Aston Martin Racing set a blistering pace in the desert

With one having his last race cut short on lap one last time out in Shnaghai and the other having his season cut short after Le Mans, it was a rejuvenated #97 car of Darren Turner and Jonny Adam who were the pick of the crop in the GTE Pro class after the second Free Practice session in Bahrain today.

Setting a time of 1:58:735 in the first session Turner and Adam then went on to improve that to a 1:57:226 in the second session as the air temperature cooled into the evening. Right behind them were always multi GTE Pro championship contenders Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen in their #95 Young Driver car ending their day just 0.007 seconds behind (such a spooky coincidence!).


Behind them and ever threatening in the background were of course the two AF Corse Ferrari 488's and the Ford GT's, although it was the turn of the Fords to appear somewhat forlorn towards the bottom of the timing screen in the early stages of the day following their post Shanghai BoP adjustment but it was the in form #67 of Tinknell and Priaulx who eventually rounded off the day in third.

All is not yet settled in this class and the single point for class pole may make all the difference come Saturday evening.


In GTE Am, the #98 car of Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda are doing all that they can to keep alive their slim championship chances against the #83 AF Corse Ferrari. With the Ferrari being quickest in FP1 the Aston was only 0.002seconds behind before the #98 took control in FP2 setting a time that was actually quicker than two of the GTE Pro cars!

Tomorrow as they say is another day - one more Free Practice session in the morning before qualifying later in the afternoon/evening.

All still to play for………!!

Photo credits - Adrenal Media/AMR