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Practice report

Bahrain WEC: Toyota bounces back to top final practice

Toyota set the quickest time in final practice for this weekend's FIA World Endurance Championship round in Bahrain, leading the best of the Ginettas by just over a tenth of a second.

#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota TS050 - Hybrid: Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima, Brendon Hartley

#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota TS050 - Hybrid: Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima, Brendon Hartley

Toyota Racing

Having trailed both its LMP1 rivals on Thursday, the Japanese manufacturer led third practice from start to finish, courtesy of Brendon Hartley’s time of 1m44.285s in the #8 TS050 Hybrid.

Ginetta moved up to second in the final 30 minutes of the session, with Ben Hanley lapping the Sakhir circuit in 1m44.389s in the #5 G60-LT-P1. 

Toyota and Ginetta were the only two teams to finish clear of the LMP2 field, as cold conditions and reported rain drops meant times were significantly slower than on Thursday.

The #6 Ginetta finished third with Guy Smith at the wheel, 2.6s off the pace, while the Rebellion of Gustavo Menezes was classified a further three tenths adrift in fourth.

The Swiss outfit’s Oreca-built R13 was consigned to the garage for the final part of the session, with both the engine cover and the front bodywork removed as mechanics frantically worked to fix an as-yet unknown technical issue.

The #7 Toyota propped up the LMP1 timesheets, Jose Maria Lopez finishing nearly 3.5s down on the sister TS050 Hybrid.

Phil Hanson put the United Autosports Oreca on top in the LMP2 class with 40 minutes to go, his time of 1m1m45.970s putting the Anglo-American team two tenths clear of the Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca of Will Stevens.

JOTA’s Oreca was third thanks to a time of 1m46.767s by Antonio Felix da Costa.

Andre Negrao slammed into the barriers at the exit of Turn 13 in his first flying lap, but managed to get his Signatech Alpine Oreca back to the pitlane for repairs.

Ferrari topped a session in the GTE Pro class for the first time this weekend, with Davide Rigon setting the quickest time in GTE Pro in the #71 488 GTE.

Rigon displaced the #95 Aston Martin of Nicki Thiim from the top 15 minutes into the session and was unchallenged for the rest of the morning.

Allesandro Pier Guidi made it two Ferraris in the top three with a time of 1m56.367s, as the two Porsches ended slowest of all in GTE Pro.

The GTE Am class was topped by Ben Barker in the #86 Gulf Racing Porsche. 

Catch qualifying LIVE on Motorsport.tv here. Some georestrictions may apply.

Practice results:

Cla # Drivers Car Class Time Gap
1 8 Switzerland Sébastien Buemi
Japan Kazuki Nakajima
New Zealand Brendon Hartley
Toyota TS050 Hybrid LMP1 1'44.285
2 5 United Kingdom Charles Robertson
United Kingdom Ben Hanley
United Kingdom Jordan King
Ginetta G60-LT-P1 LMP1 1'44.389 0.104
3 22 United Kingdom Philip Hanson
Portugal Filipe Albuquerque
United Kingdom Paul di Resta
Oreca 07 LMP2 1'45.970 1.685
4 37 China Ho-Pin Tung
France Gabriel Aubry
United Kingdom Will Stevens
Oreca 07 LMP2 1'46.159 1.874
5 38 Mexico Roberto Gonzalez
Portugal Antonio Felix da Costa
United Kingdom Anthony Davidson
Oreca 07 LMP2 1'46.767 2.482
6 6 United Kingdom Michael Simpson
United States Chris Dyson
United Kingdom Guy Smith
Ginetta G60-LT-P1 LMP1 1'46.886 2.601
7 1 Brazil Bruno Senna
United States Gustavo Menezes
France Norman Nato
Rebellion R13 LMP1 1'47.190 2.905
8 7 United Kingdom Mike Conway
Japan Kamui Kobayashi
Argentina Jose Maria Lopez
Toyota TS050 Hybrid LMP1 1'47.700 3.415
9 42 France Nicolas Lapierre
Switzerland Antonin Borga
Switzerland Alexandre Coigny
Oreca 07 LMP2 1'48.687 4.402
10 29 Netherlands Frits van Eerd
Netherlands Giedo van der Garde
Netherlands Nyck de Vries
Oreca 07 LMP2 1'49.584 5.299
11 26 Russian Federation Roman Rusinov
Netherlands Job Van Uitert
France Jean-Eric Vergne
Aurus 01 LMP2 1'49.842 5.557
12 47 Italy Roberto Lacorte
Italy Andrea Belicchi
Italy Giorgio Sernagiotto
Dallara P217 LMP2 1'49.857 5.572
13 36 France Thomas Laurent
Brazil Andre Negrao
France Pierre Ragues
Alpine A470 LMP2 1'50.656 6.371
14 33 United States Mark Patterson
Japan Kenta Yamashita
Denmark Anders Fjordbach
Oreca 07 LMP2 1'51.664 7.379
15 71 Italy Davide Rigon
Spain Miguel Molina
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE PRO 1'56.095 11.810
16 95 Denmark Marco Sorensen
Denmark Nicki Thiim
Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE PRO 1'56.364 12.079
17 51 United Kingdom James Calado
Italy Alessandro Pier Guidi
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE PRO 1'56.367 12.082
18 97 United Kingdom Alex Lynn
Belgium Maxime Martin
Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE PRO 1'56.460 12.175
19 86 United Kingdom Michael Wainwright
United Kingdom Andrew Watson
United Kingdom Benjamin Barker
Porsche 911 RSR LMGTE AM 1'57.221 12.936
20 77 Germany Christian Ried
Italy Riccardo Pera
Australia Matt Campbell
Porsche 911 RSR LMGTE AM 1'57.345 13.060
21 98 Canada Paul Dalla Lana
United Kingdom Darren Turner
United Kingdom Ross Gunn
Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM 1'57.359 13.074
22 91 Italy Gianmaria Bruni
Austria Richard Lietz
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE PRO 1'57.743 13.458
23 54 Switzerland Thomas Flohr
Italy Francesco Castellacci
Italy Giancarlo Fisichella
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 1'58.264 13.979
24 92 Denmark Michael Christensen
France Kevin Estre
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE PRO 1'58.291 14.006
25 83 France François Perrodo
France Emmanuel Collard
Denmark Nicklas Nielsen
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 1'58.381 14.096
26 70 Japan Motoaki Ishikawa
Monaco Olivier Beretta
Japan Kei Cozzolino
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 1'58.478 14.193
27 90 Turkey Salih Yoluc
Ireland Charles Eastwood
United Kingdom Jonathan Adam
Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM 1'58.488 14.203
28 88 United Arab Emirates Khaled Al Qubaisi
Belgium Adrien de Leener
Austria Thomas Preining
Porsche 911 RSR LMGTE AM 1'58.872 14.587
29 57 United States Ben Keating
Netherlands Larry ten Voorde
Netherlands Jeroen Bleekemolen
Porsche 911 RSR LMGTE AM 1'58.880 14.595
30 56 Norway Egidio Perfetti
Denmark David Heinemeier Hansson
Italy Matteo Cairoli
Porsche 911 RSR LMGTE AM 1'59.073 14.788
31 62 United Kingdom Bonamy Grimes
United Kingdom Johnny Mowlem
United Kingdom Charles Hollings
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 1'59.138 14.853

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