Toyota Gazoo Racing managed to lock out the front row for the 2021 6 Hours of Bahrain, after hot laps from Brendon Hartley and Kamui Kobayashi in Qualifying, clinching Toyota’s 30th FIA WEC pole.
The #8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID will start from pole after Hartley managed a 1:47.049 on his one and only fast lap. Kobayashi’s best time was three tenths off but good enough to go six tenths clear of Andre Negrao in the Alpine A480 which will start third on the grid tomorrow morning.
That’s the first pole position from the #8 Toyota Squad since Fuji in 2019!
“It felt great to go with low fuel and new tyres. The team did an amazing job after our little crash earlier to get the car ready. In FP3 I locked up at Turn 1 so I went conservatively early in the lap and grew into it.
“We fuelled for two laps because we had made mistakes in FP3 and an extra set of tyres, but we didn’t want to and didn’t have to use them. It was a great team effort, we’re taking the fight to the No. 7, we have one point back off them, we’re trying to win the championship in this friendly rivalry.”
In LMP2 JOTA took pole and came so close to finishing 1-2 in the times. The faster of the two was the #28 ORECA driven by former BMW MTEK driver Tom Blomqvist in the session. He set a 1:49.885 which went unmatched in the closing seconds of the session when other drivers put in last-ditch efforts to claim pole.
“Fantastic job by the team, the car has been mega today, especially as the track is so difficult to drive on,” Blomqvist said, “but I knew I had great pace. On my first run, I made a mistake, but I still secured the pole. Now we have to execute tomorrow.”
UPDATE: post-session Blomqvist’s fastest lap was deleted for track limits but his second fastest – a 1:49.932 was still enough for pole.
Filipe Albuqerque came close to snatching pole for United Autosport with a 1:49.994, but his best time right at the end of the session was only good enough for second, though it did break up what looked to be a front-row-lockout for the JOTA squad.
Antonio Felix Da Costa’s best time put the #38 JOTA ORECA third, while Loic Duval took the fourth spot on the grid in Realteam Racing’s 07 Gibson, which was fastest of the Pro/Am teams in the category.
Renger Van Der Zande completed the top five for Inter Europol Competition.
In GTE Pro it was Porsche that came out on top. Kevin Estre bagged a third pole of the season for the #92 911 RSR with a 1:56.144, just 0.034 ahead of Gianmaria Bruni in the sister #91 Porsche which locked out the front row for the German marque.
Prior to Qualifying, the AF Corse camp had been complaining that the pre-event BoP change for its 488 would put it out of contention this weekend. At this stage at least, the new BoP appears to have had a significant effect on the outright pace of the Ferraris, which were unable to get within a second of the Porsches, ending up third and fourth with the #52 ahead of the #51, both cars over a second off the pace.
“I was really happy to grab this pole,” said Estre after the session. “Especially for the point because we are fighting for the title and a single point could be the difference. It’s a tough track so it’s very difficult to get a perfect lap but I managed to deliver. It’s cool to see the #91 so close, Porsche has made a good car and we hope to fight against both Ferraris tomorrow.
Rino Mastronardi meanwhile was the star in the Am category for Iron Lynx, steering the #60 Ferrari to class pole with a 1:58.687, a lap six tenths faster than the other amateur drivers behind the wheel in the session.
Paul Dalla Lana came closest in the #98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage, taking the second spot on the front row with a 1:59.331, which was a tenth quicker than Edigio Perfetti in the #56 Project 1 Porsche which made it three marques in the top three.
“I’m very happy, the car was unbelievable,” said Mastronardi. “I was very pleased with my lap, but sadly my first was cancelled due to track limits. This is my first WEC race outside of Le Mans, I’ve never raced here before, so I am double happy!”
Meanwhile, further down the order, the #83 AF Corse crew which leads the championship heading by a comfortable margin at this late stage of the season will have to make do with starting eighth on the grid. Francois Perrodo looked set for a competitive showing on his final lap, but it was deleted meaning only his 2:00.263 counted.
Tomorrow’s 6 Hours of Bahrain is set to start at 11:00 local time.
