The first Free Practice session for the final FIA World Endurance Championship round at the Bahrain International Circuit roared into action this afternoon to begin the 2015 title showdown.

The 90-minute session saw the champions-elect from the No.17 Porsche top the times after Timo Bernhard set a best lap of 1m42.800 in the Porsche 919 Hybird.

The German, who shares the car with teammates Mark Webber and Brendon Hartley, headed title rival Andre Lotterer in the No.7 Audi R18 e-tron quattro. Lotterer, who celebrates his 34th birthday today, was just 0.017s behind Bernhard’s best lap. The No.17 Porsche crew enjoy a 12-point advantage over their Audi rivals heading in to the final six hours of racing on Saturday.

The No.8 Audi R18 e-tron quattro of Loic Duval, Oliver Jarvis and Lucas Di Grassi placed third, while the No.18 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Marc Lieb, Neel Jani and Romain Dumas was next up. All of the top four were covered by just 0.654s after the session.

Toyota ended the session fifth and sixth in what will be the final race weekend for the Toyota TS 040 HYBRID. The No.1 car of Anthony Davidson, Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima just outpaced the sister No.2 machine of Alex Wurz, Mike Conway and Stephane Sarrazin.

Signatech Alpine continued its good form in LMP2 as Nelson Panciatici set the fastest time of the session with a 1m52.054s lap. The French team, which took a debut win at Shanghai last time out, led the No.26 G-Drive Ligier-Nissan. Sam Bird claimed the fastest time on a 1m52.086.

The Strakka Racing Gibson 015S of Danny Watts, Jonny Kane and Nick Leventis claimed third position, while KCMG – who are the only rivals to the No.26 G-Drive entry for the LMP2 title – took fourth place in class today.

There were two short Full Course Yellow periods during the session to remove debris from the track.

The second Free Practice session is scheduled to take place under darkness this evening at 19.30, allowing the drivers a chance to familiarise themselves with the lights and track at night before the race into the night on Saturday.

This weekend sees a feast of International racing action and a full and buzzing paddock as the GP2, GP3, MRF and Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge join the final round of the 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship at the Bahrain International Circuit. 

LMGTE: FERRARI SET THE BENCHMARK IN BAHRAIN

The first 90-minute Free Practice session of the weekend ended with the two AF Corse Ferrari 458s at the head of the LMGTE timesheets with the no51 Ferrari of Toni Vilander and Gimmi Bruni ahead of their teammates Davide Rigon and James Calado in the no71 F458 Italia. 

Vilander set the fastest time of the session, the Finn setting a 2m00.135s lap, 0.370 seconds ahead of Rigon’s best time in the no71 car.

The no51 suffered a suspected puncture late into the session and Bruni had to nurse the car back to the pits for a replacement.

The no92 Porsche Team Manthey 911 RSR of Fred Makowiecki and Patrick Pilet was third quickest, 0.629s behind the lead Ferrari and 0.5 seconds ahead of the 4th placed car and the top LMGTE Am runner, the no98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8 of Mathias Lauda, Pedro Lamy and Paul Dalla Lana. 

Lamy’s best lap of 2m01.280s was fast enough to put him ahead of all but the fastest three GTE cars and ahead of the Pro class no97 Aston Martin of Darren Turner and Jonny Adam, who finished the session in 5th overall and 4th fastest in class.

The no50 Larbre Competition Chevrolet Corvette was 6th fastest in LMGTE overall and second quickest in the Am class.  Paolo Ruberti’s lap of 2m01.417 was just 0.137s behind the no98 Vantage and 0.707 ahead of the no72 SMP Racing Ferrari, the class championship leaders, Victor Shaytar, Andrea Bertolini and Aleksey Basov finishing the Free Practice session in 3rd place in LMGTE Am and 9th in LMGTE overall.   

The current LMGTE Driver’s Championship leader Richard Lietz and his partner Michael Christensen were 7th fastest with a best lap of 2m01.932 in the no91 Porsche Team Manthey 911, just 0.001s faster than the no99 Aston Martin Vantage of Fernando Rees, Alex MacDowall and Richie Stanaway