Bike legend Valentino Rossi was a tenth from the fastest time by a Hypercar newcomer on his participation with BMW in the World Endurance Championship rookie test in Bahrain.
The seven-time MotoGP champion posted a 1m50.577s aboard the #20 WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDh late in the afternoon session of the test on Sunday, the day after the WEC championship finale in Bahrain.
That compared with Arthur Leclerc’s 1m50.460s at the wheel of the #50 AF Corse Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercar also set in the final hour of the afternoon period.
BMW factory driver Rossi, who raced a WRT-run M4 GT3 in the WEC this year, revealed that he should have gone quicker on his first experience of a Hypercar class contender.
He had two runs on fresh sets of the medium compound Michelin tyre at the end of the day.
The first was curtailed by a red flag and then he spun on his second before restarting and getting down to his 1m50.5s.
“I was a little bit unlucky because on the second set you can improve,” said Rossi. “On the first set I had a red flag and on the second set when I pushed I had traffic with GT3s, and I spun.
“Normally when you spin you destroy the tyres, but luckily it was good - I could restart and make the 50.5.”
Leclerc, brother of Charles and a Ferrari Formula 1 development driver, also had what he described as a pair of “performance runs” but he did use fresh rubber.
The third fastest rookie was Alpine academy driver Victor Martins. The Formula 2 race winner was quickest of the drivers having a first run in a Hypercar class entry in the morning, setting a 1m50.934s and then improving to a 1m50.717s in the afternoon.
His afternoon mark stood as the fastest time by a rookie when he completed his test before the quicker conditions of the late afternoon.
Max Hesse was fourth fastest in the #15 BMW with a 1m50.819s. Thomas Neubauer was fifth in the #51 Ferrari while Dan Harper, who shared the #15 BMW with Hesse, took sixth.
The fastest set over the course of the five hours of track time on Sunday was set by Cadillac regular Earl Bamber in the solo Ganassi V-Series.R LMDh. He posted a 1m49.566s in the course of a short run early in the morning session.
