Bahrain WEC: Ginetta tops first practice by two seconds

Ben Hanley put the #5 Ginetta G60-LT-P1 on top early in practice with a time of 1m44.701s, two seconds down on the corresponding session from 2017.

However, with no late improvements late in the session, that time was enough for Hanley, Jordan King and Charlie Robertson to stay quickest, 2.185s ahead of the sole Rebellion R-13 of Bruno Senna, Norman Nato and Gustavo Menezes.

After trailing the Toyotas, Nato moved the Rebellion to second halfway through the session, lapping the circuit in 1m46.976s.

Toyota ended the session as the slowest of the three LMP1 outfits, with the #8 car of Kazuki Nakajima, Brendon Hartley and Sebastien Buemi leading the sister #7 machine of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez.

Buemi's quickest time of 1m47.456s in the #8 TS050 Hybrid was 0.152s quicker than what Conway managed in the #7 car.

The #6 Ginetta, the only LMP1 car to run without a handicap this weekend, sat behind the leading LMP2 cars after completing just six laps early on.

But a late stint by newcomer Chris Dyson moved the car he shares with Guy Smith and Michael Simpson up to fifth overall, 3.2s down on the pace-setting Ginetta.

United Autosports topped the LMP2 times courtesy of a 1m48.273s effort by Paul di Resta in the #22 Oreca 07.

Di Resta ended up marginally quicker than the Cool Racing Oreca of Nicolas Lapierre, while Nyck de Vries, Giedo van der Garde were third-quickest in the #29 Racing Team Nederland Oreca.

G-Drive Racing's one-off entry was more than two seconds off the pace and eighth in class in the hands of Roman Rusinov.

Porsche led a 1-2 in the GTE Pro category, with the #91 car of Richard Lietz and Gianmaria Bruni leading the way for the German manufacturer thanks to Bruni's time of 1m57.388s.

Michael Christensen finished 0.037s down in the #92 911 RSR-19 that leads the championship heading into the 8 Hours of Bahrain.

Ferrari finished as Porsche’s closest rival in FP1, with the #71 488 GTE of Miguel Molina finishing another 0.012s adrift in third ahead of the #51 of James Calado.

The GTE Am category was topped by the championship-leading TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage GTE of Jonathan Adam. 

A full course yellow was briefly deployed with 30 minutes left on the clock when a bollard was knocked off, and required intervention from track marshals.

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Practice results:

Cla	Drivers	Car	Class	Time	Gap
1	Charles Robertson Ben Hanley Jordan King	Ginetta G60-LT-P1	LMP1	1'44.791
2	Bruno Senna Gustavo Menezes Norman Nato	Rebellion R13	LMP1	1'46.976	2.185
3	Sébastien Buemi Kazuki Nakajima Brendon Hartley	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	1'47.456	2.665
4	Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi Jose Maria Lopez	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	1'47.608	2.817
5	Michael Simpson Chris Dyson Guy Smith	Ginetta G60-LT-P1	LMP1	1'48.005	3.214
6	Philip Hanson Filipe Albuquerque Paul di Resta	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'48.273	3.482
7	Nicolas Lapierre Antonin Borga Alexandre Coigny	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'48.295	3.504
8	Frits van Eerd Giedo van der Garde Nyck de Vries	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'48.817	4.026
9	Thomas Laurent Andre Negrao Pierre Ragues	Alpine A470	LMP2	1'48.874	4.083
10	Mark Patterson Kenta Yamashita Anders Fjordbach	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'48.963	4.172
11	Ho-Pin Tung Gabriel Aubry Will Stevens	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'49.172	4.381
12	Roberto Gonzalez Antonio Felix da Costa Anthony Davidson	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'49.377	4.586
13	Roman Rusinov Job Van Uitert Jean-Eric Vergne	Aurus 01	LMP2	1'50.409	5.618
14	Roberto Lacorte Andrea Belicchi Giorgio Sernagiotto	Dallara P217	LMP2	1'50.831	6.040
15	Gianmaria Bruni Richard Lietz	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	1'57.388	12.597
16	Michael Christensen Kevin Estre	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	1'57.425	12.634
17	Davide Rigon Miguel Molina	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	1'57.437	12.646
18	James Calado Alessandro Pier Guidi	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	1'58.406	13.615
19	Salih Yoluc Charles Eastwood Jonathan Adam	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	1'58.803	14.012
20	Khaled Al Qubaisi Adrien de Leener Thomas Preining	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	1'58.825	14.034
21	Alex Lynn Maxime Martin	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE PRO	1'58.904	14.113
22	Ben Keating Larry ten Voorde Jeroen Bleekemolen	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	1'59.387	14.596
23	Marco Sorensen Nicki Thiim	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE PRO	1'59.407	14.616
24	Paul Dalla Lana Darren Turner Ross Gunn	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	1'59.456	14.665
25	François Perrodo Emmanuel Collard Nicklas Nielsen	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'59.539	14.748
26	Christian Ried Riccardo Pera Matt Campbell	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	1'59.652	14.861
27	Bonamy Grimes Johnny Mowlem Charles Hollings	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'59.911	15.120
28	Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Giancarlo Fisichella	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	2'00.095	15.304
29	Egidio Perfetti David Heinemeier Hansson Matteo Cairoli	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	2'00.259	15.468
30	Michael Wainwright Andrew Watson Benjamin Barker	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	2'01.831	17.040
31	Motoaki Ishikawa Olivier Beretta Kei Cozzolino	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	2'02.451	17.660
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