WEC Bahrain: Di Resta tops times for Peugeot, Porsche heads GTE Pro

In much cooler conditions than those from opening practice in the afternoon, di Resta was able to lower team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne’s FP1 benchmark by nearly a second to 1m49.613s in the final 90-minute session of the day.

The laptime, set just before the half-an-hour mark in the 90-minute session, put the #93 Peugeot 9X8 that di Resta shares with Vergne and Mikkel Jensen 0.045s clear of early pacesetter Brendon Hartley in the title-contending #8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID.

Matthieu Vaxiviere ensured all three Hypercar teams finished inside the top-three as he lapped the #36 Alpine A480-Gibson in 1m49.690s, just 0.077s down on the chart-topping Peugeot.

Alpine and the #8 Toyota crews are level on points going to 8 Hour race, with the #7 Toyota that finished fourth in second practice with Mike Conway at the wheel having an outside chance at defending its 2021 title.

The second Peugeot entry propped up the five-car Hypercar field with Loic Duval setting an unrepresentative 1m52.147s lap that was only good enough for eighth in the overall order.

The LMP2 division was again led by the Pro/Am AF Corse squad, with factory Ferrari driver Alessio Rovera taking the top spot with a best effort of 1m51.787s.

His time was two tenths quicker than his nearest rival Filipe Albuquerque in the #22 United Autosports ORECA and nearly half a second up on what team-mate Nicklas Nielsen had managed in FP1.

Robin Frijns put the #31 WRT ORECA third ahead of the second United Autosports entry, the #23 car driven by Alex Lynn, while InterEuropol Competition finished fifth in class thanks to a time of 1m52.279s by Alex Brundle.

The championship-leading #38 Jota entry was classified 11th out of 14th LMP2 entries, with Will Stevens setting the crew’s quickest lap, a 1m53.178s.

#31 WRT Oreca 07 - Gibson LMP2: Sean Gelael, Robin Frijns, Rene Rast

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

The GTE Pro field was again led by Porsche thanks to a rapid 1m57.192s effort from Michael Christensen in the #92 911 RSR-19 at the beginning of the session.

James Calado was the only driver to lap within a second of Christensen’s time as he ended up a distant second in the #51 Ferrari, with Miguel Molina not too far behind him in the sister #52 488 GTE in third.

The #51 Ferrari carries an 11-point lead over the #92 Porsche into the last-ever race for the GTE Pro category that has been a staple of the WEC since its rebirth in 2012.

The #91 Porsche finished fourth with Richard Lietz at the wheel, while Nick Tandy’s early stint only yielded a time of 1m58.826s as Corvette was the slowest GTE Pro manufacturer for the second session in a row.

Porsche teams locked out the top three spots in GTE Am, with Matteo Cairoli quickest of all in the #46 Project 1 car ahead of the two Dempsey Proton entries driven by Harry Tincknell and Jan Heylen.

The full-course yellow was deployed twice during the first half of practice, but the session went back to green at relatively quick speed on each occasion.

WEC Bahrain FP2 results:

Cla	Drivers	Car	Class	Time	Gap
1	Paul di Resta Mikkel Jensen Jean-Eric Vergne	Peugeot 9X8	HYPERCAR	1'49.613
2	Sébastien Buemi Brendon Hartley Ryo Hirakawa	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	HYPERCAR	1'49.658	0.045
3	Andre Negrao Nicolas Lapierre Matthieu Vaxiviere	Alpine A480	HYPERCAR	1'49.690	0.077
4	Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi Jose Maria Lopez	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	HYPERCAR	1'49.773	0.160
5	François Perrodo Nicklas Nielsen Alessio Rovera	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'51.787	2.174
6	Philip Hanson Filipe Albuquerque Will Owen	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'51.993	2.380
7	Sean Gelael Robin Frijns René Rast	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'52.107	2.494
8	Loic Duval Gustavo Menezes Nico Müller	Peugeot 9X8	HYPERCAR	1'52.147	2.534
9	Alex Lynn Oliver Jarvis Josh Pierson	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'52.159	2.546
10	Jakub Smiechowski Alex Brundle Esteban Gutierrez	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'52.279	2.666
11	Oliver Rasmussen Ed Jones Jonathan Aberdein	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'52.379	2.766
12	Lilou Wadoux Paul-Loup Chatin Charles Milesi	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'52.435	2.822
13	Robert Kubica Louis Deletraz Lorenzo Colombo	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'52.760	3.147
14	Rui Andrade Ferdinand Habsburg Norman Nato	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'52.796	3.183
15	Thomas Steven James Allen Rene Binder	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'52.881	3.268
16	Roberto Gonzalez Antonio Felix da Costa Will Stevens	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'53.178	3.565
17	Renger van der Zande Ryan Cullen Sébastien Bourdais	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'53.379	3.766
18	Miro Konopka Mathias Beche Richard Bradley	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'53.626	4.013
19	Jean Baptiste Lahaye Matthieu Lahaye François Heriau	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'55.056	5.443
20	Michael Christensen Kevin Estre	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	1'57.192	7.579
21	Alessandro Pier Guidi James Calado	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	1'57.995	8.382
22	Miguel Molina Antonio Fuoco	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	1'58.391	8.778
23	Gianmaria Bruni Richard Lietz	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	1'58.514	8.901
24	Tommy Milner Nick Tandy	Chevrolet Corvette C8.R	LMGTE PRO	1'58.826	9.213
25	Matteo Cairoli Mikkel Pedersen Nicolas Leutwiler	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	1'59.717	10.104
26	Christian Ried Sebastian Priaulx Harry Tincknell	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	1'59.859	10.246
27	Fred Poordad Patrick Lindsey Jan Heylen	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	2'00.019	10.406
28	Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Nick Cassidy	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	2'00.224	10.611
29	Simon Mann Christoph Ulrich Toni Vilander	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	2'00.764	11.151
30	Claudio Schiavoni Matteo Cressoni Giancarlo Fisichella	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	2'00.792	11.179
31	Paul Dalla Lana David Pittard Nicki Thiim	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	2'01.073	11.460
32	Ben Keating Henrique Chaves Jr. Marco Sorensen	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	2'01.074	11.461
33	Michael Wainwright Riccardo Pera Benjamin Barker	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	2'01.216	11.603
34	PJ Hyett Gunnar Jeannette Ben Barnicoat	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	2'01.217	11.604
35	Satoshi Hoshino Tomonobu Fujii Charlie Fagg	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	2'01.535	11.922
36	Franck Dezoteux Pierre Ragues Gabriel Aubry	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	2'01.609	11.996
37	Rahel Frey Michelle Gatting Sarah Bovy	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	2'01.707	12.094
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