Round9

6 Hours of Bahrain

Course: Bahrain International Circuit

Bahrain International Circuit
TS050 HYBRID at Bahrain International Circuit

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing ON BAHRAIN FRONT ROW

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing narrowly missed out on pole position in a closely-fought qualifying session for the Bapco 6 Hours of Bahrain, the final round of the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season.

The #7 TS050 HYBRID of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López held top spot for much of the session but was denied a fifth pole of the season in the closing minutes by Porsche #1. They will start from second.

It was a more challenging qualifying for the #8 TS050 HYBRID of Sébastien Buemi, Anthony Davidson and Kazuki Nakajima which will start from fourth.

Despite missing its target of pole position, the team is determined to fight for a fifth win from nine races in Saturday's six-hour contest.

The majority of the race will take place in darkness so qualifying also took place after sunset, with Mike and Kazuki behind the wheel of their respective cars at the beginning of the session.

Mike immediately put the #7 car in a strong position by becoming the first LMP1 driver to lap the Bahrain International Circuit in less than 1min 40secs. However, Kazuki encountered traffic on his lap and recorded the fourth fastest time.

On his single flying lap, with new tyres, José put the #7 in pole position but was dropped back to second when the #1 Porsche chose to make a third attempt, on a third set of new tyres, and narrowly earned top spot by 0.263secs.

With a significant gap to pole position, the team opted to conserve tyres on the #8 car with a view to Saturday's race therefore Anthony set his qualifying lap on a used set, which gave him little chance of improving on fourth position.

Nevertheless, the #8 car has won three times this season from the second row of the grid so hopes are high of another challenge as Toyota targets a winning end to the 2017 season on a track where it has twice before stood on the top step of the podium.

TS050 HYBRID #7 (Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, José María López)

Free practice 3: 4th (1min 43.902secs), 24 laps
Qualifying: 2nd (1min 39.646secs average)

Mike Conway (TS050 HYBRID #7):

“My time was a bit compromised because I had to slow down on my out lap to get a clear track and I lost temperature in the tyres. So the first sector wasn't perfect but the rest of the lap was good. It looked like we had pole but Porsche #1 used an extra set of tyres which we weren't prepared to do because the race is priority for us.”

José María López (TS050 HYBRID #7):

“I am quite happy considering it's my first time at this track in an LMP1 car. I did a good lap and was only a couple of tenths down on Mike. Every time we have started from pole position this season we haven't achieved the main objective of winning, so maybe second place will be kinder to us.”

TS050 HYBRID #8 (Sébastien Buemi, Anthony Davidson, Kazuki Nakajima)

Free practice 3: 3rd (1min 43.734secs), 25 laps
Qualifying: 4th (1min 40.774secs average)

Anthony Davidson (TS050 HYBRID #8):

“We decided to use the same tyres and that was a challenge for my lap. I did the best I could but I was a bit disappointed with how it went in general. It was not the best qualifying but the race is what counts. We have shown before that we can win from the second row so I am still confident.”

Kazuki Nakajima (TS050 HYBRID #8):

“It was a difficult qualifying for me due to the traffic. Also, we decided our tyre strategy to give priority to the race. I hope that decision is going to give us a better chance tomorrow. Generally we were happy with the car; qualifying doesn't mean much so we still have a good chance.”

  • TS050 HYBRID at Bahrain International Circuit
  • José María López
  • The pis stop of TS050 HYBRID's
  • TS050 HYBRID at Bahrain International Circuit
  • Anthony Davidson
  • TS050 HYBRID #7 in the garage

