Bahrain WEC: Lopez tops FP2 by over a second

The Argentinian posted a 1m42.857s lap to outpace teammate Kazuki Nakajima's 1m44.004s in the sister #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid.

The gap of just over a second was more than double the 0.54s performance advantage held by the #7 car Lopez shares with Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway under the success handicap system.

The two Toyotas put in their quick laps right at the start of the 90-minute Friday morning session: Lopez recorded his time on his first flying lap and Nakajima on his fourth.

Racing Team Nederland headed the LMP2 times in the second of the trio of free practice sessions ahead of qualifying on Friday evening.

Nyck de Vries recorded a 1m49.601s right at the start of the session in the team's TDS Racing-run Oreca 07 to end up more than a second and a half quicker than the Signatech Alpine Oreca.

A 1m50.302s from Pierre Ragues put Signatech Alpine a tenth ahead of United Autosports driver Phil Hanson's 1m50.407s.

Will Stevens took fourth in class with a 1m50.854s aboard the JOTA Sport-run Jackie Chan DC racing Oreca.

Ferrari jumped to the front of the GTE Pro order after bringing up the rear in the first period of free practice on Thursday.

Miguel Molina topped the class times with a 1m57.193s in the #71 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, which put him just over two tenths up on Porsche driver Gianmaria Bruni on a 1m57.442s.

The second Ferrari was a further four tenths back in Daniel Serra's hands with a 1m57.801s.

Aston Martin, which was quickest in class on Thursday, took fourth with a 1m57.900s from COVID-stricken Alex Lynn's stand-in Richard Westbrook in the best of its Vantage GTEs.

The second Porsche 911 RSR took fifth in Kevin Estre's hands ahead of Nicki Thiim's #95 Aston.

GTE Am was led by the Dempsey Proton Porsche in which series debutante Jaxon Evans posted a 1m57.773s. The fastest of the Project 1 Porsche 911 RSRs was second with a 1m58.889s from Jeroen Bleekemolen.

FP2 results:

Cla	#	Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Time	Gap
1	7	Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi Jose Maria Lopez	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	40	1'42.857
2	8	Sébastien Buemi Kazuki Nakajima Brendon Hartley	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	34	1'44.004	1.147
3	29	Frits van Eerd Giedo van der Garde Nyck de Vries	Oreca 07	LMP2	38	1'48.601	5.744
4	36	Thomas Laurent Andre Negrao Pierre Ragues	Alpine A470	LMP2	41	1'50.302	7.445
5	22	Philip Hanson Filipe Albuquerque Paul di Resta	Oreca 07	LMP2	30	1'50.407	7.550
6	37	Ho-Pin Tung Gabriel Aubry Will Stevens	Oreca 07	LMP2	41	1'50.854	7.997
7	38	Roberto Gonzalez Antonio Felix da Costa Anthony Davidson	Oreca 07	LMP2	41	1'51.153	8.296
8	47	Roberto Lacorte Andrea Belicchi Giorgio Sernagiotto	Dallara P217	LMP2	31	1'51.688	8.831
9	71	Davide Rigon Miguel Molina	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	34	1'57.193	14.336
10	91	Gianmaria Bruni Richard Lietz	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	35	1'57.422	14.565
11	88	Khaled Al Qubaisi Jaxon Evans Marco Holzer	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	40	1'57.773	14.916
12	51	James Calado Daniel Serra	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	36	1'57.801	14.944
13	57	Ben Keating Dylan Pereira Jeroen Bleekemolen	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	37	1'57.889	15.032
14	97	Richard Westbrook Maxime Martin	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE PRO	40	1'57.900	15.043
15	92	Michael Christensen Kevin Estre	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	36	1'58.030	15.173
16	56	Egidio Perfetti Larry ten Voorde Jörg Bergmeister	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	36	1'58.205	15.348
17	54	Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Giancarlo Fisichella	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	35	1'58.475	15.618
18	95	Marco Sorensen Nicki Thiim	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE PRO	37	1'59.070	16.213
19	62	Bonamy Grimes Kei Cozzolino Colin Noble Jr.	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	38	1'59.095	16.238
20	77	Christian Ried Riccardo Pera Dennis Olsen	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	32	1'59.408	16.551
21	98	Paul Dalla Lana Richard Westbrook Ross Gunn	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	40	1'59.504	16.647
22	86	Michael Wainwright Alessio Picariello Benjamin Barker	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	31	1'59.689	16.832
23	90	Salih Yoluc Charles Eastwood Jonathan Adam	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	38	1'59.696	16.839
24	83	François Perrodo Emmanuel Collard Nicklas Nielsen	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	35	2'00.418	17.561
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