The qualifying for the 6 Hours of Bahrain was run right after the sun had set.
First up was the 20 minutes for the GTE teams.
Gulf Racing UK Porsche #86 wasn’t able to participate in the qualifying, since they had a fire on the car during the free practice Saturday. The team was busy getting the car ready for the Saturday race.
Pedro Lamy in AMR #98 was on a mega first lap, but he threw it all away in the final corner. The time was good enough for a second at the moment, behind Matteo Cairoli in the Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche #77.
Marco Sørensen in AMR #95 put down a very fast lap in the GTE Pro for the competitors to chase. Davide Rigon in AF Corse Ferrari #71 did finally do the fastest lap, followed by AMR #97, Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK #67 and AF Corse #51 before the #95 was on the timing sheets.
Stefan Mücke in Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK #66 didn’t get any time noted to his name, after not only getting one but two laps deleted due to track limits.
Photo: JJ Media
But of course it wasn’t decided until the second driver had been in the car.
Paul Dalla Lana in AMR #98 managed to grab Pole Position in GTE Am. Clearwater Racing Ferrari #61 followed them, with Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche #77 in third.
Sam Bird in #71 did a similar good lap to Rigon and managed to grab Pole Position in the GTE Pro category. Darren Turner and Jonny Adam in AMR #97 grabbed second starting position, in the last weekend for the old version of the Aston Martin Vantage V8 in the GTE Pro category, before the new car will be revealed on Tuesday.
Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK #67 driven by Andy Priaulx, and Harry Tincknell took third, before the AF Corse #51 with James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi got 4th.
Bruno Senna was the first driver in the Vaillante Rebellion #31 and set the fastest time in the LMP2 category, among the first drivers in the car, but he was closely followed by both Jackie Chan DC Racing #38 and #37. All three were however beaten by Ben Hanley in CEFC Manor TRS Racing #24.
Porsche #2 was the first LMP1 car to put down a fast lap. Porsche #1 was the second fastest car. Toyota didn’t agree with that result, so Mike Conway in the Toyota Gazoo Racing #7 went fastest, with Kazuki Nakajima in #8 jumping into third.
Photo: JJ Media
Neel Jani in Porsche #1 did the fastest lap of all in LMP1, and that one combined with the lap of Nick Tandy, it was enough for them to start on Pole Position. Toyota Gazoo Racing #7 with Jose Maria Lopez qualified second, while Porsche #2 with Timo Bernhard grabbed third starting position.
LMP2 saw a ding-dong battle, ending up with Signatech Alpine Matmut #36 driven by Gustavo Menezes and Andre Negrao, taking Pole Position ahead of Jackie Chan DC Racing #38 and Vaillante Rebellion #31.
Photo: JJ Media
So we are due to a very exciting race tomorrow, when the final Championship positions are to be decided in the FIA WEC.
