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WEC Bahrain: Toyota leads Porsche in both free practice sessions

Toyota outpaced Porsche across the first two sessions of free practice for this weekend's World Endurance Championship finale in Bahrain

The Japanese manufacturer, which won last time out at Shanghai earlier this month, finished one-two in both the 90-minute sessions, with the two TS050 HYBRIDs each topping a session.

Mike Conway led the way in FP1 with a 1m42.313s in the #7 car, before Kazuki Nakajima set the fastest time of the day right at the start of night practice on a 1m40.095s aboard the #8 Toyota.

Jose Maria Lopez was half a second behind in the #7 car in FP2 on a 1m40.693s.

The two Porsche 919 Hybrids ended up respectively six and seven tenths back from Nakajima in the much faster night session.

Brendon Hartley took third position in the #2 car on a 1m40.773s, while Nick Tandy was less than a tenth in arrears on a 1m40.855s.

Bruno Senna was six tenths clear of Rebellion team-mate Nelson Piquet Jr at the top of the LMP2 ranking in FP2.

Senna led the way in the class from the beginning of the session, ending up on a 1m47.664s aboard the ORECA-Gibson 07 in which he leads the LMP2 points together with Julien Canal.

That compared with a 1m48.283s set by Piquet, who had been fastest in class at the end of FP1.

Third place was taken by Thomas Laurent, who lies second in the points together with his Jackie Chan DC Racing team-mates Oliver Jarvis and Ho-Pin Tung.

His time of 1m40.022s put him just seventh hundredths up Andre Negrao, whose team-mate Gustavo Menezes remains an outside contender for LMP2 title honours in the Signatech Alpine ORECA.

In GTE Pro, the Aston Martin Vantage GTE led the way ahead of its final outing before the arrival of an all-new car for the 2018/19 WEC superseason.

Jonny Adam set the pace with a 1m57.014s, which was four tenths quicker than Marco Sorensen could manage in the sister car.

Davide Rigon and James Calado were third and fourth in the two AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTEs in the night session, after Alessandro Pier Guidi, who leads the GT drivers' world championship with the Briton, went fastest in FP1.

The Ganassi Ford GT in which Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell lie third in the points ended up fifth in the day's times.

The car triggered a red flag in FP1 after a major oil leak, causing a 30-minute delay in the session.

Richard Lietz and Frederic Makowiecki, who lie two points behind Calado and Pier Guidi in the standings, were only seventh fastest in class.

GTE Am was led by Matt Griffin in the Clearwater Ferrari 488 GTE.

FP1 results

Pos Class Driver Team Car Time Gap Laps
1 LMP1 M.Conway, K.Kobayashi, J.M.Lopez Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota 1m42.313s - 37
2 LMP1 S.Buemi, A.Davidson, K.Nakajima Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota 1m42.512s 0.199s 34
3 LMP1 N.Jani, A.Lotterer, N.Tandy Porsche LMP Team Porsche 1m42.647s 0.334s 22
4 LMP1 T.Bernhard, E.Bamber, B.Hartley Porsche LMP Team Porsche 1m42.813s 0.500s 31
5 LMP2 M.Beche, D.H.Hansson, N.Piquet Jr. Vaillante Rebellion ORECA/Gibson 1m48.707s 6.394s 30
6 LMP2 R.Rusinov, L.Roussel, L.Duval G-Drive Racing ORECA/Gibson 1m48.729s 6.416s 23
7 LMP2 D.Cheng, A.Brundle, T.Gommendy Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA/Gibson 1m49.083s 6.770s 20
8 LMP2 N.Lapierre, G.Menezes, A.Negrao Signatech Alpine Matmut Alpine/Gibson 1m49.107s 6.794s 26
9 LMP2 M.Rao, B.Hanley, J-E.Vergne CEFC Manor TRS Racing ORECA/Gibson 1m49.272s 6.959s 27
10 LMP2 F.Perrodo, M.Vaxiviere, E.Collard TDS Racing ORECA/Gibson 1m49.730s 7.417s 35
11 LMP2 H-Pin Tung, O.Jarvis, T.Laurent Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA/Gibson 1m49.854s 7.541s 33
12 LMP2 R.Gonzalez, S.Trummer, V.Petrov CEFC Manor TRS Racing ORECA/Gibson 1m50.041s 7.728s 32
13 LMP2 J.Canal, N.Prost, B.Senna Vaillante Rebellion ORECA/Gibson 1m50.467s 8.154s 30
14 GTE Pro J.Calado, A.P.Guidi AF Corse Ferrari 1m58.579s 16.266s 35
15 GTE Pro D.Turner, J.Adam Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 1m58.901s 16.588s 31
16 GTE Pro A.Priaulx, H.Tincknell Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK Ford 1m59.413s 17.100s 15
17 GTE Pro S.Mucke, O.Pla Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK Ford 1m59.457s 17.144s 32
18 GTE Pro R.Lietz, F.Makowiecki Porsche GT Team Porsche 1m59.510s 17.197s 23
19 GTE Pro M.Christensen, K.Estre Porsche GT Team Porsche 1m59.657s 17.344s 30
20 GTE Pro N.Thiim, M.Sorensen Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 2m00.006s 17.693s 25
21 GTE Am C.Ried, M.Cairoli, M.Dienst Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 2m00.428s 18.115s 31
22 GTE Pro D.Rigon, S.Bird AF Corse Ferrari 2m00.473s 18.160s 31
23 GTE Am P.D.Lana, P.Lamy, M.Lauda Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 2m00.553s 18.240s 34
24 GTE Am M.Wainwright, B.Barker, N.Foster Gulf Racing Porsche 2m00.947s 18.634s 33
25 GTE Am Mok W.S., K.Sawa, M.Griffin Clearwater Racing Ferrari 2m01.572s 19.259s 35
26 GTE Am T.Flohr, F.Castellacci, M.Molina Spirit of Race Ferrari 2m01.680s 19.367s 36

