Shwartzman Quickest in Bahrain Rookie Test

Photo: MPS Agency

Robert Shwartzman set the quickest time in Sunday’s FIA World Endurance Championship rookie test in Bahrain, putting the Ferrari 499P atop the time charts.

The Ferrari Formula 1 reserve driver reeled off a best lap of 1:48.559 in Sunday’s afternoon session to edge out the No. 38 Hertz Team JOTA Porsche 963 of morning session pacesetter Will Stevens buy 0.066 seconds.

It marked Shwartzman’s first time in the Dallara-chassied prototype that he shared at the test with Lilou Wadoux and Alessandro Pier Guidi.

Wadoux was the second quickest rookie driver on the day, setting a 1:49.488 lap time, also in the afternoon.

Nico Varrone, in the No. 2 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R, laid down a 1:50.048 to end up third quickest amongst the top-class newcomers.

The newly crowned WEC GTE-Am champion was ahead of Julien Andlauder, in the No. 99 Proton Competition Porsche that he shared with Rene Binder, who set a quicker time than the Porsche factory driver.

Other drivers of note to sample Hypercar machinery on Sunday included DTM champion Thomas Preining, who set a 1:50.603 in the No. 5 Penske Porsche. Preining completed the most laps of the day at 82.

IMSA GTD Pro champions Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth combined to turn 78 laps in the No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, with Barnicoat ending up faster than WEC-nominated driver Josh Pierson, who completed 32 laps in the same car.

Kyffin Simpson logged more than 40 laps in the No. 2 Cadillac alongside Varrone, while Job vab Uitert had seat time in the No. 4 Vanwall Vandervell 680 Gibson.

LMP2 was led by the No. 43 Inter Europol Competition Oreca 07 Gibson of Clement Novalak, who was just 0.019 seconds quicker than Team WRT’s Charles Weerts, in the Belgian’s prototype debut.

Valentino Rossi, also turning his first laps at the wheel of a LMP2 car, ended up just eight-tenths slower then teammate Weerts, having had seat time in a re-numbered No. 46 Oreca.

Lorenzo Patrese, meanwhile, was quickest of the GTE-Am cars in the No. 83 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, in a class that saw Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe champion Timur Boguslavskiy complete his first laps in the Corvette C8.R ahead of a possible LMGT3 campaign with TF Sport next year.

WEC-nominated rookie Antonie Doquin was also behind the wheel of the GTE-spec Corvette in its final outing before retirement from professional competition.

The afternoon session featured only a single red flag, for an accident by Christoph Ulrich in the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari, which sustained minor left-front damage after an impact in Turn 10.

RESULTS: Rookie Test (Combined)

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