WEC: Hartley takes second pole of the season in Bahrain

Brendon Hartley in the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid claimed his second pole position of the season to extend his lead in the FIA World Endurance Championship to 16 points over the second of the Toyotas ahead of tomorrow’s season-concluding 8 Hours of Bahrain race

Hartley set his best lap of 1m46.564s and went 0.4s quicker than his nearest challenger, the #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing driven by Kamui Kobayashi to make it an all-Toyota front-row ahead of tomorrow’s intra-Toyota title battle.

The #2 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R Hypercar of Alex Lynn rounded out the top three after lapping in 1m47.265s.

Fourth was the #6 Porsche Penske 963 Hypercar qualified by Kévin Estre while Ferrari AF Corse took fifth and sixth as the # 50 499P of Antonio Fuoco finished ahead of the #51 car with Alessandro Pier Guidi at the wheel.

BLOMQVIST TAKES TOP SPOT IN P2 AS BOVY CLINCHES AM POLE
Tom Blomqvist in the #23 United Autosports entry recorded an incredible 1m52.290 on the second flying lap of his qualifying run to top the LMP2 session and to take the second pole of his part-time WEC campaign this season.

Joining the #23 car on the front row of the LMP2 grid will be the #36 Alpine ELF Team Oreca-Gibson driven by Charles Milesi, who got within 0.2s of pole time in what was the best qualifying session for the French outfit.

A late lap by Robin Frijns ensured that #31 Team WRT will start third tomorrow. The #41 Team WRT car of Robert Kubica, Louis Deletraz and Rui Andrade, which has a 33 points advantage in standings will start from 10th in class with Deletraz behind the wheel in qualifying.

Iron Dames took their third pole position of the 2023 season as Sarah Bovy crushed the opposition with the best time of 1m58.692s.

Bovy reprised her 2022 heroics to get pole as she and team-mates Michelle Gatting and Rahel Frey aim for runners-up place in the final standings.

D’Station Racing’s Aston Martin went second-fastest in thrilling final moments of the session as WEC newcomer Liam Talbot, who is replacing Satoshi Hoshino for this race, got within 0.2s of Bovy’s best time.

Ahmed Al Harthy makes it two Aston Martins in the top three as he takes the ORT by TF Sport machine to a peak of 1m59.161s.