QUALIFYING RESULTS - LMP

PosCatTeam/CarDriverDriver 1Driver 2AverageGapT
11LMP1-HPorsche LMP Team
Porsche 919 Hybrid
Neel JANI
André LOTTERER
Nicholas TANDY
1:39.6831:39.0841'39.383-M
27LMP1-HTOYOTA GAZOO Racing
Toyota TS050 HYBRID
Mike CONWAY
Kamui KOBAYASHI
José María LOPEZ
1:39.5171:39.7761'39.646+0.263M
32LMP1-HPorsche LMP Team
Porsche 919 Hybrid
Timo BERNHARD
Earl BAMBER
Brendon HARTLEY
1:40.2851:39.7381'40.011+0.628M
48LMP1-HTOYOTA GAZOO Racing
Toyota TS050 HYBRID
Sébastien BUEMI
Anthony DAVIDSON
Kazuki NAKAJIMA
1:40.5461:41.0031'40.774+1.391M
536LMP2Signatech Alpine Matmut
Alpine A470 - Gibson
Nicolas LAPIERRE
Gustavo MENEZES
André NEGRÃO
1:47.0581:47.3961'47.227+7.844D
638LMP2Jackie Chan DC Racing
Oreca 07 - Gibson
Ho-Pin TUNG
Oliver JARVIS
Thomas LAURENT
1:48.1041:47.1211'47.612+8.229D
731LMP2Vaillante Rebellion
Oreca 07 - Gibson
Julien CANAL
Nicolas PROST
Bruno SENNA
1:47.1681:48.2751'47.721+8.338D
826LMP2G-Drive Racing
Oreca 07 - Gibson
Roman RUSINOV
Léo ROUSSEL
Loïc DUVAL
1:47.5161:48.4621'47.989+8.606D
925LMP2CEFC Manor TRS Racing
Oreca 07 - Gibson
Ricardo GONZALEZ
Simon TRUMMER
Vitaly PETROV
1:47.6081:48.7451'48.176+8.793D
1024LMP2CEFC Manor TRS Racing
Oreca 07 - Gibson
Matthew RAO
Ben HANLEY
Jean-Eric VERGNE
1:47.2841:49.4641'48.374+8.991D
1128LMP2TDS Racing
Oreca 07 - Gibson
François PERRODO
Matthieu VAXIVIERE
Emmanuel COLLARD
1:47.0001:49.7721'48.386+9.003D
1213LMP2Vaillante Rebellion
Oreca 07 - Gibson
Mathias BECHE
David HEINEMEIER HANSSON
Nelson PIQUET JR
1:47.3031:49.4721'48.387+9.004D
1337LMP2Jackie Chan DC Racing
Oreca 07 - Gibson
David CHENG
Alex BRUNDLE
Tristan GOMMENDY
1:47.8681:50.3361'49.102+9.719D

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QUALIFYING RESULTS - LMGTE

PosCatTeam/CarDriverDriver 1Driver 2AverageGapT
171LMGTE ProAF Corse
Ferrari 488 GTE
Davide RIGON
Sam BIRD
1:56.0211:56.0461'56.033-M
297LMGTE ProAston Martin Racing
Aston Martin VANTAGE
Darren TURNER
Jonathan ADAM
1:56.2891:56.4551'56.372+0.339D
367LMGTE ProFord Chip Ganassi Team UK
Ford GT
Andy PRIAULX
Harry TINCKNELL
1:56.5821:56.3441'56.463+0.430M
451LMGTE ProAF Corse
Ferrari 488 GTE
James CALADO
Alessandro PIER GUIDI
1:56.5971:57.1651'56.881+0.848M
595LMGTE ProAston Martin Racing
Aston Martin VANTAGE
Nicki THIIM
Marco SØRENSEN
1:56.7681:57.2701'57.019+0.986D
691LMGTE ProPorsche GT Team
Porsche 911 RSR
Richard LIETZ
Frédéric MAKOWIECKI
1:57.1561:57.8771'57.516+1.483M
792LMGTE ProPorsche GT Team
Porsche 911 RSR
Michael CHRISTENSEN
Kevin ESTRE
1:57.3571:57.6871'57.522+1.489M
898LMGTE AmAston Martin Racing
Aston Martin V8 Vantage
Paul DALLA LANA
Pedro LAMY
Mathias LAUDA
1:59.3282:00.8952'00.111+4.078D
961LMGTE AmClearwater Racing
Ferrari 488 GTE
Weng Sun MOK
Keita SAWA
Matthew GRIFFIN
2:01.9561:58.6152'00.285+4.252M
1077LMGTE AmDempsey - Proton Racing
Porsche 911 RSR (991)
Christian RIED
Matteo CAIROLI
Marvin DIENST
1:58.7852:02.0052'00.395+4.362D
1154LMGTE AmSpirit of Race
Ferrari 488 GTE
Thomas FLOHR
Francesco CASTELLACCI
Miguel MOLINA
2:00.0342:02.6712'01.352+5.319M
1266LMGTE ProFord Chip Ganassi Team UK
Ford GT
Stefan MÜCKE
Olivier PLA
1:57.588-1'57.588+1.555M

