Robert Schwartzman set the fastest time at the FIA World Endurance Championship rookie test in Bahrain on Sunday, putting his Ferrari 499P at the top of the time charts.
The Ferrari F1 reserve driver set a best lap of 1 minute 48.559 seconds in Sunday’s afternoon session, beating pacesetter Will Stevens’ No. 38 Hertz Team JOTA Porsche 963 by 0.066 seconds in the morning session. .
Schwartzman rode for the first time on a Dallara chassis prototype, which he shared in testing with Lilou Wadu and Alessandro Pierre Guidi.
Waddu was the second fastest rookie driver of the day, setting a lap time of 1:49.488, also in the afternoon.
Nico Varone in the No. 2 Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V Series.R recorded a time of 1:50.048, placing him third among the top rookies.
The newly crowned WEC GTE-Am champion was ahead of Julian Androder in the No. 99 Proton Competition Porsche he shared with René Binder, and set a faster time than the factory Porsche driver.
Other notable drivers who test drove Hypercar machines on Sunday included DTM champion Thomas Planing, who clocked a 1:50.603 in the No. 5 Penske Porsche. Planing completed the most laps of the day with 82 laps.
IMSA GTD Pro champions Ben Barnicoat and Jack Hawksworth completed 78 laps in the No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, with Barnicoat finishing faster than WEC designated driver Josh Pearson, who completed 32 laps in the same car. Ta.
Kiffin Simpson logged more than 40 laps alongside Vallone in the No. 2 Cadillac, while Job Bab Uitert recorded seat time in the No. 4 Vanwall Vandervell 680 Gibson.
In LMP2, the Inter Europol Competition #43 Oreca 07 Gibson (Clément Novalac) took the lead, the Belgian’s prototype debut being just 0.019 seconds faster than Team WRT’s Charles Werz.
Valentino Rossi also completed his first lap in an LMP2 car, but finished just eight-tenths of a second behind his teammate Wertz, who had taken seat time in the renumbered No. 46 Oreca.
Meanwhile, Lorenzo Patrese drove the No. 83 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo in the class where Fanatec GT World Challenge European Champion Timur Boguslavsky completed the first lap in his Corvette C8.R. – Recorded the fastest time among the Am machines. Ahead of a possible LMGT3 campaign with TF Sports next year.
WEC-nominated rookie Anthony Dokan also got behind the wheel of a GTE-spec Corvette on his final outing before retiring from professional competition.
The afternoon session only brought out one red flag due to an accident involving Christoph Ullrich in the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari, who sustained minor left front damage in a collision at Turn 10.
Results: Rookie Test (Combined)