Peugeot’s Jean-Eric Vergne set the fastest lap in the final practice session of the FIA World Endurance Championship season in Bahrain.
Onboard the #93 Peugeot 9X8, the Frenchman set a 1:49.443 lap time early on with no one else able to beat it through the session.
Yifei Ye was second fastest in the satellite #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P, with the Chinese driver just over two tenths off Vergne. Again, he set the lap early as the track surface heated up during the hour of practice.
Daniil Kvyat was a surprise third in the #63 Lamborghini SC63, around six tenths off Vergne in the Peugeot, with a 1:50.014
Paul di Resta was fourth in the sister #94 Peugeot, just 14 thousandths of a second off Kvyat.
And Mick Schumacher was fifth quickest in the #36 Alpine A424, but was more than a second off the session-topping Vergne.
That means none of the championship contenders — manufacturers or drivers — were in the top 5. The two factory Ferraris were sixth and seventh, with the two Toyotas 11th and 13th. The two factory Penske-run Porsches were 12th and 15th, as everybody gets ready for qualifying in a few hours time, but crucially all on different run plans.
Manthey lead the way in LMGT3
In LMGT3, Alex Malykhin was quickest in the #92 Manthey PureRxcing Porsche 911 GT3.R with a time of 2:03.987.
Second was Arnold Robin, onboard the #78 Akkodis ASP Lexus RC F GT3, less than a tenth off Malykhin.
Third was Francois Heriau in the #55 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3, just within a tenth of Malykhin as well.
Fourth and fifth were the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, and the #82 TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3R.
The session ran cleanly except for two brief full course yellows, lasting five minutes in total, but no major off-track incidents occurred throughout the hour.
Qualifying begins at 4pm local time or 1pm GMT in the UK.
