Lexus take LMGT3 pole for WEC finale in Bahrain
- Aaron Carroll
- 46 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Qualifying for the 8 Hours of Bahrain, the finale of the 2025 World Endurance Championship (WEC) season got underway at 16:00 local time (12:00 GMT), with the LMGT3 class taking to the track first.
The No.78 Lexus will start at the front of the LMGT3 pack for tomorrows race, after Finn Gehrsitz set two laps good enough for pole in the Hyperpole session. Iron Lynx and Mercedes will start second and third.
The championship contenders will be mixed around the grid, with the championship leading No.92 in 17th, the second placed No.21 in eighth and the third placed No.81 down in 14th.
Qualifying
First it was the bronze drivers who were given their turn to set their best times, with the aim of being in the top 10 at the end of the 12 minute session.
Not everyone went straight out onto the track when the light at the end of the pit lane turned green, some waited in the pit lane to get some clear track space.
Tom Van Rumpoy took a long while to leave the pit lane, but did eventually leave after about five minutes. Meanwhile Thomas Flohr brought the No.54 Ferrari back into the pits after his out lap, the car being dragged into the garage with the engine cover coming off. They later wheeled the car back out with four and a half minutes to go.
Andrew Gilbert in the No.60 Mercedes went to the top early on, with less than a tenth covering him Ben Keating and Bernardo Sousa. The times quickly came down though as the tyres warmed up and the track was rubbered in.
Martin Berry was the first man in the 2:02s in the No.61 Mercedes, but with many others still improving. With two and a half minutes left both the No.81 Corvette and No.92 Porsche were in the drop zone, two of the three championship contenders needing improvement.
Arnold Robin in the No.78 Lexus went second, putting the sister No.87 into the drop zone. James Cottingham in the No.59 did the same with his teammate, the No.95. Van Rompuy finally got onto some flying laps, but with a minute to go was in 15th, 1.3 seconds off the pace.
As the chequered flag flew, many drivers were unable to improve as the tyres began to fall off. Van Rompuy improved by a tenth or so, up to 14th, but that was all she wrote. Flohr in the trouble stricken Ferrari was the only one setting green sectors. A massive slide for him coming out of Turn 13 but him off, as he missed his braking point for turn 14, going deep and losing the lap.
So in order, those not going to Hyperpole were the No.33 Corvette, No.95 McLaren, No.77 Ford, No.81 Corvette, No.10 Aston Martin, No.54 Ferrari, No.92 Porsche and No.85 Porsche. That is the No.81 (third in championship) in 14th and the championship leading No.92 all the way down in 17th. Second in the championship, No.21 was eighth and through to Hyperpole.
Martin Berry in the No.61 Mercedes was quicker, from the No.78 Lexus and No.88 Ford.
Hyperpole
The top 10 were given a further 10 minutes to sort out their grid slots for tomorrow, with the Silver graded drivers being strapped into the cars for this session.
As was the case in the opening session, the cars were somewhat staggered leaving the pits, spacing themselves across the track.
Finn Gehrsitz was the first of the drivers to dip into the 2:01s, going to the top of the timing sheets with about 5 minutes to go. Two minutes left, Simon Mann in the No.21 Ferrari went up to fourth, a second off the time of the Lexus driver.
Ghersitz in the No.78 found another two tenths on his next lap, to extend his lead at the top. Lorcan Hanafin in the No.60 Mercedes slotted into second, three tenths off Ghersitz and half a tenth ahead of Lin Hodenius in the sister No.61.
Timur Boguslavisky improved slightly but stayed in fifth in the No.31 BMW, while Mann in the Ferrari went from eighth to seventh. Hanafin was improving in the first sector of his next lap, but only just barely improved after catching a bit of traffic in the final sector.
Gehrstiz pitted, thinking he had done his best. Sebastian Baud was the first to take the chequered flag, but could only manage 10th. Boguslavisky couldn't improve, nor could Mann or Valentino Rossi. The tyres had really gone at this stage, so no one could find time.
It will be the No.78 Lexus on pole for tomorrows finale then, ahead of both of the Mercedes cars, No.60 ahead of No.61. Then came the No.87 Lexus, No.31 BMW, No.27 Aston Martin, No.88 Ford, No.21 Ferrari, No.46 BMW and the No.59 McLaren.
