Peugeot returned to the highest of the occasions in ultimate observe for this weekend’s season finale of the World Endurance Championship in Bahrain.
Jean-Eric Vergne set the tempo within the Friday morning Free Observe 1 session aboard the #93 Peugeot 9X8 2024 Le Mans Hypercar, following up on Paul di Resta’s table-topping efficiency in FP1 on Thursday.
The Frenchman’s 1m49.443s set firstly of the 60-minute session gave him a margin of two tenths over second-placed Yifei Ye, who bought all the way down to a 1m40.662s aboard the client AF Corse-run Ferrari 499P LMH.
Lamborghini took third place courtesy of a 1m50.014s from Daniil Kvyat within the solo Iron Lynx SC63 LMDh.
Peugeot, which has been given a Stability of Efficiency break for the Bahrain occasion, backed up its front-running FP3 tempo with fourth place from di Resta within the second of the 9X8 LMHs.
The ex-Method 1 driver’s 1m50.028s put him only one hundredth of a second behind the Lamborghini.
#94 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Paul Di Resta, #93 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Mikkel Jensen
Picture by: Andreas Beil
The 2 Alpine A424 LMDhs completed fifth and sixth: Mick Schumacher’s 1m50.612s giving him a half second margin over Ferdinand Habsburg within the sister automobile run by the Signatech squad.
Antonio Fuoco positioned one of the best of the manufacturing facility Ferrari 499Ps in seventh and the sister AF-run works automobile jumped to eighth late within the session in Antonio Giovinazzi’s fingers.
Fuoco solely accomplished seven laps earlier than pitting due to a suspected difficulty with a cable within the entrance Motor Generator Unit (MGU) and the automobile didn’t return to the observe.
The 2 buyer Jota Porsche 963 LMDhs rounded out the highest 10 with Norman Nato simply shading Oliver Rasmussen.
Toyota took eleventh with the quickest of its pair of GR010 HYBRID LMHs with Kamui Kobayashi on the wheel, whereas the championship-leading manufacturing facility Porsche 963 was twelfth within the fingers of Andre Lotterer.
BMW, which led the best way in FP2 on Thursday, ended up seventeenth and 18th with its pair of WRT-run M Hybrid V8s.
The #92 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3-R took prime spot in LMGT3 with Alex Malykhin on the wheel.
The Belarusian, who claimed the LMGT3 class title final trip within the WEC at Fuji in September with team-mates Klaus Bachler and Joel Sturm, set a 2m03.987s lap to finish up simply 5 hundredths faster than Arnold Robin within the quickest of the Auto Sport Promotion Lexus RC F GT3s.
Qualifying for the Bahrain 8 Hours kicks off at 16:00 native time on Friday.
WEC Bahrain – Free Observe 3 outcomes
