Stevens Quickest in Morning Rookie Test Session

Photo: Jurgen Tap/Porsche

Will Stevens led the way the opening session at the FIA World Endurance Championship rookie test in Bahrain for Hertz Team JOTA.

The Englishman reeled off a best time of 1:48.625 to go quickest in the two-hour session, ahead of the No. 2 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series.R that was wheeled by Alex Lynn.

Alessandro Pier Guidi was third in the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 499P, meanwhile, with Rene Binder the quickest so-called rookie, having turned his first laps in the No. 99 Proton Competition Porsche 963 that was good enough for fourth.

WEC GTE-Am champion Nico Varrone completed 26 laps in the Cadillac be the fifth quickest driver in the session with a best time of 1:50.048.

Other notable rookies in the Hypercar class to turn their first laps included Robert Shwartzman and Lilou Wadoux in the No. 51 Ferrari, Thomas Preining in the No. 5 Penske Porsche, IMSA GTD Pro champions Jack Hawksworth and Ben Barnicoat, plus WEC-selected driver Josh Pierson in the No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid and Julien Andluaer in the Proton Porsche.

Inter Europol Competition topped the time charts in LMP2, with Clement Novalk at the wheel.

Novalk was 0.685 seconds quicker than the No. 41 Team WRT Oreca 07 Gibson of class rookie Charles Weerts, who was nearly a second faster than Valentino Rossi, in the re-numbered No. 46 WRT entry.

GTE was led by the No. 83 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of Lorenzo Patrese.

Of note, Timur Boguslavskiy, a late addition to the rookie test, completed laps in the No. 33 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R alongside WEC-nominated driver Antoine Doquin and Nicky Catsburg, who ended up second quickest in the session.

There were no major incidents in the session, which ran without any red flags.

The afternoon session is set to get underway at 1 p.m. local time and will run through 4 p.m.

RESULTS: Morning Session

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