Vanthoor Puts BMW On Top in Second Practice

BMW led the way in second practice for this weekend’s FIA World Endurance Championship season-closer in Bahrain, as Dries Vanthoor set the pace aboard the No. 15 BMW M Hybrid V8.

Vanthoor set the fastest lap of the 90-minute night session held after sunset on Thursday, a 1:48.257, putting the No. 15 car 0.054 seconds clear of Matt Campbell aboard the best of the Porsche Penske 963s, the No. 5.

Third-fastest was the No. 51 Ferrari 499P of Antonio Giovinazzi on a 1:48.472, while Nyck de Vries made it four different manufacturers inside the top four aboard the No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, just under four tenths off the pace.

Next up were the respective second cars from Ferrari and Toyota, with the No. 50 AF Corse entry in which Antonio Fuoco set the best time fifth ahead of Ryo Hirakawa’s No. 8 Toyota and Robin Frijns in the No. 20 BMW.

Completing the top ten were two customer Porsches, the No. 38 Hertz Team JOTA example leading the No. 99 Proton Competition car, and the No. 35 Alpine A424.

The championship-leading No. 6 Porsche was only 12th fastest in the hands of Kevin Estre, 0.785 seconds off the pace, behind the solo Cadillac V-Series.R in 11th.

Peugeot, which topped the opening session earlier on Thursday, brought up the rear with its pair of 9X8s in 17th and 18th places.

In LMGT3, Esteban Masson led the way for the Akkodis ASP team with a best time of 2:02.246 aboard the No. 87 Lexus RC F GT3.

Masson, who is set to sample a Toyota Hypercar in the post-event rookie test on Sunday, was 0.655 seconds clear of his nearest rival, Hiroshi Koizumi in the No. 82 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.

Third-quickest was Francois Heriau in the No. 55 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 ahead of Sarah Bovy’s Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 and the second ASP Lexus driven by new recruit Conrad Laursen.

A largely uneventful session was interrupted by a single full-course caution period, which was a systems check rather than in response to any incident.

Final practice for the 8 Hours of Bahrain is set for Friday at noon local time (5 a.m. EDT).

RESULTS: Free Practice 2