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The two Toyotas were separated by one tenth in final practice for the last round of the 2019/20 World Endurance Championship in Bahrain on Saturday.

Brendon Hartley topped the times aboard the #8 Toyota TS050 HYBRID in the opening minutes of the 60-minute session with a 1m43.557s.

The #7 entry with Mike Conway at the wheel was held in the pits for five minutes for a yellow-flag infringement in FP2 and then posted 1m43.659s, just 0.102s slower than the sister car.

It was the second time in the three sessions of practice that the #8 Toyota had set the pace, despite carrying a 0.54s performance penalty under the LMP1 success handicap system.

Kazuki Nakajima had a brief spin in the #8 Toyota during the session.

Jackie Chan DC Racing led the way in LMP2 courtesy of a 1m48.598s from Will Stevens in the team’s ORECA-Gibson 07.

That put the Jota-run entry a couple of tenths up on the United Autosports ORECA in which Phil Hanson got down to a 1m48.810s.

The Signatech Alpine ORECA took third in the class times with Thomas Laurent, who posted a 1m49.134s.

Antonio Felix da Costa ended up fourth in the ORECA run under the Jota Sport banner with a 1m49.767s.

Porsche led the way in GTE Pro for the first time of the Bahrain meeting.

Michael Christensen ended up fastest in the best of the factory Porsche 911 RSRs with a 1m56.790s lap set early in the session.

That put the Dane nearly a second up on the second-placed Aston Martin Vantage GTE in which Nicki Thiim managed 1m57.709s.

James Calado was third fastest for Ferrari to make it three manufacturers in the top three. The Brit set a 1m57.964s in the best of the AF Corse-run Ferrari 488 GTE Evos.

A 1m58.321s put Maxime Martin fourth in the second Aston.

The GTE Am division was led by the Aston Martin Racing entry in which Ross Gunn posted a 1m57.947s, with Nicklas Nielsen second in class in the #83 AF-run Ferrari.

Qualifying for the eighth round of the 2019/20 WEC campaign begins at 6:00pm local time.

WEC Bahrain – FP3 results

Pos Class Driver Team Car Gap
1 LMP1 S.Buemi, K.Nakajima, B.Hartley Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota 1m43.557s
2 LMP1 M.Conway, K.Kobayashi, J.M.Lopez Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota 0.102s
3 LMP2 H-Pin Tung, G.Aubry, W.Stevens Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA/Gibson 5.041s
4 LMP2 P.Hanson, F.Albuquerque, P.Di Resta United Autosports ORECA/Gibson 5.253s
5 LMP2 T.Laurent, A.Negrao, P.Ragues Signatech Alpine Elf Alpine/Gibson 5.577s
6 LMP2 R.Gonzalez, A.F.da Costa, A.Davidson JOTA ORECA/Gibson 6.210s
7 LMP2 R.Lacorte, A.Belicchi, G.Sernagiotto Cetilar Racing ORECA/Gibson 7.651s
8 LMP2 F.van Eerd, G.van der Garde, N.de Vries Racing Team Nederland ORECA/Gibson 7.779s
9 GTE Pro M.Christensen, K.Estre Porsche GT Team Porsche 13.233s
10 GTE Pro M.Sorensen, N.Thiim Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 14.152s
11 GTE Am P.D.Lana, P.Lamy, R.Gunn Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 14.390s
12 GTE Pro J.Calado, D.Serra AF Corse Dallara/Gibson 14.407s
13 GTE Pro R.Westbrook, M.Martin Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 14.764s
14 GTE Am F.Perrodo, E.Collard, N.Nielsen AF Corse Ferrari 14.953s
15 GTE Pro D.Rigon, M.Molina AF Corse Ferrari 14.957s
16 GTE Pro G.Bruni, R.Lietz Porsche GT Team Porsche 14.995s
17 GTE Am C.Ried, R.Pera, D.Olsen Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 15.455s
18 GTE Am M.Wainwright, A.Picariello, B.Barker Gulf Racing Porsche 15.470s
19 GTE Am E.Perfetti, L.ten Voorde, J.Bergmeister Team Project 1 Porsche 15.497s
20 GTE Am B.Keating, D.Pereira, J.Bleekemolen Team Project 1 Porsche 15.651s
21 GTE Am S.Yoluc, C.Eastwood, J.Adam TF Sport Aston Martin 16.251s
22 GTE Am K.Al Qubaisi, J.Evans, M.Holzer Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 16.377s
23 GTE Am B.Grimes, K.Cozzolino, C.Noble Red River Sport Ferrari 16.490s
24 GTE Am T.Flohr, F.Castellacci, G.Fisichella AF Corse Ferrari 16.638s

Autosport has produced a standalone special magazine to celebrate our 70th birthday. All current print subscribers will receive a copy for free. To pre-order your copy of the 196-page Autosport 70th Anniversary issue, please go to: autosport.com/autosport70th



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