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Edition

Australia
Practice report

Bahrain 8h WEC: Hartley keeps #8 Toyota ahead in final practice

Brendon Hartley got the better of Kamui Kobayashi as Toyota undertook qualification simulations in final practice for this weekend's FIA Bahrain World Endurance Championship finale.

#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 - Hybrid: Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima, Brendon Hartley

#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 - Hybrid: Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima, Brendon Hartley

JEP / Motorsport Images

Hartley outpaced Kobayashi by four tenths when the Toyota GR010 Hybrids went out on new Michelin tyres right at the start of the one-hour Free Practice 3 session. 

The New Zealander knocked six tenths off his first time on his second flying lap in the #7 Toyota to end up on a 1m48.346s. Kobayashi set an unrepresentative time on his first flier, before posting a 1m48.777s aboard the #8 car.

The Alpine A480-Gibson, the only other car in the Hypercar class, trailed the Toyotas and the fastest two LMP2 cars in fifth overall. 

Andre Negrao set a 1m51.794s shortly before the session was red-flagged while a corner bollard was replaced at Turn 9.

Antonio Felix da Costa and Filipe Albuquerque both went faster than the Alpine grandfathered LMP1 car in their Oreca 07-Gibson LMP2 cars.

Da Costa's 1m51.188s in the best of the JOTA team's two entries gave him a three tenth margin over the 1m51.524s from Albuquerque in the United Autosports car. 

A 1m52.059s lap gave Tom Blomqvist third in class in the second JOTA entry, while Sophia Floersch was fourth in the Signatech-run Richard Mille Racing Oreca with a time of 1m52.681s.

Fastest in the Pro/Am P2 subclass was Realteam Racing's Norman Nato with a 1m52.758s.

Kevin Estre was fastest in GTE Pro for Porsche with a 1m56.590s, which gave him a one tenth margin over Gianmaria Bruni in the other Porsche 911 RSR-19.

The Ferraris, which has received a new Balance of Performance for this weekend's eight-hour race, took third and fourth positions. 

James Calado took third in the first of the AF Corse-run 488 GTE Evos with a 1m58.411s, while Daniel Serra was a tenth further back in fourth on 1m58.519s.

Matteo Cairoli was quickest in GTE Am for the Project 1 Porsche squad after leapfrogging AF Corse Ferrari driver Nicklas Nielsen.

The session was extended as a result of the red flag, which lasted approximately nine minutes. 

Qualifying for the Bahrain 8 Hours begins at 5:20pm local time on Friday.

FP3 results:

Cla # Drivers Car Class Time Gap
1 8 Switzerland Sébastien Buemi
Japan Kazuki Nakajima
New Zealand Brendon Hartley
Toyota GR010 - Hybrid HYPERCAR 1'48.346
2 7 United Kingdom Mike Conway
Japan Kamui Kobayashi
Argentina Jose Maria Lopez
Toyota GR010 - Hybrid HYPERCAR 1'48.777 0.431
3 38 Mexico Roberto Gonzalez
Portugal Antonio Felix da Costa
United Kingdom Anthony Davidson
Oreca 07 LMP2 1'51.188 2.842
4 22 United Kingdom Philip Hanson
Switzerland Fabio Scherer
Portugal Filipe Albuquerque
Oreca 07 LMP2 1'51.524 3.178
5 36 Brazil Andre Negrao
France Nicolas Lapierre
France Matthieu Vaxiviere
Alpine A480 HYPERCAR 1'51.794 3.448
6 28 Indonesia Sean Gelael
Belgium Stoffel Vandoorne
United Kingdom Tom Blomqvist
Oreca 07 LMP2 1'52.059 3.713
7 1 Colombia Tatiana Calderon
Germany Sophia Flörsch
Netherlands Beitske Visser
Oreca 07 LMP2 1'52.681 4.335
8 70 Switzerland Esteban Garcia
France Loic Duval
France Norman Nato
Oreca 07 LMP2 1'52.758 4.412
9 20 Denmark Dennis Andersen
Denmark Anders Fjordbach
Poland Robert Kubica
Oreca 07 LMP2 1'52.825 4.479
10 29 Netherlands Frits van Eerd
Netherlands Giedo van der Garde
Netherlands Job Van Uitert
Oreca 07 LMP2 1'53.008 4.662
11 31 Netherlands Robin Frijns
Austria Ferdinand Habsburg
France Charles Milesi
Oreca 07 LMP2 1'53.181 4.835
12 21 Sweden Henrik Hedman
Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya
United Kingdom Ben Hanley
Oreca 07 LMP2 1'53.833 5.487
13 34 Poland Jakub Smiechowski
Netherlands Renger van der Zande
United Kingdom Alex Brundle
Oreca 07 LMP2 1'55.799 7.453
14 92 France Kevin Estre
Switzerland Neel Jani
Denmark Michael Christensen
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE PRO 1'56.590 8.244
15 44 Slovakia Miro Konopka
United Kingdom Olli Caldwell
France Nelson Panciatici
Oreca 07 LMP2 1'56.703 8.357
16 91 Italy Gianmaria Bruni
Austria Richard Lietz
France Frédéric Makowiecki
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE PRO 1'57.406 9.060
17 51 Italy Alessandro Pier Guidi
United Kingdom James Calado
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE PRO 1'58.411 10.065
18 52 Brazil Daniel Serra
Spain Miguel Molina
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE PRO 1'58.519 10.173
19 56 Norway Egidio Perfetti
Italy Matteo Cairoli
Italy Riccardo Pera
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 1'58.696 10.350
20 83 France François Perrodo
Denmark Nicklas Nielsen
Italy Alessio Rovera
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 1'58.803 10.457
21 47 Italy Roberto Lacorte
Italy Giorgio Sernagiotto
Italy Antonio Fuoco
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 1'58.926 10.580
22 86 United Kingdom Michael Wainwright
United Kingdom Benjamin Barker
United Kingdom Tom Gamble
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 1'59.022 10.676
23 77 Germany Christian Ried
Australia Jaxon Evans
Australia Matt Campbell
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 1'59.061 10.715
24 88 United Arab Emirates Khaled Al Qubaisi
Zimbabwe Axcil Jefferies
France Julien Andlauer
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 LMGTE AM 1'59.355 11.009
25 85 Switzerland Rahel Frey
Belgium Sarah Bovy
United Kingdom Katherine Legge
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 1'59.634 11.288
26 98 Canada Paul Dalla Lana
Brazil Augusto Farfus
Brazil Marcos Gomes
Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM 1'59.681 11.335
27 33 United States Ben Keating
Luxembourg Dylan Pereira
Brazil Felipe Fraga
Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM 1'59.730 11.384
28 777 Japan Satoshi Hoshino
Japan Tomonobu Fujii
United Kingdom Andrew Watson
Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGTE AM 1'59.949 11.603
29 54 Switzerland Thomas Flohr
Italy Francesco Castellacci
Italy Giancarlo Fisichella
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 2'00.089 11.743
30 57 Japan Takeshi Kimura
Denmark Mikkel Jensen
Australia Scott Andrews
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM 2'00.805 12.459
31 60 Italy Claudio Schiavoni
Italy Andrea Piccini
Italy Matteo Cressoni
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE AM

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Edition

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