The Ferrari 488 GTE of James Calado and Daniel Serra will set off from the second row at the 8 Hours of Bahrain, the final round of Season 8 of the FIA World Endurance Championship. Teammates Davide Rigon and Miguel Molina finished the session in fifth. In the LMGTE Am class, Red River Sport’s Ferrari took third place while the two AF Corse cars will start from sixth and seventh on the grid.
LMGTE Pro. The twenty-minute battle for pole position offered spectacle and very little between the cars, with lots of work for the marshals who reported numerous violations of the track limits punishable by the immediate cancellation of lap times.
James Calado was first to take to the track, setting a best time of 1:56.841 before making way for Daniel Serra. The Brazilian, who was standing in for Alessandro Pier Guidi, further improved the time to 1:56.572, taking the 488 GTE no. 51 into third position, 185 thousandths of a second off the Aston Martin driven by Sørensen-Thiim that will start on pole with a time of 1:56.521. The crew of AF Corse no. 71 finished the session in fifth even though Davide Rigon and Miguel Molina preferred to prioritise the race, using just a single set of tyres unlike some of their rivals. Rigon, who lost out on his first attempt due to an AM car spinning in front of him, still posted an excellent 1:56.970 on his second and last lap, while Miguel Molina with used tyres posted an excellent 1:57.464 for an average time of 1:57.217, which gives the pair a place on the third row.
LMGTE Am. Red River Sport enjoyed the best qualifying, finishing the session in third place with Kei Cozzolino and Bonamy Grimes behind the wheel. The pair, joined for tomorrow’s race by Colin Noble, posted an average time of 1:58.868 which will allow them to start in the wake of Aston Martin no. 98 which took pole in 1:58.356. Sixth and seventh place went to the two 488 GTEs of AF Corse. Francesco Castellacci and Thomas Flohr qualified no. 54 in sixth position with a time of 1:59.194, while Nicklas Nielsen and François Perrodo with 1:59.637 will set off in pursuit of the title from the fourth row. The two crews will enjoy the support of Giancarlo Fisichella and Emmanuel Collard, who will climb into no. 54 and no. 83, respectively.
Schedule. The last event in the 2020 season of the WEC World Championship will start on Saturday at 2 pm local time and end eight hours later, illuminated by 4500 lights on 495 lampposts and will decide the new world champions in the LMGTE Pro and LMGTE Am classes.