Brendon Hartley got the better of Kamui Kobayashi as Toyota undertook qualification simulations in final practice for this weekend’s FIA Bahrain World Endurance Championship finale.
Hartley outpaced Kobayashi by four tenths when the Toyota GR010 Hybrids went out on new Michelin tyres right at the start of the one-hour Free Practice 3 session.
The New Zealander knocked six tenths off his first time on his second flying lap in the #7 Toyota to end up on a 1m48.346s. Kobayashi set an unrepresentative time on his first flier, before posting a 1m48.777s aboard the #8 car.
The Alpine A480-Gibson, the only other car in the Hypercar class, trailed the Toyotas and the fastest two LMP2 cars in fifth overall.
Andre Negrao set a 1m51.794s shortly before the session was red-flagged while a corner bollard was replaced at Turn 9.
Antonio Felix da Costa and Filipe Albuquerque both went faster than the Alpine grandfathered LMP1 car in their Oreca 07-Gibson LMP2 cars.
Da Costa’s 1m51.188s in the best of the JOTA team’s two entries gave him a three tenth margin over the 1m51.524s from Albuquerque in the United Autosports car.
A 1m52.059s lap gave Tom Blomqvist third in class in the second JOTA entry, while Sophia Floersch was fourth in the Signatech-run Richard Mille Racing Oreca with a time of 1m52.681s.
Fastest in the Pro/Am P2 subclass was Realteam Racing’s Norman Nato with a 1m52.758s.
Kevin Estre was fastest in GTE Pro for Porsche with a 1m56.590s, which gave him a one tenth margin over Gianmaria Bruni in the other Porsche 911 RSR-19.
The Ferraris, which has received a new Balance of Performance for this weekend’s eight-hour race, took third and fourth positions.
James Calado took third in the first of the AF Corse-run 488 GTE Evos with a 1m58.411s, while Daniel Serra was a tenth further back in fourth on 1m58.519s.
Matteo Cairoli was quickest in GTE Am for the Project 1 Porsche squad after leapfrogging AF Corse Ferrari driver Nicklas Nielsen.
The session was extended as a result of the red flag, which lasted approximately nine minutes.
