After the conclusion of the FIA World Endurance Championship for the 2025 season at the Bahrain International Circuit last weekend, the excitement continued yesterday in the “Home of Motorsport in the Middle East” with the start of the “Rocky” rookie trials for the World Endurance Championship.
The novice driver trials began yesterday during two periods, the first from 10 am to 12 pm and the evening period from 1 pm to 4 pm, with the participation of 29 cars in the hypercars and LMGT3 categories.
During the tests, Antonio Felix da Costa, from the Alpine team, recorded the fastest overall time today in the tests, as da Costa drove the Alpine A424 Hypercar No. 36 to the top of the overall standings, recording the fastest time of 1 minute and 49.214 seconds, which he achieved in the evening tests. Da Costa also recorded the fastest time earlier today in the morning, where he recorded the best time of 1 minute and 49.373 seconds.
Da Costa recorded his best lap of the afternoon, which lasted for three hours. Peugeot Total Energies driver Nick Cassidy, in his No. 93 9X8 Hypercar, trailed him by 0.162 seconds.
Lilo Wado, the #51 Ferrari AF Corse 499P, winner of the Hypercar Drivers’ Championship, was third by 0.712 seconds, while Charles Wirtz, driver of the #20 BMW M Team WRT Hybrid V8, was fourth by 0.921 seconds. Brendon Hartley placed Toyota Gazoo Racing among the top five drivers in Hypercars, beating him by 1.265 seconds in his #8 GR010 Hybrid.
Twenty-nine drivers participated in the race today at the Bahrain International Circuit, including 13 drivers in hypercars and 16 drivers in LMGT3 cars.
Among the competitors in the LMGT3 category were Hadrian David of the leading ACODIS ASP team, recording the fastest time of 2:01.801 minutes in his No. 87 Lexus RC F. Nicola Lacorte, in the No. 54 Ferrari 296 of the Fiesta AF Corse Team, finished second by 0.771 seconds, while Augusto Farfus followed in the No. 31 BMW M4 of Team Fiesta AF Corse. The Bend WRT is third, 1.054 seconds behind.
In the morning tests, Mattia Drudi finished behind da Costa in the No. 009 Aston Martin Valkyrie, 0.265 seconds behind the leader of the Hypercar race. Wado finished third, 0.606 seconds off pole, while Oliver Gray, driver of the No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari, followed in fourth, 0.87 seconds behind. Cassidy completed the list of the top five drivers in the Hypercar category in the round, with a difference of 1.063 seconds from the lead.
In the LMGT3 class, Tom Fleming was the leader of the Teams and Drivers class, Manthey, driving the #92 Porsche 911 GT3 R with the fastest time of 2:02.277.
Logan Sargent, driver of the No. 77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang, followed by 0.440 seconds, while United Autosports’ Alexander West was third, 0.805 seconds behind, in his No. 95 McLaren 720S Evo. Lacourt completed the top five in the morning, 1.231 seconds ahead of Fleming, and Iron Lynx’s Jean-Baptiste Semenauer, who finished testing with a lead. 1.249 seconds in his #61 Mercedes-AMG.
It is worth noting that the World Endurance Championship was launched at the Bahrain International Circuit as the final round of the fourteenth season of the championship through the Bapco Energies Bahrain 8 Hour Endurance Race, which ran from Thursday until last Saturday, in addition to the launch of the opening round of the Porsche Carrera Challenge Middle East Championship as a support race for the World Championship.
For more information about the World Endurance Championship at the Bahrain International Circuit, you can visit the official website www.bahraingp.com or call the hotline +973-17-450000.
