Toyota was the fastest on the first day of free practice for the 8 Hours of Bahrain. This is the final round of the World Endurance Championship (WEC), crucial in the fight for the title. Filipe Albuquerque set the fastest time in LMP2.
The two Japanese cars led FP1, but improved in the night FP2. Kamui Kobayashi, in car #7, was the only one to lap in the 1m46s (1m46.851s) and beat Brendon Hartley (Toyota #8) by 0.461s. Alex Lynn finished third in the Cadillac, while Will Stevens drove the #38 Porsche for Hertz Team JOTA – in which António Félix da Costa also competes. In individual terms, the Portuguese driver set the 22nd fastest time of the day. The top five was completed by the Porsche Penske #6 driven by Kévin Estre.
This table corresponds not only to FP2, but also to the overall performance of both yesterday’s sessions. Ferrari AF Corse, which is in the title fight, finished in lower positions – tenth with car #50 and eleventh with car #51.
In the LMP2 category, the fastest times also came in FP2. Albuquerque, in the United Autosports Oreca #22, set the pace, surpassing Mirko Bortolotti (Prema/Oreca #63) by a significant 0.325s. Albuquerque’s teammates, Frederick Lubin and Phil Hanson, are also in the fight for the category title. The championship lead belongs to the Team WRT Oreca #41, which set the eighth fastest time of the day in yesterday’s sessions with Robert Kubica behind the wheel.
As for LMGTE, Kessel Racing ended up as the fastest. Daniel Serra, in the Ferrari #57, was only 87 milliseconds ahead of Riccardo Pera (GR Racing/Porsche #86). In the category that was by far the closest, Matteo Cairoli set the third fastest time, 0.092s behind the wheel of the Project 1 – AO Porsche #56.
