WEC: Kobayashi tops Practice 2 times in Bahrain
Kamui Kobayashi led a 1-2 for Toyota in Friday practice for the next to last race of the 2021 World Endurance Championship season in Bahrain.
The No.7 Toyota GR010 HYBRID Hypercar set the pace in the second 90-minute free practice session for round five of the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship – the BAPCO 6 Hours of Bahrain this morning.
Kobayashi’s lap of 1m49.063s was 1.5s faster than Sebastien Buemi’s FP1 best yesterday in the sister #8 Toyota.
Porsche placed 1-2 in LMGTE Pro with the two cars separated by just 0.24s. Kevin Estre posted a 1m56.411s lap in his 911 RSR-19 which he shares with Neel Jani. The two AF Corse Ferraris were 3rd and 4th after “god” (WEC officials) gave them a boost reduction to help Porsche.
The No.28 JOTA driven by Tom Blomqvist took top position in LMP2 with a time of 1m50.199s, 0.8s faster than the United Autosports car driven by Filipe Albuquerque.
Matteo Cairoli again stared in LMGTE Am for the No.56 Project 1 Porsche. A 1m58.015s lap slightly improved his best from Thursday.
Friday Practice 2 Times
| Pos | No. | Class | Drivers | Car | Time | Behind |
| 1 | 7 | HYPERCAR | Mike Conway/Kamui Kobayashi/Jose Maria Lopez | Toyota GR010 – Hybrid | 1m49.063s | 0.000s |
| 2 | 8 | HYPERCAR | Sébastien Buemi/Kazuki Nakajima/Brendon Hartley | Toyota GR010 – Hybrid | 1m49.093s | 0.030s |
| 3 | 36 | HYPERCAR | Andre Negrao/Nicolas Lapierre/Matthieu Vaxiviere | Alpine A480 | 1m50.194s | 1.131s |
| 4 | 28 | LMP2 | Sean Gelael/Stoffel Vandoorne/Tom Blomqvist | Oreca 07 | 1m50.199s | 1.136s |
| 5 | 22 | LMP2 | Philip Hanson/Fabio Scherer/Filipe Albuquerque | Oreca 07 | 1m50.979s | 1.916s |
| 6 | 31 | LMP2 | Robin Frijns/Ferdinand Habsburg/Charles Milesi | Oreca 07 | 1m51.075s | 2.012s |
| 7 | 44 | LMP2 | Miro Konopka/Oliver Webb/Kush Maini | Oreca 07 | 1m51.382s | 2.319s |
| 8 | 20 | LMP2 | Dennis Andersen/Anders Fjordbach/Robert Kubica | Oreca 07 | 1m51.493s | 2.430s |
| 9 | 34 | LMP2 | Jakub Smiechowski/Renger van der Zande/Alex Brundle | Oreca 07 | 1m51.595s | 2.532s |
| 10 | 21 | LMP2 | Henrik Hedman/Juan Pablo Montoya/Ben Hanley | Oreca 07 | 1m52.160s | 3.097s |
| 11 | 38 | LMP2 | Roberto Gonzalez/Antonio Felix da Costa/Anthony Davidson | Oreca 07 | 1m53.538s | 4.475s |
| 12 | 1 | LMP2 | Sophia Flörsch/Beitske Visser/Gabriel Aubry | Oreca 07 | 1m53.919s | 4.856s |
| 13 | 70 | LMP2 | Esteban Garcia/Loic Duval/Norman Nato | Oreca 07 | 1m54.308s | 5.245s |
| 14 | 92 | LMGTE PRO | Kevin Estre/Neel Jani | Porsche 911 RSR – 19 | 1m56.411s | 7.348s |
| 15 | 29 | LMP2 | Frits van Eerd/Giedo van der Garde/Job Van Uitert | Oreca 07 | 1m56.543s | 7.480s |
| 16 | 91 | LMGTE PRO | Gianmaria Bruni/Richard Lietz | Porsche 911 RSR – 19 | 1m56.658s | 7.595s |
| 17 | 56 | LMGTE AM | Egidio Perfetti/Matteo Cairoli/Riccardo Pera | Porsche 911 RSR – 19 | 1m58.015s | 8.952s |
| 18 | 33 | LMGTE AM | Ben Keating/Dylan Pereira/Felipe Fraga | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | 1m58.919s | 9.856s |
| 19 | 77 | LMGTE AM | Christian Ried/Jaxon Evans/Matt Campbell | Porsche 911 RSR – 19 | 1m59.020s | 9.957s |
| 20 | 51 | LMGTE PRO | Alessandro Pier Guidi/James Calado | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | 1m59.317s | 10.254s |
| 21 | 52 | LMGTE PRO | Daniel Serra/Miguel Molina | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | 1m59.486s | 10.423s |
| 22 | 47 | LMGTE AM | Roberto Lacorte/Giorgio Sernagiotto/Antonio Fuoco | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | 1m59.970s | 10.907s |
| 23 | 777 | LMGTE AM | Satoshi Hoshino/Tomonobu Fujii/Andrew Watson | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | 2m00.164s | 11.101s |
| 24 | 98 | LMGTE AM | Paul Dalla Lana/Augusto Farfus/Marcos Gomes | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | 2m00.392s | 11.329s |
| 25 | 83 | LMGTE AM | François Perrodo/Nicklas Nielsen/Alessio Rovera | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | 2m00.509s | 11.446s |
| 26 | 88 | LMGTE AM | Khaled Al Qubaisi/Adrien de Leener/Julien Andlauer | Porsche 911 RSR – 19 | 2m00.617s | 11.554s |
| 27 | 54 | LMGTE AM | Thomas Flohr/Francesco Castellacci/Giancarlo Fisichella | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | 2m00.631s | 11.568s |
| 28 | 86 | LMGTE AM | Michael Wainwright/Benjamin Barker/Tom Gamble | Porsche 911 RSR – 19 | 2m00.907s | 11.844s |
| 29 | 60 | LMGTE AM | Rino Mastronardi/Andrea Piccini/Matteo Cressoni | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | 2m01.017s | 11.954s |
| 30 | 57 | LMGTE AM | Takeshi Kimura/Mikkel Jensen/Scott Andrews | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | 2m01.187s | 12.124s |
| 31 | 85 | LMGTE AM | Rahel Frey/Sarah Bovy/Katherine Legge | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | 2m01.248s | 12.185s |