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Free practice 3 results

PosCatTeam/CarDriverBest timeGapLapsT
12LMP1-HPorsche LMP Team
Porsche 919 Hybrid
Timo BERNHARD
Earl BAMBER
Brendon HARTLEY
1:42.438-2/17M
21LMP1-HPorsche LMP Team
Porsche 919 Hybrid
Neel JANI
André LOTTERER
Nick TANDY
1:43.124+0.6862/20M
38LMP1-HTOYOTA GAZOO Racing
Toyota TS050 HYBRID
Sébastien BUEMI
Anthony DAVIDSON
Kazuki NAKAJIMA
1:43.734+1.2968/25M
47LMP1-HTOYOTA GAZOO Racing
Toyota TS050 HYBRID
Mike CONWAY
Kamui KOBAYASHI
Jose Maria LOPEZ
1:43.902+1.4643/24M
538LMP2Jackie Chan DC Racing
Oreca 07 - Gibson
Ho-Pin TUNG
Oliver JARVIS
Thomas LAURENT
1:48.879+6.4412/18D
637LMP2Jackie Chan DC Racing
Oreca 07 - Gibson
David CHENG
Alex BRUNDLE
Tristan GOMMENDY
1:49.338+6.90015/22D
726LMP2G-Drive Racing
Oreca 07 - Gibson
Roman RUSINOV
Léo ROUSSEL
Loïc DUVAL
1:49.377+6.93911/18D
813LMP2Vaillante Rebellion
Oreca 07 - Gibson
Mathias BECHE
David HEINEMEIER HANSSON
Nelson PIQUET JR
1:50.053+7.6157/20D
928LMP2TDS Racing
Oreca 07 - Gibson
François PERRODO
Matthieu VAXIVIERE
Emmanuel COLLARD
1:50.106+7.66814/21D
1024LMP2CEFC Manor TRS Racing
Oreca 07 - Gibson
Matthew RAO
Ben HANLEY
Jean-Eric VERGNE
1:50.315+7.87710/18D
1125LMP2CEFC Manor TRS Racing
Oreca 07 - Gibson
Roberto GONZALEZ
Simon TRUMMER
Vitaly PETROV
1:50.727+8.28912/19D
1231LMP2Vaillante Rebellion
Oreca 07 - Gibson
Julien CANAL
Nicolas PROST
Bruno SENNA
1:51.276+8.83810/19D
1336LMP2Signatech Alpine Matmut
Alpine A470 - Gibson
Nicolas LAPIERRE
Gustavo MENEZES
André NEGRÃO
1:51.634+9.1963/23D
1451LMGTE ProAF Corse
Ferrari 488 GTE
James CALADO
Alessandro PIER GUIDI
1:57.972+15.53415/21M
1567LMGTE ProFord Chip Ganassi Team UK
Ford GT
Andy PRIAULX
Harry TINCKNELL
1:58.179+15.74112/19M
1671LMGTE ProAF Corse
Ferrari 488 GTE
Davide RIGON
Sam BIRD
1:58.456+16.01814/19M
1792LMGTE ProPorsche GT Team
Porsche 911 RSR
Michael CHRISTENSEN
Kevin ESTRE
1:58.650+16.2122/21M
1866LMGTE ProFord Chip Ganassi Team UK
Ford GT
Stefan MÜCKE
Olivier PLA
1:58.897+16.45911/18M
1997LMGTE ProAston Martin Racing
Aston Martin VANTAGE
Darren TURNER
Jonathan ADAM
1:59.323+16.88515/22D
2091LMGTE ProPorsche GT Team
Porsche 911 RSR
Richard LIETZ
Frédéric MAKOWIECKI
1:59.359+16.9217/20M
2195LMGTE ProAston Martin Racing
Aston Martin VANTAGE
Nicki THIIM
Marco SØRENSEN
2:00.476+18.0387/13D
2261LMGTE AmClearwater Racing
Ferrari 488 GTE
Weng Sun MOK
Keita SAWA
Matt GRIFFIN
2:00.661+18.22314/20M
2377LMGTE AmDempsey - Proton Racing
Porsche 911 RSR (991)
Christian RIED
Matteo CAIROLI
Marvin DIENST
2:00.695+18.25711/18D
2454LMGTE AmSpirit of Race
Ferrari 488 GTE
Thomas FLOHR
Francesco CASTELLACCI
Miguel MOLINA
2:01.205+18.7678/20M
2598LMGTE AmAston Martin Racing
Aston Martin V8 Vantage
Paul DALLA LANA
Pedro LAMY
Mathias LAUDA
2:01.320+18.8823/19D
2686LMGTE AmGulf Racing UK
Porsche 911 RSR (991)
Michael WAINWRIGHT
Benjamin BARKER
Nicholas FOSTER
2:01.965+19.52710/11D

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