A Toyota confirmed the superiority evidenced in the free practice sessions and secured the pole position for the 8 Hours of Bahrain, the final round of the World Endurance Championship (WEC) season. Toyota #8 finished ahead of #7, achieving a one-two finish for the Japanese manufacturer.
Brendon Hartley secured the qualification in #8 and, on his third of four laps, set a time of 1m46.564s. No one else managed to break the 1m46s barrier. Kamui Kobayashi finished second in Toyota #7, 0.489s slower. Cadillac qualified in third thanks to Alex Lynn, who was 0.701s off the pole position.
The Porsche Penske #6 followed with Kévin Estre. Ferrari AF Corse is still mathematically in the title fight, but the qualifying session will not make it easy for the Italian team: Antonio Fuoco took #50 to fifth place ahead of #51, which was driven by Alessandro Pier Guidi. Will Stevens qualified in the Porsche #38 of Hertz Team JOTA, where António Félix da Costa also competes, finishing in ninth position.
In LMP2, United Autosports will start from the front with the Oreca #23, in which Tom Blomqvist set the pace in qualifying. He surpassed Charles Milesi (Alpine Elf Team/Oreca #36) by 0.271s. Filipe Albuquerque took the United Autosports’ Oreca #22 to fifth place, in a round where his teammates Frederik Lubin and Phil Hanson are fighting for the class title. The championship leader, Team WRT’s Oreca #41, only managed the tenth fastest time with Louis Delétraz.
In what was the last qualifying session in the history of LMGTE Am, Iron Dames made history with the final pole position in the class. Sarah Bovy, aboard the all-female Porsche #85, beat Liam Talbot (D’Station Racing/Aston Martin #777) by a clear margin of 0.290s. The ORT by TF Aston Martin #25 will start in third. The Corvette #33, already crowned champion, finished fifth in the final qualifying session of the year, with Ben Keating behind the wheel.
Results:
