In much cooler conditions than those from opening practice in the afternoon, di Resta was able to lower team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne’s FP1 benchmark by nearly a second to 1m49.613s in the final 90-minute session of the day.
The laptime, set just before the half-an-hour mark in the 90-minute session, put the #93 Peugeot 9X8 that di Resta shares with Vergne and Mikkel Jensen 0.045s clear of early pacesetter Brendon Hartley in the title-contending #8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID.
Matthieu Vaxiviere ensured all three Hypercar teams finished inside the top-three as he lapped the #36 Alpine A480-Gibson in 1m49.690s, just 0.077s down on the chart-topping Peugeot.
Alpine and the #8 Toyota crews are level on points going to 8 Hour race, with the #7 Toyota that finished fourth in second practice with Mike Conway at the wheel having an outside chance at defending its 2021 title.
The second Peugeot entry propped up the five-car Hypercar field with Loic Duval setting an unrepresentative 1m52.147s lap that was only good enough for eighth in the overall order.
The LMP2 division was again led by the Pro/Am AF Corse squad, with factory Ferrari driver Alessio Rovera taking the top spot with a best effort of 1m51.787s.
His time was two tenths quicker than his nearest rival Filipe Albuquerque in the #22 United Autosports ORECA and nearly half a second up on what team-mate Nicklas Nielsen had managed in FP1.
Robin Frijns put the #31 WRT ORECA third ahead of the second United Autosports entry, the #23 car driven by Alex Lynn, while InterEuropol Competition finished fifth in class thanks to a time of 1m52.279s by Alex Brundle.
The championship-leading #38 Jota entry was classified 11th out of 14th LMP2 entries, with Will Stevens setting the crew’s quickest lap, a 1m53.178s.
The GTE Pro field was again led by Porsche thanks to a rapid 1m57.192s effort from Michael Christensen in the #92 911 RSR-19 at the beginning of the session.
James Calado was the only driver to lap within a second of Christensen’s time as he ended up a distant second in the #51 Ferrari, with Miguel Molina not too far behind him in the sister #52 488 GTE in third.
The #51 Ferrari carries an 11-point lead over the #92 Porsche into the last-ever race for the GTE Pro category that has been a staple of the WEC since its rebirth in 2012.
The #91 Porsche finished fourth with Richard Lietz at the wheel, while Nick Tandy’s early stint only yielded a time of 1m58.826s as Corvette was the slowest GTE Pro manufacturer for the second session in a row.
Porsche teams locked out the top three spots in GTE Am, with Matteo Cairoli quickest of all in the #46 Project 1 car ahead of the two Dempsey Proton entries driven by Harry Tincknell and Jan Heylen.
The full-course yellow was deployed twice during the first half of practice, but the session went back to green at relatively quick speed on each occasion.
WEC Bahrain FP2 results:
| Cla | Drivers | Car | Class | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
 Paul di Resta  Mikkel Jensen  Jean-Eric Vergne |
Peugeot 9X8 | HYPERCAR | 1'49.613 | |
| 2 |
 Sébastien Buemi  Brendon Hartley  Ryo Hirakawa |
Toyota GR010 - Hybrid | HYPERCAR | 1'49.658 | 0.045 |
| 3 |
 Andre Negrao Nicolas Lapierre Matthieu Vaxiviere |
Alpine A480 | HYPERCAR | 1'49.690 | 0.077 |
| 4 |
Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi  Jose Maria Lopez |
Toyota GR010 - Hybrid | HYPERCAR | 1'49.773 | 0.160 |
| 5 |
François Perrodo Nicklas Nielsen  Alessio Rovera |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'51.787 | 2.174 |
| 6 |
Philip Hanson  Filipe Albuquerque  Will Owen |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'51.993 | 2.380 |
| 7 |
 Sean Gelael  Robin Frijns  René Rast |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'52.107 | 2.494 |
| 8 |
Loic Duval Gustavo Menezes Nico Müller |
Peugeot 9X8 | HYPERCAR | 1'52.147 | 2.534 |
| 9 |
Alex Lynn Oliver Jarvis Josh Pierson |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'52.159 | 2.546 |
| 10 |
 Jakub Smiechowski Alex Brundle  Esteban Gutierrez |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'52.279 | 2.666 |
| 11 |
Oliver Rasmussen  Ed Jones  Jonathan Aberdein |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'52.379 | 2.766 |
| 12 |
Lilou Wadoux Paul-Loup Chatin Charles Milesi |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'52.435 | 2.822 |
| 13 |
Robert Kubica Louis Deletraz Lorenzo Colombo |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'52.760 | 3.147 |
| 14 |
Rui Andrade  Ferdinand Habsburg Norman Nato |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'52.796 | 3.183 |
| 15 |
Thomas Steven  James Allen Rene Binder |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'52.881 | 3.268 |
| 16 |
Roberto Gonzalez Antonio Felix da Costa Will Stevens |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'53.178 | 3.565 |
| 17 |
Renger van der Zande  Ryan Cullen Sébastien Bourdais |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'53.379 | 3.766 |
| 18 |
 Miro Konopka Mathias Beche Richard Bradley |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'53.626 | 4.013 |
| 19 |
Jean Baptiste Lahaye Matthieu Lahaye François Heriau |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'55.056 | 5.443 |
| 20 |
Michael Christensen Kevin Estre |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE PRO | 1'57.192 | 7.579 |
| 21 |
Alessandro Pier Guidi James Calado |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE PRO | 1'57.995 | 8.382 |
| 22 |
 Miguel Molina Antonio Fuoco |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE PRO | 1'58.391 | 8.778 |
| 23 |
Gianmaria Bruni Richard Lietz |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE PRO | 1'58.514 | 8.901 |
| 24 |
Tommy Milner Nick Tandy |
Chevrolet Corvette C8.R | LMGTE PRO | 1'58.826 | 9.213 |
| 25 |
Matteo Cairoli Mikkel Pedersen Nicolas Leutwiler |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE AM | 1'59.717 | 10.104 |
| 26 |
Christian Ried Sebastian Priaulx Harry Tincknell |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE AM | 1'59.859 | 10.246 |
| 27 |
Fred Poordad Patrick Lindsey  Jan Heylen |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE AM | 2'00.019 | 10.406 |
| 28 |
Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Nick Cassidy |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 2'00.224 | 10.611 |
| 29 |
Simon Mann Christoph Ulrich  Toni Vilander |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 2'00.764 | 11.151 |
| 30 |
Claudio Schiavoni Matteo Cressoni Giancarlo Fisichella |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 2'00.792 | 11.179 |
| 31 |
 Paul Dalla Lana David Pittard Nicki Thiim |
Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 2'01.073 | 11.460 |
| 32 |
Ben Keating Henrique Chaves Jr. Marco Sorensen |
Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 2'01.074 | 11.461 |
| 33 |
Michael Wainwright Riccardo Pera Benjamin Barker |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE AM | 2'01.216 | 11.603 |
| 34 |
PJ Hyett Gunnar Jeannette Ben Barnicoat |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE AM | 2'01.217 | 11.604 |
| 35 |
Satoshi Hoshino Tomonobu Fujii Charlie Fagg |
Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 2'01.535 | 11.922 |
| 36 |
Franck Dezoteux Pierre Ragues Gabriel Aubry |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 2'01.609 | 11.996 |
| 37 |
Rahel Frey Michelle Gatting Sarah Bovy |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 2'01.707 | 12.094 |
| View full results | |||||
