Bahrain – Free Practice 1: Ginetta Clearly Ahead

A calmer session than ever. Under the blazing sun of Sakhir, only a quick full course yellow disrupted the first free practice session.

Under perfect conditions, most teams set their best lap in the first half-hour. In LMP1, Toyota struck first by placing its two cars at the top. Then the Ginetta #5 from Team LNT clocked an impressive time of 1:44.791, 2.655 seconds better than the Japanese car. The time wasn’t improved thereafter, even though Rebellion interspersed into second position with 1:46.976. LNT thus confirms its very good tests in Shanghai, admittedly helped by the success handicap.

On this subject, it seems that the gap has narrowed between Rebellion and Toyota. They are separated by about five-tenths, compared to 1.3 seconds in the free practice 1 at Shanghai, a circuit where lap times were close.

LMP2

United Autosport dominated the session with a time of 1:48.273, just ahead of Cool Racing. For its debut in WEC this season, G-Drive Racing is currently lagging behind, eighth at more than two seconds off the pace.

GTE-Pro

Porsche crushed the competition with more than a second margin in the first part of the session, before the Ferrari #71 of Davide Rigon and Miguel Molina closed in to less than a tenth. Aston Martin, on the other hand, finished really behind, a second and a half off.

GTE-Am

The TF Sport Aston Martin continues to impress by dominating the session, just a few hundredths ahead of the Dempsey-Proton Racing’s #88 Porsche. In sixth place, the French duo Emmanuel Collard and François Perrodo (2nd in the championship) are less than a second behind with their Ferrari.