Kamui Kobayashi continued to set the pace during practice during the second session this evening at the Bahrain International Circuit. The Japanese driver put the No. 7 atop the timing screens with a 1m48.851s, putting him over four-tenths clear of the sister No. 8 Toyota which slotted in second.
Cadillac Racing’s V-Series.R was the only other Hypercar to get within a second of the No. 7 during the extended session, which ran for an additional 10 minutes to make up for the time lost to the adverse weather conditions in Free Practice 1. Its best time was a 1m47.690s from Alex Lynn.
The weather wasn’t a factor in FP2, with the cars getting plenty of mileage in under the floodlights ahead of FP3 and qualifying tomorrow.
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Hertz Team JOTA’s Porsche ended up fourth, ahead of the quickest of the Penske 963s, the No. 6. It was another quiet outing for Ferrari AF Corse, its 499Ps faster than only the Vanwall, 3.7 and 3.9 seconds off the best time from Kobayashi.
In LMP2 United Autosports’ No. 22 ORECA set the fastest time again, with Filipe Albuquerque improving on his FP1 flyer with a 1m52.850s, three-tenths up on the No. 63 PREMA and No. 36 Alpine ORECAs that slotted in second and third in the class.
GTE Am was the only class that saw its order shuffled significantly from Free Practice 1 earlier in the day. This time it was the No. 57 Kessel Racing Ferrari that would finish with the best hot lap, Daniel Serra setting a 1m58.246s.
GR Racing’s Porsche took second with the No. 56 Project 1 AO Porsche third. Unfortunately for the “Rexy” liveried No. 56, its day ended early when Gunnar Jeanette backed the car into the wall on the run to pit-in with 27 minutes remaining.
While Jeanette was unharmed in the incident, the team believes chassis damage to the left-rear corner is beyond immediate repair. And in this, the last race week for GTE in the WEC, there are no spare chassis available. The car may make the “farewell GTE” photocall this evening, at least.
Track action continues Friday with Free Practice 3 at 12pm local time.