Ferrari F1 reserve driver Robert Schwartzman set the fastest lap time of 1.48.559 in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 499P by the end of the WEC Bahrain Rookie Test.
The 2023 WEC Rookie Test consisted of two sessions: a morning and afternoon session, each 3 hours long, at the Sakhir International Circuit of 5.412 km.
Ferrari F1 reserve driver Robert Schwartzman set the fastest time of the day in the latter session.
He turned his first laps in the Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercar, along with the WEC’s first female race-winner from this year’s 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, Lilou Wadoux.
The pair of drivers shared the #51 with Le Mans winner Alessandro Pier Guidi, who was part of the sixth-placed finish at the 8 Hours of Bahrain season finale.
Other notable motorsport names drove their first laps, such as DTM champion Thomas Preining in the #5 Porsche Penske 963 and multiple MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi in the #46 Team WRT, the number of which was changed from #31 to the famed #46 associated with Rossi.
GTE Am champion Nicolas Varrone along with Kyffin Simpson got their first taste of the Hypercar in Cadillac’s #2 V Series.R.
There were nine Hypercars, five Oreca 07 LMP2s, and four GTE Am cars participating in the Rookie Test.
Schwartzman and Wadoux each completed 30 laps in total, as Varrone did 44, and Preining accomplished 82.
The second fastest lap time of the day was set by Will Stevens in the #38 JOTA Porsche LMDh, at a 1:48.625.
The Briton only completed five laps from the morning session, as Norman Nato took on most of the mileage at 35 laps in his first time in a Hypercar.
Nato set the third fastest lap of the day, a 1:49.130, and Alex Lynn put a 1:49.444 in the #2 to reside fourth.
The fifth fastest driver was Wadoux, as she drove her personal best of 1:49.488 from the afternoon session.
Clement Novalak was quickest over the LMP2s after a 1:54.283 out of his 57 laps in total, having driven the #34 Inter Europol Competition which became LMP2 vice-champions on the previous day.
Charles Weerts in the #46 WRT set the third and fourth fastest times (in the #41) in the class, as Valentino Rossi ended up racking 57 laps and was the fifth fastest LMP2 driver with a 1:55.118 time.
Lorenzo Patrese was the fastest driver in GTE Am, topping the class in the #83 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari 488, with a 1:58.261 as his quickest out of 75 laps driven.
