Porsche ended up fastest after the first two sessions of free practice ahead of Saturday’s penultimate round of the World Endurance Championship in Bahrain.
Neel Jani set the fastest lap of the day during the final 90-minute session held under the cover of darkness with a 1m43.375s aboard the #14 Porsche 919 Hybrid. That eclipsed Anthony Davidson’s best of 1m44.233s in the #8 Toyota TS040 HYBRID by more than eight tenths of a second.
Mark Webber was third in the second Porsche a further two tenths back on 1m44.457s. The best Audi, the #1 car in the hands of Lucas di Grassi, was fourth on 1m45.380s.
The top four LMP1 cars which included one from each manufacturer had been separated by just over a tenth in the opening session, with Sebastien Buemi in the #8 Toyota heading teammate Alex Wurz, Webber and di Grassi.
Both Audi R18 e-tron quattros have been built up around fresh monocoques for this weekend after the two cars were found to have cracked tubs when they arrived in Bahrain from the previous WEC round in Shanghai.
The #2 car, driven by championship challengers Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler, was built up around the spare chassis carried by the Audi Sport Team Joest squad, while the #1 entry was rebuilt around a tub that arrived at the circuit at 3am on Thursday morning.
The LMP2 times were headed by the G-Drive Racing Ligier-Nissan JSP2 driven by Olivier Pla. His best of 1m51.681s put him three tenths up on the AF Corse-run SMP Racing ORECA-Nissan 03R in the hands of Kirill Ladygin, who set his time in the first session.
Top GTE car was Nicki Thiim in the Aston Martin that heads the GTE Am standings. The Dane’s 1m58.440s put him three tenths up on fellow Aston driver Stefan Mucke, who recorded his time of 1m59.087s in the lead GTE Pro Aston in morning practice.
Gianmaria Bruni was quickest in GTE Pro in the dark on a 1m59.410s.
PRACTICE ONE
PRACTICE TWO
