AF Corse Takes GTE-Pro Pole in Bahrain

Photo: Ferrari

AF Corse and Ferrari continued their title fight with a sweep of the front row in GTE-Pro for Saturday’s FIA WEC Six Hours of Bahrain.

Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander claimed their third class pole of the season, completing a best two-lap average of 1:58.347 in the No. 51 Ferrari 458 Italia to edge out teammates Davide Rigon and James Calado by 0.033 seconds.

The pole run gave the Italian manufacturer an additional point for pole, putting Ferrari 5 points ahead of Porsche in the GT Manufacturer’s Cup heading into tomorrow’s season finale.

The No. 95 Aston Martin Vantage V8 of Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen was third, followed by the sister No. 99 AMR entry, qualified by Richie Stanaway and Alex MacDowall, in fourth.

Porsche Team Manthey’s Fred Makowiecki and Patrick Pilet completed the top-five, with the sister, No. 91 Porsche 911 RSR of championship leader Richard Lietz set to roll off seventh in class.

While Aston Martin struggled in GTE-Pro qualifying, the No. 98 Vantage took top qualifying honors in GTE-Am, thanks to another late run by Paul Dalla Lana.

Dalla Lana and Pedro Lamy combined for a 2:00.522 average to score the car’s fifth class pole in eight races this season.

The pairing will team with Silver-rated Mathias Lauda on Saturday.

The No 50 Larbre Competition Corvette C7.R and class championship-leading No. 72 SMP Racing Ferrari completed the top three in class.

The FIA WEC Six Hours of Bahrain gets underway Saturday at 3 p.m. local time.

RESULTS: Qualifying

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John