Audi takes pole for its final WEC in Bahrain
Manama : Audi Sport Team Joest captured pole position yesterday evening for the 2016 Bapco 6 Hours of Bahrain, with the trio of Lucas di Grassi, Loic Duval and Oliver Jarvis qualifying quickest in the Kingdom.
With di Grassi behind the wheel at the chequered flag, Audi #8 R18 Hybrid clocked an average lap time of 1:39.207s.
Di Grassi’s best lap of 1:38.828, which was the fastest time of the session and a qualifying lap record, helped Audi claim the pole. Di Grassi shared the qualifying duties yesterday with Jarvis.
Having announced their exit from the World Endurance Championship (WEC) after the current season, the stage is set for what could be a dramatic scene at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) for two-time champions Audi.
Today’s Bapco 6 Hours of Bahrain marks the end of the current WEC season and also Audi Motorsport’s last appearance in international endurance racing and Le Mans, following 18 successful years in the sport.
Qualifying behind them was the #1 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber. After starting the session, Bernhard returned to his car to trim his team’s average down to 1:39:471s, 0.264 seconds off the session’s best lap.
In third place was the other Porsche Hybrid of Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb. The trio are favourites to win this year’s world drivers’ title. Jani and Lieb were in the #2 car for qualifying and they produced a fastest lap time 0.462s slower.
Their chief title rivals in Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Stephan Sarrazin, Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi qualified fifth. Ahead of them were the other Audi trio of Marcel Fassler, Andre Lotterer and Benoit Treluyer in fourth place.
Toyota’s other car, featuring Anthony Davidson, Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima were sixth, rounding out the Hybrid cars in the LMP1 category.
G-Drive continues Oreca’s qualifying dominance
Meanwhile, taking pole position for the LMP2 class the G-Drive Racing trio of Roman Rusinov, Rene Rast and Alex Brundle in an Oreca 05-Nissan. They had a best average lap of
1:49.672.
In the LMGTE class, Aston Martin Racing topped both the LMGTE Pro and Am classes in their respective Aston Martin Vantage V8 challengers.
Jonathan Adam and Darren Turner led the professionals with a best average lap of 1:56.593, while Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda topped the amateurs’ class with their best time of 1:59.879.
The Bapco 6 Hours of Bahrain is scheduled to flag off at 4pm. It is one of the few races in the world that begins in the daylight and ends in the night under floodlights. Several titles are to be decided in the WEC following today’s scintillating action. (With inputs from agencies)
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