FP2 times

Pos Class Driver Team Car Time Gap Laps
1 LMP1 S.Buemi, A.Davidson, K.Nakajima Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota 1m40.095s - 44
2 LMP1 M.Conway, K.Kobayashi, J.M.Lopez Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota 1m40.693s 0.598s 43
3 LMP1 T.Bernhard, E.Bamber, B.Hartley Porsche LMP Team Porsche 1m40.773s 0.678s 41
4 LMP1 N.Jani, A.Lotterer, N.Tandy Porsche LMP Team Porsche 1m40.855s 0.760s 43
5 LMP2 J.Canal, N.Prost, B.Senna Vaillante Rebellion ORECA/Gibson 1m47.664s 7.569s 38
6 LMP2 M.Beche, D.H.Hansson, N.Piquet Jr. Vaillante Rebellion ORECA/Gibson 1m48.238s 8.143s 37
7 LMP2 H-Pin Tung, O.Jarvis, T.Laurent Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA/Gibson 1m49.022s 8.927s 36
8 LMP2 N.Lapierre, G.Menezes, A.Negrao Signatech Alpine Matmut Alpine/Gibson 1m49.029s 8.934s 32
9 LMP2 R.Rusinov, L.Roussel, L.Duval G-Drive Racing ORECA/Gibson 1m49.083s 8.988s 37
10 LMP2 F.Perrodo, M.Vaxiviere, E.Collard TDS Racing ORECA/Gibson 1m49.114s 9.019s 40
11 LMP2 R.Gonzalez, S.Trummer, V.Petrov CEFC Manor TRS Racing ORECA/Gibson 1m49.747s 9.652s 41
12 LMP2 D.Cheng, A.Brundle, T.Gommendy Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA/Gibson 1m49.778s 9.683s 38
13 LMP2 M.Rao, B.Hanley, J-E.Vergne CEFC Manor TRS Racing ORECA/Gibson 1m51.386s 11.291s 37
14 GTE Pro D.Turner, J.Adam Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 1m57.014s 16.919s 42
15 GTE Pro N.Thiim, M.Sorensen Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 1m57.419s 17.324s 39
16 GTE Pro D.Rigon, S.Bird AF Corse Ferrari 1m57.925s 17.830s 37
17 GTE Pro J.Calado, A.P.Guidi AF Corse Ferrari 1m58.356s 18.261s 39
18 GTE Pro A.Priaulx, H.Tincknell Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK Ford 1m58.812s 18.717s 44
19 GTE Pro M.Christensen, K.Estre Porsche GT Team Porsche 1m58.871s 18.776s 41
20 GTE Pro R.Lietz, F.Makowiecki Porsche GT Team Porsche 1m59.148s 19.053s 36
21 GTE Pro S.Mucke, O.Pla Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK Ford 1m59.192s 19.097s 43
22 GTE Am Mok W.S., K.Sawa, M.Griffin Clearwater Racing Ferrari 1m59.773s 19.678s 38
23 GTE Am T.Flohr, F.Castellacci, M.Molina Spirit of Race Ferrari 2m00.205s 20.110s 40
24 GTE Am P.D.Lana, P.Lamy, M.Lauda Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 2m00.525s 20.430s 40
25 GTE Am M.Wainwright, B.Barker, N.Foster Gulf Racing Porsche 2m00.616s 20.521s 38
26 GTE Am C.Ried, M.Cairoli, M.Dienst Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 2m00.621s 20.526s 38

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