Toyota Gazoo Racing secured a front-row lockout for Saturday’s WEC 8 Hours of Bahrain

Toyota Gazoo Racing secured a front-row lockout for Saturday’s WEC 8 Hours of Bahrain, powered by Bapco Energies at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir.

The Toyota #8 crew of Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, and Ryo Hirakawa set a fastest lap time of one minute 46.714 seconds in the Hyperpole session of WEC Hypercar qualifying, held this afternoon in near-nighttime conditions.

Their teammates Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck de Vries, and Mike Conway were just 0.323 seconds off the pace.
The Ferrari AF Corse #51 crew of Antonio Giovinazzi, James Calado, and Alessandro Pier Guidi qualified third with a fastest lap 0.366s behind the leaders, while Proton Competition’s #99 trio of Neel Jani, Julien Andlauer, and Harry Tincknell joined them on row two.

Set to start Saturday’s race in rows three through five, respectively, are Ferrari AF Corse’s #50 crew, the #6 and #5 teams of Porsche Penske Motorsport, the #12 of Hertz Team JOTA, and the #15 and #20 crews of BMW M Team WRT.

In a surprising development, Peugeot TotalEnergies, who set the pace twice in the weekend’s three Free Practices, did not make it into the Hyperpole session for the WEC Hypercars.

Hyperpole is for the leading 10 cars from the first qualifying session, which featured 18 competitors out on track. It is run for both the Hypercar and LMGT3 categories.

United Autosports enjoyed a strong showing in the LMGT3 Hyperpole session of qualifying, securing the two leading positions in class.

Their #95 crew of Joshua Caygill, Nicolas Pino, and Marino Sato secured pole with a best lap time of 2:02.201, while their #59 trio of James Cottingham, Nicolas Costa, and Gregoire Saucy followed with a best time of 2:02.203.

Vista AF Corse’s #55 crew Francois Heriau, Simon Mann, and Alessio Rovera qualified third, while the #85 Iron Dames of Sarah Bovy, Rahel Frey, and Michelle Gatting – winners from last year’s discontinued LMGTE Am category in Bahrain – qualified fourth.

Also competing in the LMGT3’s Hyperpole runs were the #92 car of Manthey PureRxcing, the #27 Heart of Racing Team, the #7 Vista AF Corse, the #81 and #82 TF Sport cars, and the #78 Akkodis ASP Team.