Final WEC grid set ahead of tomorrows eight hour marathon in the desert of Bahrain
Friday, November 01, 2024
This afternoon’s final Hypercar and LMGT3 class Qualifying sessions saw the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Racing LMGT3 of Ian James progress through to their Hyperpole session whilst the #777 D’Station Racing AMR of Clement Mateu narrowly missed out on that feat by finishing just 0.122 of a second of what was required for them to finish within the top ten and progress in the Hyperpole session as both cars had laps deleted for track limit violations.
Whilst their race starting position was then cemented in P11 out of the class entry of eighteen cars, the #27 car ran a further five lap session of Hyperpole to claim a P6 starting position for Saturdays race – some three quarters of a second off the pole setting pace of both United Autosport McLarens.
Obviously qualifying pace and race pace are two distinct things in their own right as we know, as we would image that that with a blistering eight-hour affair in front of them that tyre strategy has already come into play.
Looking through the earlier Free Practice times, that is clear during FP1 when both Astons featured at the bottom of the timing screen, posting lap times (at best) two and a half seconds off the pace before the #27 improved upon this to complete the track practice availability to just over 0.165 of a second.
How much of that is down to strategy over ultimate pace from the new Vantage LMGT3 will not be clearly seen until the race gets underway but at least there is no championship pressure to perform over and above the rest with the LMGT3 class title already having been claimed after the previous round from Fuji.
The race itself begins at 14:00hrs local after which on Sunday will be the now customary Rookie Driver Test.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
The race itself begins at 14:00hrs local after which on Sunday will be the now customary Rookie Driver Test.
Photo credits – Teams / Series / social media
