Toyota Gazoo Racing has locked out the front row for the final race of the 2023 FIA WEC season in Bahrain tomorrow. Brendon Hartley and Kamui Kobayashi went head to head for pole in the end, with Hartley setting the better lap of the two under the floodlights, putting the #8 on top by almost half a second with a 1:46.564.
Crucially, with a point for pole, the #8 crew now sit 16 points ahead of the #7 trio and Hartley and his crewmates Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa are edged ever closer to the Driver’s title.
“It’s for the championship,” Hartley exclaimed. “I had a difficult qualifying in Fuji. And here it felt like I left something on the table but it was clean, nobody is going to do a perfect lap. The car felt awesome, we were one of the only cars to qualify on mediums because everyone is so worried about tyre deg here.
“We think we can make them work in the race, if not it could be tricky for us. Sebastien (Buemi) will start tomorrow’s race, he has Turn 1 to think about.”
On the second row of the grid, a head-turning early 1:47.265 flyer from Alex Lynn was good enough to ensure the Cadillac Racing V-Series.R was the fastest LMDh prototype in the session. The Caddy will start third, ahead of the fastest of the Porsche 963s, the #6, which will line up fourth.
It was a tough qualifying for the championship-contending Ferraris, the #50 qualifying ahead of the #51 in fifth and sixth respectively, both cars over a second off the pole time.
LMP2 Qualifying saw IndyCar-bound Tom Blomqvist boss the session, setting a 1:52.290 to take pole by two-tenths of a second in the #23 United Autosports ORECA.
Blomqvist’s eventual best time came with three minutes to go, improving on his previous best of 1:52.863, which at the time was good enough to put him on provisional pole.
“Fantastic job by the guys – we had some work to do after yesterday, and the #23 crew have really put it together,” Blomqvist said. “Credit to them. It’s a pleasure to drive a well-handling race car in qualifying conditions.
“I couldn’t have asked for much more. That’s two poles for me this season, and Olly [Jarvis] got the pole in Sebring at the first race of the year. Unfortunately, we’ve had some bad luck along the way in the races, and the championship hasn’t worked out the way we hoped … but tomorrow, we’ll go for the win!”
Joining the #23 United ORECA on the front row will be the #36 Alpine ORECA of Charles Milesi, who pushed hard but couldn’t quite edge Blomqivst with his late 1:52.561.
The #31 Team WRT ORECA took third, pushing the Vector Sport example, which held the top spot early after Gabriel Aubry’s first push lap, to fourth.
It was a tricky session for Louis Deletraz in the championship-leading #41 WRT ORECA. The #41 will start the race 10th with a time 1.2 seconds off pole.
Finally, the #85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR 19 will start the final GTE race tomorrow from pole position after a stellar 1:58.692 tour of the circuit from Sarah Bovy.
“Once again she did it, we are very proud of her,” said Michelle Gatting, Bovy’s teammate in the Porsche, after the session. “It’s important for what we are doing with this project. It’s emotional because of the last race of GTE. It’s not easy, we showed great pace and let’s hope we can finish it.”
Bovy’s time, set with just under five minutes to go, was challenged in the final minutes of the session, but nobody could snatch the top spot from the Belgian, who finishes the season with three pole positions to her name.
Liam Talbot, the late addition to D’Station Racing’s driver line-up, came closest with a 1:58.982. The time came on his final flying lap, vaulting the #777 Vantage from fourth to a spot on the front row.
This lap dropped the ORT by TF Sport Aston Martin to third on the grid after Ahmad Al Harthy’s efforts. Takeshi Kimura steered the #57 Ferrari to fourth.
Ben Keating, who briefly sat top early in the session, will start tomorrow’s race from fifth in the title-winning #33 Corvette Racing C8.R.
Tomorrow’s 8 Hours of Bahrain will start at 14:00 local time.
