WEC: Toyota Takes Pole for Season Finale

Brendon Hartley scorched to a superb pole position at the Bahrain International Circuit this evening to put he and teammates Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa in the best place possible to take the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship tomorrow.

The Kiwi set a blistering lap of 1m46.800s to lead the No.93 Peugeot TotalEnergies entered 9X8 Hypercar.

“It’s fantastic to get pole position, and particularly the World Championship point.

“That was one of my better laps. The grip has improved a lot since practice and I got the tires working perfectly, everything was in the right window. I knew when I crossed the line that it was pretty strong, so it felt really nice when I heard the gap to second place.

“It hasn’t been a straightforward weekend on our side of the garage up to now. We were struggling in practice this morning, when car #7 went in a different direction to us and was much better.

“We followed their set-up, so thanks to them for finding the right direction and a big thanks to the team. The qualifying result looks dominant, but I don’t think that reflects the true picture and I am expecting a tight race between us, Peugeot and Alpine.”

“That was my first qualifying session in the 9X8, on fresh tires and with a low fuel load,” said Paul Di Resta in the #93 Peugeot. “So it was all new for me! We did the best job we could and today’s result is a great way to head into the 8 Hours of Bahrain. The hardest part – the race itself – is still to come, though!”

Porsche hold the advantage in LMGTE Pro as Gimmi Bruni claimed the point ahead of the usual sustained challenge from the AF Corse Ferrari team.

The age-old battle between the two legendary manufacturers will see the No.51 Ferrari and No.92 Porsche fight for the crown as they did last season.

However, the No.51 title defending Ferrari ended the session spectacularly as Alessandro Pier Guidi spun on his push lap right at the end of the session.

In LMP2 the Realteam by WRT squad took a maiden pole of 2022 as Norman Nato left it until the final seconds to claim the top spot.

Nato swept to a brilliant 1m50.330 lap to beat the points leading No.38 Oreca-Gibson driven by Will Stevens.

The LMGTE Am category witnessed Sarah Bovy reprising her Monza heroics with a superb pole position for the Iron Dames Ferrari team.

Title leader TF Sport will start the race from second position after Ben Keating was just unable to wrest the pole from Bovy.

Tomorrow’s Bapco 8 Hours of Bahrain is scheduled to begin at 11.00 local time. Follow all the action on the official WEC App.

Qualifying Results