Bahrain WEC: Hartley tops final practice from Conway
The two Toyotas were separated by one tenth in final practice for the last round of the 2019/20 World Endurance Championship in Bahrain on Saturday
Brendon Hartley topped the times aboard the #8 Toyota TS050 HYBRID in the opening minutes of the 60-minute session with a 1m43.557s.
The #7 entry with Mike Conway at the wheel was held in the pits for five minutes for a yellow-flag infringement in FP2 and then posted 1m43.659s, just 0.102s slower than the sister car.
It was the second time in the three sessions of practice that the #8 Toyota had set the pace, despite carrying a 0.54s performance penalty under the LMP1 success handicap system.
Kazuki Nakajima had a brief spin in the #8 Toyota during the session.
Jackie Chan DC Racing led the way in LMP2 courtesy of a 1m48.598s from Will Stevens in the team's ORECA-Gibson 07.
That put the Jota-run entry a couple of tenths up on the United Autosports ORECA in which Phil Hanson got down to a 1m48.810s.
The Signatech Alpine ORECA took third in the class times with Thomas Laurent, who posted a 1m49.134s.
Antonio Felix da Costa ended up fourth in the ORECA run under the Jota Sport banner with a 1m49.767s.
Porsche led the way in GTE Pro for the first time of the Bahrain meeting.
Michael Christensen ended up fastest in the best of the factory Porsche 911 RSRs with a 1m56.790s lap set early in the session.
That put the Dane nearly a second up on the second-placed Aston Martin Vantage GTE in which Nicki Thiim managed 1m57.709s.
James Calado was third fastest for Ferrari to make it three manufacturers in the top three. The Brit set a 1m57.964s in the best of the AF Corse-run Ferrari 488 GTE Evos.
A 1m58.321s put Maxime Martin fourth in the second Aston.
The GTE Am division was led by the Aston Martin Racing entry in which Ross Gunn posted a 1m57.947s, with Nicklas Nielsen second in class in the #83 AF-run Ferrari.
Qualifying for the eighth round of the 2019/20 WEC campaign begins at 6:00pm local time.
WEC Bahrain - FP3 results
| Pos | Class | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LMP1 | S.Buemi, K.Nakajima, B.Hartley | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 1m43.557s |
| 2 | LMP1 | M.Conway, K.Kobayashi, J.M.Lopez | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 0.102s |
| 3 | LMP2 | H-Pin Tung, G.Aubry, W.Stevens | Jackie Chan DC Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 5.041s |
| 4 | LMP2 | P.Hanson, F.Albuquerque, P.Di Resta | United Autosports | ORECA/Gibson | 5.253s |
| 5 | LMP2 | T.Laurent, A.Negrao, P.Ragues | Signatech Alpine Elf | Alpine/Gibson | 5.577s |
| 6 | LMP2 | R.Gonzalez, A.F.da Costa, A.Davidson | JOTA | ORECA/Gibson | 6.210s |
| 7 | LMP2 | R.Lacorte, A.Belicchi, G.Sernagiotto | Cetilar Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 7.651s |
| 8 | LMP2 | F.van Eerd, G.van der Garde, N.de Vries | Racing Team Nederland | ORECA/Gibson | 7.779s |
| 9 | GTE Pro | M.Christensen, K.Estre | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 13.233s |
| 10 | GTE Pro | M.Sorensen, N.Thiim | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 14.152s |
| 11 | GTE Am | P.D.Lana, P.Lamy, R.Gunn | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 14.390s |
| 12 | GTE Pro | J.Calado, D.Serra | AF Corse | Dallara/Gibson | 14.407s |
| 13 | GTE Pro | R.Westbrook, M.Martin | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 14.764s |
| 14 | GTE Am | F.Perrodo, E.Collard, N.Nielsen | AF Corse | Ferrari | 14.953s |
| 15 | GTE Pro | D.Rigon, M.Molina | AF Corse | Ferrari | 14.957s |
| 16 | GTE Pro | G.Bruni, R.Lietz | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 14.995s |
| 17 | GTE Am | C.Ried, R.Pera, D.Olsen | Dempsey-Proton Racing | Porsche | 15.455s |
| 18 | GTE Am | M.Wainwright, A.Picariello, B.Barker | Gulf Racing | Porsche | 15.470s |
| 19 | GTE Am | E.Perfetti, L.ten Voorde, J.Bergmeister | Team Project 1 | Porsche | 15.497s |
| 20 | GTE Am | B.Keating, D.Pereira, J.Bleekemolen | Team Project 1 | Porsche | 15.651s |
| 21 | GTE Am | S.Yoluc, C.Eastwood, J.Adam | TF Sport | Aston Martin | 16.251s |
| 22 | GTE Am | K.Al Qubaisi, J.Evans, M.Holzer | Dempsey-Proton Racing | Porsche | 16.377s |
| 23 | GTE Am | B.Grimes, K.Cozzolino, C.Noble | Red River Sport | Ferrari | 16.490s |
| 24 | GTE Am | T.Flohr, F.Castellacci, G.Fisichella | AF Corse | Ferrari | 16.638s |
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