WEC: Toyota Takes Pole for Season Finale; LMGTE Pro Falls to No.91 Porsche

Sport news Brendon Hartley scorched to a superb pole position at Bahrain International Circuit to put himself and team-mates Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa in the best place possible to take the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship tomorrow. The Kiwi set a blistering lap of 1:46.800 to lead the #93 Peugeot TotalEnergies-entered 9X8 Hypercar. Porsche holds the advantage in LMGTE Pro as Gianmaria Bruni claimed the point ahead of the usual sustained challenge from the AF Corse Ferrari team. The age-old battle between the two legendary manufacturers will see the #51 Ferrari and #92 Porsche fight for the crown as they did last season. However, the #51 title-defending Ferrari ended the session spectacularly as Alessandro Pier Guidi spun on his fast lap right at the end of the session. In LMP2 the RealTeam by WRT squad took its first pole of 2022 as Norman Nato left it until the final seconds of the session to claim the top spot. Nato swept to a brilliant 1:50.330 lap to beat the points-leading #38 Oreca-Gibson driven by Will Stevens. The LMGTE Am category witnessed Sarah Bovy reprising her Monza heroics with a superb pole position for the Iron Dames Ferrari team. Title leader TF Sport will start the race from second position after Ben Keating was just unable to wrest the pole from Bovy. Hypercar  Toyota Gazoo Racing takes pole as Brendon Hartley sweeps to top spot at Bahrain International Circuit The Kiwi sets a scintillating 1:46.800 lap in #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercar to grab his second pole of 2022 after his Le Mans success The #93 Peugeot 9X8 is second as Paul di Resta sets his best lap of 1#47.610s #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing-entered Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercar is third with Mike Conway at wheel with the best lap of 1:47.738 #94 Peugeot ends up fourth with Gustavo Menezes at wheel Title challengers Alpine ELF Team, with Mathieu Vaxiviere at the wheel, places fifth and last in the category  LMGTE Pro  The No.91 Porsche GT Team takes pole position as Gianmaria Bruni sets the fastest time of 1:56.143 Bruni enjoys his second pole position of the season adding to his Spa-Francorchamps achievement The Italian leads the #52 AF Corse Ferrari car driven by Antonio Fuoco in dramatic session Fuoco laps just 0.2s off the Porsche as the title-supporting cars from the two manufacturers qualify ahead of the two main title protagonists The #92 Porsche GT Team qualified by Michael Christensen is third due to a 1:56.439 lap Alessandro Pier Guidi in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo spins spectacularly while attempting to grab the bonus pole position points Nick Tandy qualifies the Corvette Racing-entered C8.R in fifth, peaking on a 1:57.539s LMP2  Norman Nato leaves it late to complete an excellent last-ditch effort in RealTeam by WRT entry The French ace sets a 1:50.330s lap to beat the LMP2 points-leading #38 Jota Oreca-Gibson driven by Will Stevens by just 0.137s United Autosports USA’s Filipe Albuquerque looked to have claimed pole but had his lap cancelled for exceeding track limits Portuguese had set a best of 1m50.445s lap but Nato beat that before the stewards scratched the lap The United Autosports USA team will start the race third in the class AF Corse is fourth with Alessio Rovera also claiming the Pro/Am top spot Mathias Beche claims best season start for ARC Bratislava with fifth LMGTE Am Iron Dames claims its second WEC pole of the season as Sarah Bovy doubles up on her Monza achievement The Belgian racer sets a 1:59.186 lap to get the better of season-long qualifying rival Ben Keating in his TF Sport Aston Martin Bovy’s blistering time is over 0.5s ahead of the championship elect Aston Martin TF Sport fights back after a difficult FP1 session to ensure a strong starting position to protect a 20-point title lead No.77 Dempsey Proton Porsche ends up in the third position as Christian Ried puts the German team in a strong position to try and attack the TF Sport outfit tomorrow World Endurance Championship WEC 8 Hours of Bahrain WEC SEASON 2022 Sport Circuit 1SportWorld Endurance ChampionshipCircuitWECSEASON 2022WEC8 Hours of Bahrain01 Friday, November 11, 2022 - 4:46pm Friday, November 11, 2022 - 4:46pm