Bahrain-EL1: Porsche takes a stand

Dans des conditions traditionnelles à Bahreïn, avec près de 30° dans l’air et plus de 35° sur la piste, Porsche s’est montré tout de suite aux avant-postes lors des premiers essais libres des 6 Heures de Bahreïn, finale du WEC 2016.

The trio of the 919 Hybrid n°2 Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb dominated EL1 at the start of the afternoon, thanks to a best lap in 1'42″107 by Neel Jani. The Swiss allows the leading crew of the championship to beat the two Audi R18 e-tron quattros of di Grassi – Duval – Jarvis and Tréluyer – Fässler – Lotterer, clocked at 343 and 408 thousandths.

The first Toyota TS050 Hybrid Conway – Sarrazin – Kobayashi, still fighting for the title, climbs to 4th place by more than seven tenths and precedes the second Porsche 919 Hybrid n°1 of Webber – Hartley – Bernhard and the Toyota n°5 of Buemi – Davidson – Nakajima.

In LM P2, Signatech-Alpine, crowned with his title in the category, got off to the best start in Bahrain, with the A460 n°36 from Menezes – Stone – Richelmi at the forefront of P2, thanks to a time achieved in 1'59″966. The leading trio in the category is completed by the No. 05 Oreca 45 of Manor de Canal – Merhi – Gonzalez and the No. 05 Oreca 26 of G-Drive Racing of Rusinov – Brundle – Rast.

Aston Martin signed the double in GTE Pro with the No. 97 Vantage of the returning Jonny Adam, associated with Darren Turner, dominatrix with a reference established in 1'58″735. The sister car of championship leaders Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim is in second position, just under six tenths ahead of the Dempsey – Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR of Christensen – Lietz.

La Ferrari 488 n°71 from Rigon – Bird follows in fourth position ahead of the first Ford GT n°67 from Priaulx – Tincknell. Weighed down by the Balance of Performance before this final, the Fords did not move to the forefront in this session, the #66 example of Pla – Mücke bringing up the rear in GTE Pro behind the #488 Ferrari 51 of Bruni – Calado.

In GTE Am, the best time went to the #458 Ferrari 83 Italia AF Corse of Aguas – Perrodo – Collard in front of the No. 98 Aston Martin of Dalla Lana – Lamy – Lauda, ​​which caused a Full Course Yellow after a little over half an hour in these FP1 by stopping in the gravel trap at the first turn .

The second free practice session will begin at 17:30 p.m. French time.

Results Free practice 1