Toyota Gazoo Racing top first practice times in WEC season-ender at BIC

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Toyota Gazoo Racing’s #8 crew of Sebastien Buemi-Kazuki Nakajima-Brendon Hartley kicked off their final race weekend of the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) by topping the first Free Practice session last night in the season-ending Bapco 8 Hours of Bahrain at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC).

It was a positive start for the trio in their GR010 Hybrid Hypercar as they make one last push for the drivers’ Hypercar world title against teammates and current points leaders Kamui Kobayashi-Mike Conway-Jose Maria Lopez in Toyota Gazoo’s #7 Hypercar.

Buemi-Nakajima-Harltey had the best lap time of one minute 48.490 seconds with 40 laps completed after 90 minutes under BIC’s bright state-of-the-art floodlights. They were 0.408 seconds quicker than Kobayashi-Conway-Lopez, who is currently ahead in the drivers’ title standings by just 15 points.

Alpine Elf Matmut followed in third, both overall and in the Hypercar class, with a best lap of 1:49.479 for the trio of Matthieu Vaxiviere-Andre Negrao-Nicolas Lapierre in their Alpine A480-Gibson. Setting the pace amongst the Le Mans Prototype (LMP) 2 contenders were the Realteam Racing #70 crew of Norman Nato-Loic Duval-Esteban Garcia.

In the Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance (LMGTE) Pro category, Kevin Estre-Neel Jani-Michael Christensen of Porsche GT Team drove their #92 911 RSR-19 to the fastest lap of 1:57.657 for first place. In the LMGTE Am class, Aston Martin Racing’s Paul Dalla Lana-Augusto Farfus-Marcos Gomes took the top spot in their #98 Vantage AMR with a best lap of 1:58.093.

The WEC field is back in action on Friday for a second 90-minute Free Practice, which will be followed by a 60-minute third session starting at 1.20 pm.

Morris Schuring was fastest today in both Free Practice sessions of the season-opening round in the 2021/2022 Porsche Sprint Challenge Middle East, taking place this weekend supporting the FIA WEC Bapco 8 Hours of Bahrain.