WEC Free Practice 1

Team LNT topped the times today in the first 90-minute Free Practice session of the FIA WEC Bapco 8 Hours of Bahrain, being held as part of the BIC National Day Festival.

The no. 5 AER-powered Ginetta G60-LT-P1 car driven by Charles Robertson, Ben Hanley and Jordan King clocked a best lap of one minute 44.791 seconds to set the overall pace in daylight around the 5.412-kilometre track at “The Home of Motorsport in the Middle East”.

They were 2.185 seconds ahead of the no. 1 Gibson-powered Rebellion R13 driven by Bruno Senna, Gustavo Menezes and Norman Nato.

Toyota Gazoo Racing’s pair of TS050 Hybrids followed in third and fourth. The no. 8 car of Kazuki Nakijima, Sebastien Buemi and Brendon Hartley was 2.665s off the pace; while the no. 7 challenger of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez was 2.817s back.

Team LNT’s other car, the no. 6 of Chris Dyson, Guy Smith and Michael Simpson completed the top five 3.214s behind their sister team. They also rounded out the participants in the top-tier LMP1 category.

Leading the LMP2 class was the no. 22 Gibson-powered Oreca 07 of United Autosports team, driven by Paul Di Resta, Philip Hanson and Felipe Albuquerque. They had a best lap of 1:48.273.

The LMGTE Pro runners were led by the 1:57.388 lap of Porsche GT tandem Richard Lietz and Gianmaria Bruni in their no. 91 Porsche 911 RSR-19 car.

The LMGTE Am class was topped by TF Sport’s Salih Yoluc, Charles Eastwood and Jonathan Adam, driving the no. 90 Aston Martin Vantage AMR. They had a best lap of 1:58.803.

The WEC challengers return to action in the evening for the second free practice of the round, beginning at 6.30pm under floodlights.