IT was an action-packed day of racing yesterday at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) as the first-ever Bahrain Motorsport Festival got underway in style.
Back-to-back world champions Porsche continued their fine start to the weekend with both cars claiming the top two positions in the World Endurance Championship’s (WEC) second practice timesheet last night.
Also on the same evening, Lorenzo Travisanutto and David Vidales Ajenjo set the pace in their respective qualifying practices in the CIK-FIA World Championship and CIK-FIA World Junior Championship.
Both the WEC and karting worlds headline the first-ever Bahrain Motorsport Festival.
Leading up to the WEC’s Bapco 6 Hours of Bahrain, Porsche’s no. 2 919 Hybrid of Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb shone brightest under floodlights as they registered an ultra-quick time of one minute 39.817 seconds to set the pace.
It was the only time from the 31-car WEC field that was below the one-minute, 40-second mark, and it was much quicker than the 1:42.107 lap time they clocked to lead practice one held earlier in the day.
The No. 1 car of Porsche teammates Mark Webber, Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley followed 0.455s behind, while Audi Sport Team Joest’s no. 8 R18 driven by Lucas di Grassi, Loic Duval and Oliver Jarvis were classified third 0.583 off the pace.
All three were competitors in the LMP1 category.
In the LMP2 class, G-Drive Racing of Roman Rusinov, Rene Rast and Alex Brundle were the top team in their Oreca 05-Nissan.
Aston Martin Racing topped both the LMGTE Pro and Am classes in their respective Aston Martin Vantage V8 challengers. Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen led the professionals, while Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda topped the amateurs’ class.
The WEC will next be on track today for a 60-minute third practice starting at 11.30am. Qualifying will then be held from 5pm.
Meanwhile, Bahrain International Karting Circuit enjoyed a packed programme of racing all through yesterday.
Lorenzo Travisanutto of Italy was the man to beat in the Qualifying Practice of the CIK-FIA World Championship.
The Ward Racing driver had a best lap time of 50.001 seconds around BIKC’s 1.414-km Commission Internationale de Karting (CIK) track.
Swede Noah Milell of Kosmic Racing Dept was second with a 0.081-second gap, while Russian Alexander Smolyar was classified third 0.117s behind.
Rounding out the top six were Finn Juho Valtanen (+0.169s) of Kohtala Sports, Pole Karol Basz (0.186s) of Kosmic and Italian Leonardo Lorandi (+0.208s) of Baby Race Srl.
Action continues today in both the world championship and world junior championship with the Qualifying Heats.