Aston Martin Thor Team top first practice timesheet in Bapco Energies 8H of Bahrain at BIC

Aston Martin Thor Team top first practice timesheet in Bapco Energies 8H of Bahrain at BIC

• Alex Riberas, Marco Sorensen, and Roman de Angelis in Aston Martin’s #009 Valkyrie Hypercar post fastest lap in opening WEC session of race weekend
• Caleb Sumich tops first practice timesheet in Porsche Carrera Cup Middle East 2025/2026 season-opening round
• Fans attending weekend’s events to enjoy plenty of off-track attractions, including stunt shows, a monster truck show and passenger experience, kids’ activities, roaming acts, and more
• Tickers for both days of WEC spectacle offer best rates for a world championship event at BD5.5 for adults and BD2.75 for kids

Aston Martin Thor Team set a blistering pace today in the opening practice of the Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir.

The 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship’s (WEC) highly anticipated season-finale has gotten underway at ‘The Home of Motorsport in the Middle East’ and BIC will be welcoming fans on Friday and Saturday (7 and 8 November) for two days of action-packed racing and colourful family entertainment.

Aston Martin Thor Team’s #009 crew of Alex Riberas, Marco Sorensen, and Roman de Angelis, behind the wheel of their Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercar, were the early aggressors of the race weekend, topping the timesheet in the first 90-minute session along BIC’s 5.412-kilometre track.

They posted a fastest lap time of one minute 49.697 seconds.

A second 90-minute WEC practice will be held later today, after which a 60-minute session will take place on Friday. That will be followed by qualifying and Hyperpole later in the day, which will set the grid for the Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain on Saturday, set to flag off at 2pm.

BIC is scheduled to open its gates to the public on both days of the race weekend at 10.30am. On Friday, gates will close at 6.30pm, and on Saturday at 10pm.

Race-goers on Saturday will be able to take part in a pair of exciting fan-engagement activities, to be held as part of the pre-race build-up.

From 11.45am to 12.35pm, they can go for a pitwalk and see the WEC teams up close in their garages, hard at work tuning up their contenders before lining up on the grid. During this time, fans will also be able to meet their favourite drivers, take pictures with them, and have memorabilia signed during the WEC autograph session, set to take place between 11.50am and 12.20pm. These experiences are included in the ticket price and can be enjoyed at no extra cost.

All those attending the WEC spectacle will be able to experience the open paddock – an offering unique to BIC’s annual WEC event. Fans will be able to cross the BIC tunnel from the vending area and access the paddock, which is where the WEC’s star drivers and their teams call home for the duration of the meeting.

Tickets are still available for the Le Mans-inspired event. The WEC is one of the most prestigious series in all of motor racing, and tickets offer tremendous value for an occasion of its calibre – rates that cannot be matched anywhere else for a world championship event under the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA).

Grandstand seats cost just BD5.5 for adults and BD2.75 for children for both days of racing and family entertainment. They can be bought online at bahraingp.com or by calling the BIC Hotline on +973-17450000.

Hospitality packages are also available to enjoy the event from BIC’s luxurious suites. These are priced at BD290 per person, excluding VAT, for the two days.

Classified behind Aston Martin’s pace-setters in WEC’s practice one today were AF Corse’s #83 trio of Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye, and Philip Hanson, who were 1.455s behind in their Ferrari 499P Hypercar. Aston Martin Thor Team’s #007 crew of Harry Tincknell, Tom Gamble, and Ross Gunn made it two Valkyries in top three, going 1.941s from their teammates.

Peugeot TotalEnergies’ #93 trio of Paul di Resta, Mikkel Jensen, and Jean-Eric Vergne, driving their Peugeot 9X8 Hypercar, were classified fourth 2.014s from the top, while Ferrari AF Corse’s #51 triumvirate of Antonio Giovinazzi, Alessandro Pier Guidi, and James Calado completed the Hypercars’ top five 2.044s behind the leaders.

In the LMGT3 category, Proton Competition’s Bernardo Sousa, Ben Tuck, and Benjamin Barker in their #77 Ford Mustang LMGT3 went fastest in the session with a top lap of 2:02.681.

Akkodies ASP Team’s #87 crew of Petru Umbrarescu, Clemens Schmid, and Jose Maria Lopez in their Lexus RC F LMGT3 were second-quickest a mere 0.056s off the pace, while their teammates Arnold Robin, Finn Gehrsitz, and Ben Barnicoat in the #78 Lexus completed the top three 0.384s back.

Team WRT’s #46 crew of Valentino Rossi, Ahmad Al Harthy, and Kelvin van der Linde in their BMW M4 LMGT3 ranked fourth 0.480s back, while The Bend Team WRT’s Yasser Shahin, Timur Boguslavskiy, and Augusto Farfus in their #31 BMW were fifth 0.628s behind.

The WEC field will return for a second practice this evening.