As the 2015 WEC season enters it's final race weekend of the season in Bahrain it was the #17 championship leading Porsche of Timo Bernhard, Mark Webber and Brendon Hartley that led the way in Free Practice.
In what was a fairly standard Free Practice session it was Bernhard who put Porsche at the top of the timesheets, with his 1:42.800 effort putting the #17 Porsche just 0.017 seconds clear of their fellow title rivals, André Lotterer, Marcel Fässler and Benoit Tréluyer in the #7 Audi. Meanwhile the #8 Audi took third place six tenths off the pace.
Moving down the grid into LMP2 the top of the field was again very close with the #36 Signatech Alpine entry of Panciatici, Chatin and Capillaire leading the championship contending #26 G-Drive car of Rusinov, Canal and Bird by just three tenths of a second.
In the GT classes Ferrari locked out the GTE Pro class with their two entries ending the session 1-2, with the Bruni, Vilander #51 entry leading the Rigon, Calado #71 F458 Italia as they prepare to go toe-toe with the #91 Lietz and Christensen Porsche for the title.
Finally, in GTE Am the 4th placed Aston Martin Racing car of Dalla Lana, Lamy and Lauda, took the honours, whilst the first of the championship rivals in the form of the Patrick Dempsey-less Dempsey Racing entry wound up 4th by the checkered flag.
6 Hours of Bahrain - First Free Practice Results
1. LMP1 - #17 Porsche Team (Bernhard, Webber, Hartley) - 1:42.800
2. LMP1 - #7 Audi sport Team Joest (Lotterer, Fässler, Tréluyer) - +0.017
3. LMP1 - #8 Audi Sport Team Joest (Di Grassi, Duval, Jarvis) - +0.603
4. LMP1 - #18 Porsche Team (Dumas, Jani, Lieb) - +0.654
5. LMP1 - #1 Toyota Racing (Davidson, Buemi, Nakajima) - +2.571
6. LMP1 - #2 Toyota Racing (Wurz, Sarrazin, Conway) - +2.685
7. LMP1 - #13 Rebellion Racing (Imperatori, Kraihamer, Abt) - +7.349
8. LMP1 - #12 Rebellion Racing (Prost, Beche) - +7.350
9. LMP2 - #36 Signatech Alpine (Panciatici, Chatin, Capillaire) - +9.254
10. LMP1 - #4 Team ByKolles (Trummer, Kaffer) - +9.265
11. LMP2 - #26 G-Drive Racing (Rusinov, Canal, Bird) - +9.286
12. LMP2 - #42 Strakka Racing (Leventis, Kane, Watts) - +9.886
13. LMP2 - #47 KCMG (Howson, Bradley, Tandy) - +10.050
14. LMP2 - #44 AF Racing Racing (Aleshin, Minassian, Markozov) - +10.364
15. LMP2 - #43 Team SARD Morand (Webb, Cumming, Ragues) - +10.574
16. LMP2 - #31 Extreme Speed Motorsport (Brown, Overbeek, Fogarty) - +10.855
17. LMP2 - #28 G-Drive Racing (Yacamán, Derani, González) - +11.570
18. LMP2 - #30 Extreme Speed Motorsport (Sharp, Dalziel, Hansson) - +11.737
19. GTE Pro - #51 AF Corse (Bruni, Vilander) - +17.335
20. GTE Pro - #71 AF Corse (Rigon, Calado) - +17.705
21. GTE Pro - #92 Porsche Team Manthey (Pilet, Makowiecki) - +17.974
22. GTE Am - #98 Aston Martin Racing (Dalla Lana, Lamy, Lauda) - +18.480
23. GTE Pro - #97 Aston Martin Racing (Turner, Adam) - +18.604
24. GTE Am - #50 Larbre Competition (Roda, Ruberti, Poulsen) - +18.617
25. GTE Pro - #91 Porsche Team Manthey (Lietz, Christensen) - +19.132
26. GTE Pro - #99 Aston Martin Racing V8 (Rees, MacDowall, Stanaway) - +19.133
27. GTE Am - #72 SMP Racing (Shaytar, Basov, Bertolini) - +19.324
28. GTE Pro - #95 Aston Martin Racing (Nygaard, Sørensen) - +19.352
29. GTE Am - #77 Dempsey Racing-Proton (Ried, Long, Seefried) - +19.563
30. GTE Am - #96 Aston Martin Racing (Goethe, Hall, Castellacci) - +20.212
31. GTE Am - #83 AF Corse (Perrodo, Collard, Águas) - +21.567
32. GTE Am - #88 Abu Dhabi-Proton Racing (Ried, Bamber, Al Qubaisi) - +21.872
