Bahrain WEC: Audi leads night practice session with Marcel Fassler
Audi led the way in second free practice for the Bahrain World Endurance Championship finale by over a second with a time from Marcel Fassler
The Swiss set a best lap of 1m42.133s over the course of the 90-minute night session, which put him 1.1s up on the 1m43.291s from team-mate Loic Duval in the second of the two Audi R18 e-tron quattros.
Fassler's night session best compared with the 1m42.800s set by Porsche driver Timo Bernhard in the opening practice period held in daylight.
The best of the Porsche 919 Hybrids ended up a tenth further back in third place with a 1m43.360s from Brendon Hartley, while team-mate Neel Jani was fourth.
The two Toyota TS040 HYBRIDs took their customary fifth and sixth positions, though Alex Wurz's best lap of 1m43.931s in the session brought the Japanese manufacturer within two seconds of the pace.
Pipo Derani was quickest in LMP2 with a 1m50.029s aboard the second of the two G-Drive Ligier-Nissan JSP2s.
The Brazilian ended the session seven tenths ahead of the second-place KCMG ORECA-Nissan 05 driven by Nick Tandy.
The two AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italias again blocked out the top two positions in GTE Pro.
Toni Vilander was again quickest, his 1m59.029s edging out James Calado by less than a tenth.
The AF-run SMP Racing Ferrari was fastest in GTE Am in the hands of Andrea Bertolini.
PRACTICE TWO TIMES:
| Pos | Class | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LMP1 | M.Fassler, A.Lotterer, B.Treluyer | Audi Sport Team Joest | Audi | 1m42.133s | - |
| 2 | LMP1 | L.di Grassi, L.Duval, O.Jarvis | Audi Sport Team Joest | Audi | 1m43.291s | 1.158s |
| 3 | LMP1 | T.Bernhard, M.Webber, B.Hartley | Porsche Team | Porsche | 1m43.360s | 1.227s |
| 4 | LMP1 | R.Dumas, N.Jani, M.Lieb | Porsche Team | Porsche | 1m43.529s | 1.396s |
| 5 | LMP1 | A.Wurz, S.Sarrazin, M.Conway | Toyota Racing | Toyota | 1m43.931s | 1.798s |
| 6 | LMP1 | A.Davidson, S.Buemi, K.Nakajima | Toyota Racing | Toyota | 1m44.288s | 2.155s |
| 7 | LMP1 | N.Prost, M.Beche | Rebellion Racing | Rebellion/AER | 1m48.385s | 6.252s |
| 8 | LMP1 | S.Trummer, P.Kaffer | Team ByKolles | CLM/AER | 1m49.200s | 7.067s |
| 9 | LMP1 | A.Imperatori, D.Kraihamer, M.Tuscher | Rebellion Racing | Rebellion/AER | 1m49.685s | 7.552s |
| 10 | LMP2 | G.Yacaman, P.Derani, R.Gonzalez | G-Drive Racing | Ligier/Nissan | 1m50.029s | 7.896s |
| 11 | LMP2 | M.Howson, R.Bradley, N.Tandy | KCMG | ORECA/Nissan | 1m50.774s | 8.641s |
| 12 | LMP2 | N.Panciatici, P-L.Chatin, T.Dillmann | Signatech Alpine | Alpine/Nissan | 1m51.354s | 9.221s |
| 13 | LMP2 | R.Rusinov, J.Canal, S.Bird | G-Drive Racing | Ligier/Nissan | 1m51.546s | 9.413s |
| 14 | LMP2 | P.Ragues, O.Webb, C.Cumming | Team SARD Morand | Morgan/SARD | 1m51.725s | 9.592s |
| 15 | LMP2 | N.Leventis, D.Watts, J.Kane | Strakka Racing | Gibson/Nissan | 1m52.315s | 10.182s |
| 16 | LMP2 | M.Aleshin, N.Minassian, D.Markozov | AF Racing | BR Engineering/Nissan | 1m52.662s | 10.529s |
| 17 | LMP2 | S.Sharp, R.Dalziel, D.H.Hansson | Extreme Speed Motorsports | Ligier/HPD | 1m52.873s | 10.740s |
| 18 | LMP2 | E.Brown, J.van Overbeek, J.Fogarty | Extreme Speed Motorsports | Ligier/HPD | 1m53.510s | 11.377s |
| 19 | GTE Pro | G.Bruni, T.Vilander | AF Corse | Ferrari | 1m59.402s | 17.269s |
| 20 | GTE Pro | D.Rigon, J.Calado | AF Corse | Ferrari | 1m59.486s | 17.353s |
| 21 | GTE Pro | P.Pilet, F.Makowiecki | Porsche Team Manthey | Porsche | 1m59.618s | 17.485s |
| 22 | GTE Pro | C.Nygaard, M.Sorensen, N.Thiim | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 2m00.349s | 18.216s |
| 23 | GTE Pro | A.MacDowall, F.Rees, R.Stanaway | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 2m00.396s | 18.263s |
| 24 | GTE Am | V.Shaytar, A.Bertolini, A.Basov | SMP Racing | Ferrari | 2m00.866s | 18.733s |
| 25 | GTE Am | C.Ried, P.Long, M.Seefried | Dempsey Racing - Proton | Porsche | 2m00.939s | 18.806s |
| 26 | GTE Pro | R.Lietz, M.Christensen | Porsche Team Manthey | Porsche | 2m01.019s | 18.886s |
| 27 | GTE Am | G.Roda, P.Ruberti, K.Poulsen | Larbre Competition | Chevrolet | 2m01.369s | 19.236s |
| 28 | GTE Pro | D.Turner, J.Adam | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 2m01.405s | 19.272s |
| 29 | GTE Am | F.Castellacci, R.Goethe, S.Hall | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 2m02.116s | 19.983s |
| 30 | GTE Am | P.D.Lana, P.Lamy, M.Lauda | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 2m02.672s | 20.539s |
| 31 | GTE Am | M.Mapelli, K.Al Qubaisi, K.Bachler | Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing | Porsche | 2m03.103s | 20.970s |
| 32 | GTE Am | F.Perrodo, E.Collard, M.Cressoni | AF Corse | Ferrari | 2m03.525s | 21.392s |
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