Lexus on Pole Again in LMGT3 as Mercedes-AMG Impresses

Lexus again led the way in the LMGT3 class, with Finn Gehrsitz in the No. 78 Akkodis-ASP entry giving the brand a second pole of the season.

Gehrsitz headed the leaderboard throughout the Hyperpole session with his 2:01.661 time on his second flier not being bettered.

The Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG squad enjoyed its strongest showing of the season to line up second and third, Lorcan Hanafin in the No. 60 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo pipping the sister No. 61 car of Lin Hodenius by just 0.02 seconds, but they were both three tenths adrift of the leading Lexus.

The second Lexus of Clemens Schmid which endured a gearbox problem that left it with virtually no running in FP2 was fourth, two-tenths further back.

Next up was the best of the Team WRT BMW M4 GT3 EVOs courtesy of Timur Boguslavskiy in the No. 31 machine, while the top six was completed by Zacharie Robichon in the No. 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo – the last car within a second of the pole-sitter.

Seventh fastest was Giammarco Levorato in the lead No. 88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3, while the first of the title contenders Simon Mann in the Vista AF Corse No. 21 Ferrari 296 GT3 could only manage eighth.

The top ten was completed by the No. 46 BMW of Valentino Rossi and the pick of the United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 Evos, the No. 59 car.

Neither Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R progressed to Hyperpole, the No. 33 will line up 11th while the title-fighting No. 81 machine was only 14th.

Porsche brought up the rear of the LMGT3 leaderboard, with the points-leading No. 92 Manthey Porsche 911 GT3 R of Ryan Hardwick down in 17th.

The No. 54 Ferrari headed to the pits after completing an installation lap and was worked on in the garage, resulting in it being under investigation by officials. Thomas Flohr did head back out, was only 16th.

The eight-hour Bahrain season finale is due to start Saturday at 2 p.m. local time (6 a.m. ET).