmussen 
• Pro/Am leaders are AF Corse as Nicklas Nielsen gets back aboard of chrome liveried car that also places ninth in LMP2 category  

LMGTE Am - Led by No.85 Iron Dames Ferrari 

• Iron Dames continue impressive first half of race with Rahel Frey and then Sarah Bovy completing impeccable stints to extend lead to 40-seconds in No.85 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo 

• At half-distance Bovy leads the Northwest AMR entry driven by Paul Dalla Lana  
• Aston Martins place second and third as Henrique Chaves aboard TF Sport entry is just three seconds behind Dalla Lana  
• Previous leaders in LMGTE Am, the No.54 AF Corse Ferrari, drops to fourth place after taking a penalty for a full course yellow speeding offense 
• Best Porsche is the No.56 Team Project 1 car driven by Ben Barnicoat as fifth hour arrives 

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