Porsche Completes Season Sweep of Qualifying in Bahrain

Photo: Vision Sport Agency

Porsche has completed a qualifying sweep for the entire 2015 FIA World Endurance Championship season, with Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley taking pole for Saturday’s season-ending Six Hours of Bahrain.

Bernhard and Hartley combined for a best two-lap average of 1:39.736 in the No. 17 Porsche 919 Hybrid in Friday evening’s 20-minute qualifying session.

While it was the car’s third consecutive pole and fifth of the season, it marked Porsche’s 11th straight overall pole, dating back to Shanghai of last year.

Mark Webber will compete the lineup on Saturday, as the trio look to claim the Drivers’ World Championship. The extra point for pole puts them now with a 13-point lead over Audi’s Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler.

Marc Lieb and Romain Dumas qualified second, giving Porsche a season-long sweep lock of the front row, thanks to the duo’s 1:40.100 average in the No. 18 entry.

The No. 7 Audi of Lotterer and Fassler was third, followed by the sister Audi R18 e-tron quattro of Oliver Jarvis and Loic Duval in fourth.

Kazuki Nakajima and Anthony Davidson completed the top-five, as the best of the Toyota TS040 Hybrids in the final race for the current-generation car, which has struggled throughout the season.

On the heels of its maiden win in Shanghai, Signatech Alpine broke through to score its first class pole in LMP2.

Paul-Loup Chatin and Tom Dillmann took the Alpine A450b Nissan to a best average of 1:49.993, outpacing the No. 47 KCMG Oreca 05 Nissan of Nick Tandy and Matt Howson by 0.067 seconds.

The class championship-leading No. 26 G-Drive Racing Ligier JS P2 Nissan qualified third, ahead of its sister No. 28 entry in fourth, with the No. 43 Morand Racing Morgan-Nissan completing the top-five 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