The leading trio of drivers in the FIA World Endurance Drivers’ Championship, Neel Jani, Mark Lieb and Romain Dumas got the final weekend of the year off to a great start with Jani posting the fastest time of the opening 90-minute practice session for the 6 Hours of Bahrain. 

The Swiss driver posted a 1m42.107 lap in the no2 Porsche 919 Hybrid, 0.343s ahead of the no8 Audi R18 of Loic Duval and 0.408s ahead of Duval’s teammate Benoit Treluyer in the no7 Audi.  Championship rivals Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Stephane Sarrazin in the no6 Toyota were 4th fastest, with Kobayashi posting a 1m42.865 lap, 0.758s behind the leading Porsche.

The newly crowned LMP2 champions in the no36 Signatech Alpine were the quickest in the class with Nico Lapierre completing a lap of the Bahrain circuit in 1m50.966, 0.189s ahead of the no45 Manor Oreca of Roberto Merhi.  Alex Brundle was third fastest in the no26 G-Drive Racing Oreca.

Aston Martin led the in the LMGTE Pro class with both cars in the top two places.  The no97 Vantage of Darren Turner was the quickest, with the English driver posting a time of 1m58.735, 0.388s faster than championship leader Nicki Thiim in the no95 car.  The no77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche of 2015 GTE Champion Richard Lietz was third fastest, 0.685s behind the lead car.  The no71 Ferrari was 4th fastest with the double race winning Ford GT of Harry Tincknell was 5th.

The no83 AF Corse Ferrari of Emmanuel Collard was the fastest of the LMGTE Am competitors with the Frenchman posting a time of 2m01.550.  This was the quickest time but by only the narrowest of margins, just 0.002 ahead of Pedro Lamy in the no98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage V8.  The no50 Larbre Competition Corvette was 3rd quickest, with Ricky Taylor just 0.261s behind Collard.

The second Free Practice session will take place under the floodlights this evening, the 90-minute session getting underway at 19h30.