BMW WRT’s Dries Vanthoor was fastest during the second free practice session for the FIA World Endurance Championship’s 8 Hours of Bahrain.
Track action continued as part of the eighth and final race meeting for the 2024 season.
Another 90-minute session enabled all 36 Hypercar and LMGT3 entrants to gather more data and mileage prior to the eight-hour race.
Both ambient and track temperatures were over 10 degrees Celsius lower than in FP1, which was an early-afternoon session and not evening-time.
Quicker times were set in FP2 and provided useful preparation when Saturday’s season finale transitions from day-time to night-time.
FP2 posed slight disruption but without any major incidents, compared to the undramatic opening free practice session.
This came in two forms: Firstly when a full-course-yellow enabled marshals to clear up right-hand-side debris at Turn 8.
Secondly, there was debris at T1, supposedly after D’station Racing LMGT3 driver Clement Mateu and AF Corse Ferrari driver Alessandrio Pier Guidi made contact.
Stewards investigated the incident between the #777 Aston Martin Vantage LMGT3 and #51 Ferrari 499P Hypercar, and penalised Pier Guidi with a reprimand.
Dries Vanthoor tops the order for BMW WRT
By the end of FP2, Vanthoor was the fastest driver in the #15 WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 Hypercar.
The entrant which scored their first WEC podium in Fuji set a 1:48.257 lap time.
Porsche Penske’s Matt Campbell took second position after he drove a 1:48.311 in the #5 Porsche 963.
Antonio Giovinazzi claimed third place in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 499P with a 1:48.472, followed by Nyck de Vries in fourth.
The #7 Toyota GAZOO Racing driver’s quickest lap time was a 1:48.647.
The other #50 AF Corse Ferrari rounded out the top-five after Antonio Fuoco completed a quickest time of 1:48.701.
In the LMGT3 category, Esteban Masson was fastest in the #87 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F LMGT3.
He was the top of the LMGT3 order with a 2:02.246 lap time, ahead of the #82 TF Sport Corvette Z06 LMGT3.
Hiroshi Koizumi put a 2:02.901 lap time on the timesheets.
AF Corse’s Francois Heriau took third position with his 2:02.991 lap time in the #55 Ferrari 296 LMGT3.
The Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 EVO2 situated in fourth after Sarah Bovy’s 2:03.095.
Conrad Laursen concluded the top-five for the #78 Akkodis ASP Lexus team with a 2:03.444.
The final free practice session will commence tomorrow from 12pm to 1pm local time or 9am to 10am GMT.
