Debutants Peugeot outpace Toyota, Alpine in first WEC Practice of Bapco 8 Hours of Bahrain at BIC

Debutants Peugeot outpace Toyota, Alpine in first WEC Practice of Bapco 8 Hours of Bahrain at BIC

• Peugeot Totalenergies crews clinch one-two atop FP1 timesheet
• Guerrieri, Berthon share practice spoils in WTCR Race of Bahrain
• King tops both practice timesheets in Porsche Sprint Challenge

Peugeot Totalenergies made a sensational debut in Bahrain today, outpacing Hypercar title contenders Toyota Gazoo Racing and Alpine Elf Team in the first Free Practice of this weekend’s Bapco 8 Hours of Bahrain, the season-finale of the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) taking place at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir.

The #93 crew of Paul Di Resta, Mikkel Jensen and Jean-Eric Vergne led teammates Loic Duval, Gustavo Menezes and Nico Muller in the team’s #94 car to a one-two in the 90-minute session.

Di Resta-Jensen-Vergne had a fastest lap time of one minute 50.536 seconds in their Peugeot 9X8 Hypercar, while their teammates followed 0.877 seconds back.

Toyota Gazoo Racing’s #7 crew of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez followed in third overall 1.139s behind the pace-setters, while Alpine Elf Team’s #36 trio of Andre Negrao, Nicolas Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxiviere were fourth 1.260s back.

Toyota Gazoo Racing’s #8 crew of Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa completed the Hypercar field in fifth overall 1.381s from first.

The LMP2 class was led by the #83 AF Corse crew of Alessio Rovera, Francois Perrodo and Nicklas Nielsen with a best lap of 1:52.144 in their Oreca 07-Gibson.

The LMGTE Pro class saw the #92 Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen take Porsche GT Team to first place with a fastest lap of 1:58.025.

In the LMGTE Am category, Team Project 1’s Phillip Hyett, Gunnar Jeannette and Ben Barnicoat in the #51 Porsche 911 RSR-19 set the pace with a lap of 1:59.636.

The WEC field returns for a second Free Practice on Thursday evening under lights, while a third session will take place on Friday (11 November), from 11am for an hour. That will pave the way for Qualifying later in the day starting from 4.50pm, which will set the grid for the Bapco 8 ours of Bahrain on Saturday starting at 2pm.

The packed WEC field of 37 cars will be competing in wheel-to-wheel action from day to night, making for a brilliant spectacle that flags off under the afternoon sun and then wraps up under the stars while being brilliantly lit by BIC’s state-of-the-art floodlights.

This year’s Bapco 8 Hours of Bahrain is the last round of the WEC’s landmark 10th anniversary season.

Guerrieri, Berthon share the spoils in WTCR practices

Esteban Guerrieri and Nathanael Berthon took turns topping the practice timesheets today in the WTCR Race of Bahrain, part of the WTCR-FIA World Touring Car Cup supporting this weekend’s Bapco 8 Hours of Bahrain at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC).

Guerrieri led teammate Nestor Girolami, both from Argentina, to a one-two in the second Free Practice, while Berthon from France topped the timesheet in the first session, which marked the WTCR’s historic debut in the Kingdom and the region.

In the day’s second practice, the pair of ALL-INKL.COM Muennich Motorsport leaders were both competing in Honda Civic TCR cars. Guerrieri had a fastest lap of two minutes 10.935 seconds to claim first place late in the 30-minute session, while Girolami was 0.244 seconds slower.

Mikel Azcona of Spain competing with BRC Hyundai N Squadra Corse was 0.262s back in his Hyundai Elantra N TCR.

A total of 15 competitors took to the track in the WTCR’s second practice.

In the 45-minute first session held earlier in the day on Thursday, Berthon had a fastest lap of 2:11.616 in his Audi RS3 LMS TCR challenger.

His Comtoyou Team Audi Sport teammate Mehdi Bennani from Morocco followed 0.300s behind, while Azcona was third overall amongst the 13 competitors 0.338s adrift.