WEC Rookie Test – López at the top of the timesheet, ahead of Müller

José Maria López remained the fastest driver of the Rookie Test in Bahrain thanks to the time achieved this morning in the No. 7 Toyota, ahead of Nico Müller. Yann Ehrlacher took the wheel of the #94 Peugeot and was able to complete 52 laps.

Published on 13/11/2022 à 15:15

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WEC Rookie Test – López at the top of the timesheet, ahead of Müller

The No. 7 Toyota of José Maria López set the best time in the Rookie Test in Bahrain © Julien Delfosse / DPPI

The Rookie Test organized by the world championshipEndurance (WEC) finally sees a driver quite familiar with the competition at the head of the test day. Thanks to his time of 1'48″812 achieved this morning, José Maria López remained at the top of the timesheet at the end of the afternoon session.

La Toyota n°7, winner on Saturday during the 8 Hours of Bahrain, beat the Peugeot #94 driven by Nico Müller. The Swiss set the 2nd time of the day (+0″788) on the 5 laps he completed on the Sakhir circuit. Matthieu Vaxiviere set the 3rd fastest time at the wheel of theAlpine n°36 (+0″957), for the last official appearance on track of the ex-LM P1.

After Lilou Wadoux this morning, it was another Frenchman, Yann Ehrlacher, who discovered the Hypercar category with Peugeot. The double WTCR world champion completed 52 laps of the Bahraini track at the wheel of the #9 8X94, with the 8th fastest time in 1'51"777. Malthe Jakobsen was the fastest rookie with the Peugeot 9X8, with the 5th time in 1'50″222.

The Hypercar ranking:

In the LM P2, the leading trio has not changed compared to the morning session. Nelson Piquet Jr. was the fastest with a time of 1'51"922 in the United Autosport n°22, ahead of Antonio Fuoco (+0"394) and Paul Loup Chatin (+0"628) at the wheel of the Richard Mille Racing n°1. Dorian Pin accumulated the laps with 31 laps on the clock and an 8th time (+1″291) aboard the No. 38 Jota, LM P2 champion. The pilot of Formula 2 Oliver Caldwell set the 6th time with the Richard Mille Racing car for his first prototype run.

The LM P2 classification:

Finally, in the GTE, Nick Tandy and Nicolas Varrone took their places in the Corvette C8.R this afternoon, respectively setting the 3rd and 4th fastest times of the day in the Pro category. Lorenzo Colombo remained the fastest thanks to his time this morning with the Ferrari of the AF Corse team in 1'58″621. In the AM, Mikkel Pedersen set the best time in the afternoon with the Porsche 911 RSR from Team Project 1 in 1'59″865.