Porsche leads first practice
Manama : It was an action-packed day of racing yesterday at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) as the first-ever Bahrain Motorsport Festival got underway in style.
Highlighting the early proceedings were the Porsche trio of Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb. They sent out a stern warning to those looking to derail their drivers’ title ambitions in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) after setting the pace in the first practice session held ahead of the Bapco 6 Hours of Bahrain.
The current championship leaders steered their no. 2 Porsche 919 Hybrid to the top of the timesheet with a fastest lap of one minute 42.107 seconds around the 5.412-kilometre track.
They were classified ahead of the two R18 Hybrids of Audi Sport Team Joest, who are looking to go out on a high note in their very last race weekend in the FIA WEC.
The team of Lucas di Grassi, Loic Duval and Oliver Jarvis powered their Audi no. 8 R18 to just 0.343 seconds from matching the best time of the pace-setters. Teammates Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer in their no. 7 R18 were third (+0.408) from the top.
Toyota Gazoo Racing’s no. 6 TS050 driven by Stephan Sarrazin, Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi were ranked outside of the top three. They are the chief title rivals of the leading Porsche trio, who enjoyed a gap of (+0.758) ahead of them.
In fifth were the no. 1 Porsche car of Timo Bernhard, Mark Webber and Brendon Hartley; while classified sixth were Toyota’s no. 5 Hybrid of Anthony Davidson, Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima.
Each of the top six were in the Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1) category.
Under floodlights back-to-back world champions Porsche continued their fine start to the Bahrain Motorsport Festival, with both cars claiming the top two positions in the World Endurance Championship’s (WEC) second practice timesheet Thursday night at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC).
Also on the same evening, Lorenzo Travisanutto and David Vidales Ajenjo set the pace in their respective Qualifying Practices in the CIK-FIA World Championship and CIK-FIA World Junior Championship.
Porsche’s no. 2 919 Hybrid of Dumas, Jani and Lieb shone brightest under floodlights as they registered an ultra-quick time of one minute 39.817 seconds to set the pace.
The no. 1 car of Porsche teammates Mark Webber, Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley followed (+0.455) behind, while Audi Sport Team Joest’s no. 8 R18 driven by Lucas di Grassi, Loic Duval and Oliver Jarvis were classified third (+0.583) off the pace.All three were competitors in the LMP1 category.
The WEC will next be on track on Friday for a 60-minute third practice starting at 11.30am. Qualifying will then be held from 5pm.
Meanwhile, Bahrain International Karting Circuit enjoyed a packed programme of racing all through yesterday as Lorenzo Travisanutto of Italy was the man to beat in the Qualifying Practice of the CIK-FIA World Championship.
The Ward Racing driver had a best lap time of 50.001 seconds around BIKC’s 1.414-kilometre Commission Internationale de Karting (CIK) track, followed in second by Swede Noah Milell of Kosmic Racing Dept was second(+0.081), while Russian Alexander Smolyar was classified third (+0.117).
Rounding out the top six were Finn Juho Valtanen (+0.169s) of Kohtala Sports, Pole Karol Basz (0.186s) of Kosmic and Italian Leonardo Lorandi (+0.208s) of Baby Race Srl.
A total of 47 drivers battled it out in the world championship’s Qualifying Practice. Bahrain’s Hussain Hassan of Formula K Racing Team was ranked 46th with a best lap of 52.156s.
David Vidales Ajenjo of Spain topped the Qualifying Practice combined timesheet in the CIK-FIA World Junior Championship. The Tony Kart Racing Team ace clocked a fastest lap of 51.848s. Moroccan Sami Taoufik was a very close second. The Ricky Flynn Motorsport driver was a mere 0.004 seconds off Ajenjo’s pace. Theo Pourchaire of France followed in third (+0.046) behind.
Action continues today in both the world championship and world junior championship with the Qualifying Heats.
Related Posts