Juan Pablo Montoya did not take long to get to grips with the WEC championship winning Porsche 919 Hybrid after the current Indy Car runner up topped the post 6 Hours of Bahrain rookie test session for the German outfit.
Montoya's best time came late in the day on a low fuel run which put him 1.2 seconds clear of Richie Stanaway in the Audi R18, and just over a second slower than Timo Bernhard's pole time set in the cooler Friday conditions.
Montoya shared driving duties at Porsche with Mitch Evans, fresh from his second GP2 victory of the season on Saturday, who clocked the third fastest time in the session earlier on in the day, whilst the two Toyota's completed the top five.
Sam Bird and Alex Lynn were also in action as announced earlier this week, however they ended the day's running as the slowest of the LMP1 Hybrid runners.
In LMP2, European Formula 3 driver Matthew Rao topped the session in the Signatech Alpine car ahead of GP2 regular Julian Leal, who was testing for AF Racing. Meanwhile elsewhere in the category, Lewis Williamson was responsible for the first red flag of the day after spinning into the gravel in his Strakka Racing machine, whilst Tio Ellinas faired little better once the car was handed over to him with his engine failing after just 14 laps.
Onto the GT classes the big story of the day was the debut of the new 2016-spec Aston Martin Vantage V8 which completed 72 laps at the hands of Darren Turner to finish 5th overall in GTE Pro. Porsche continued on from their title victory yesterday as their four drivers locked out the top four slots in GTE Pro, with 2015 Porsche Supercup champion Phillipp Eng being the man to beat.
Whilst finally GTE Am saw five of the six contenders for a factory Aston Martin drive battle it out on track, with Jamie Chadwick making good use of her experience in the British GT Championship to just edge out Nascar's Matt Bell for top of the class.
Bahrain Rookie Test - Official Results
1. LMP1 - #17 Porsche Team - Juan Pablo Montoya - 1:40.861
2. LMP1 - #8 Audi sport Team Joest - Richie Stanaway - +1.273
3. LMP1 - #17 Porsche Team - Mitch Evans - +2.085
4. LMP1 - #2 Toyota Racing - Anthony Davidson - +2.918
5. LMP1 - #1 Toyota Racing - Mike Conway - +2.954
6. LMP1 - #8 Audi Sport Team Joest - Benoit Tréluyer - +3.450
7. LMP1 - #1 Toyota Racing - Sam Bird - +4.457
8. LMP1 - #1 Toyota Racing - Alex Lynn - +5.164
9. LMP1 - #4 Team ByKolles - René Binder - +9.401
10. LMP2 - #36 Signatech Alpine - Matthew Rao - +11.165
11. LMP2 - #44 AF Racing - Julian Leal - +11.220
12. LMP1 - #4 Team ByKolles - Simon Trummer - +11.926
13. LMP2 - #44 AF Racing - Memo Rojas - +12.278
14. LMP2 - #42 Strakka Racing - Lewis Willamson - +13.187
15. LMP2 - #42 Strakka Racing - Tio Ellinas - +13.752
16. GTE Pro - #92 Porsche Team Manthey - Phillip Eng - +19.512
17. GTE Pro - #91 Porsche Team Manthey - Nick Catsburg - +19.744
18. GTE Pro - #92 Porsche Team Manthey - Nick Catsburg - +20.237
19. GTE Am - #99 Aston Martin Racing - Jamie Chadwick - +20.547
20. GTE Pro - #92 Porsche Team Manthey - David Heinemeier Hansson - +20.648
21. GTE Pro - #97 Aston Martin Racing - Darren Turner - +20.799
22. GTE Pro - #91 Porsche Team Manthey - Phillip Eng - +20.825
23. GTE Am - #99 Aston Martin Racing - Matt Bell - +21.311
24. GTE Am - #99 Aston Martin Racing - Daniel Lloyd - +22.248
25. GTE Am - #99 Aston Martin Racing - Devon Modell - +22.384
26. GTE Pro - #95 Aston Martin Racing - Jody Fanin - +22.814
27. GTE Pro - #95 Aston Martin Racing - Darren Turner - +23.133
28. GTE Pro - #95 Aston Martin Racing - Devon Modell - +23.864
29. GTE Am - #99 Aston Martin Racing - Ross Gun - +24.773
30. GTE Pro - #95 Aston Martin Racing - Salman Rashid Al Khalifa - +24.773
