Peugeot TotalEnergies’ #94 9X8 topped the timing screens in the first Free Practice session of the FIA WEC 8 Hours of Bahrain weekend this afternoon in the sunshine.
The best time came early on in the running from Paul Di Resta, a 1:50.837, which was 0.49 up on the #5 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 of Frédéric Makowiecki, who was the only other driver to set a sub 1:51 lap. His tour also came with more than an hour left on the clock.
Making it three brands in the top three was the #51 Ferrari AF Corse 499P, which finished two-tenths adrift with a 1:51.041.
The sister 9X8 added to Peugeot’s encouraging start to the meeting by slotting in fourth, ahead of the championship-leading #6 Penske Porsche that ended up fifth with a 1:51.116.
Further down the order in eighth and ninth, the two BMW M Hybrid V8s enjoyed a productive session, completing 85 combined laps, the most of any team in the class. The Fuji pole-setting Cadillac V-Series.R meanwhile, ended up 18th with the lowest total (32 laps) and a time 1.4 seconds off the pace.
LMGT3 saw AKKODIS ASP’s #78 Lexus RC F LMGT3 lead the way, Kelvin van der Linde setting a 2:02.079.
Alessio Rovera would end up three tenths off in the #55 Vista AF Corse Ferrari, but quicker than Matteo Carioli who put the Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan third with a in the second half of the session which pushed the #54 sister AF Corse 296 LMGT3 to fourth.
There were no major dramas in the 90-minute session, which was only interrupted once by a brief full-course yellow.
Free Practice 2 is set to begin at 17:30 local time.
