WEC Silverstone: Buemi puts Toyota on top in first practice
Toyota led the way in the opening practice session of the 2017 World Endurance Championship at Silverstone, beating LMP1 rival Porsche by just under eight tenths of a second
The quickest time of the 90 minutes came courtesy of Sebastien Buemi early on, the Swiss driver getting his first official running of the year in Toyota's TS050 HYBRID, after skipping the Monza test to race in Formula E's clashing Mexico City ePrix.
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Buemi's benchmark was a 1m40.104s, putting the #8 Toyota - running in high-downforce configuration this weekend - 0.781 seconds clear of the best of the Porsches, the #2 919 Hybrid of Brendon Hartley.
Despite running with a Le Mans 24 Hours-spec low downforce aero kit this weekend, Hartley managed to edge the second Toyota, the #7 of Mike Conway, by 0.075s to end up second fastest.
Completing the four manufacturer LMP1 cars was the #1 Porsche, which set a best time of 1m41.335s in the hands of Nick Tandy, 1.231s off the pace established by Buemi.
The ByKolles ENSO CLM P1/01 - now without Robert Kubica - managed to turn 31 laps after a disastrous Prologue, the quickest of those being a 1m48.224s, slower than all-bar one LMP2 runner.
In LMP2, it was the #13 Rebellion ORECA that started the year on top, with an early effort of 1m45.913s from Mathias Beche enough to lead the way.
Second was the #28 TDS Racing car of Matthieu Vaxiviere, 0.367s slower, while third was the #37 Jota-run DC Racing entry with Alex Brundle at the wheel.
Both GTE classes were led by Aston Martin, with Richie Stanaway putting the #95 Vantage at the head of the standings in the Pro division with a best time of 1m59.110s.
The #98 Am class car of Pedro Lamy was second-best overall of the GTE cars with a 1m59.342s, 0.150s clear of the next-best Pro car, the #66 Ford of Billy Johnson.
It was the #66 car that was responsible for causing the first Full Course Yellow of the season, however, as Stefan Mucke ground to a halt just before the Wellington Straight with around 30 minutes remaining.
Andy Priaulx made it two Fords in the top three with a time of 1m59.500s in the sister #67 car, just 0.017s ahead of the best of the new mid-engined Porsches, the #91 car.
Ferrari ended up at the bottom of the GTE Pro pile in seventh and eighth, newcomer Alessandro Pier Guidi setting the Italian marque's best time of 2m00.181s in the #51 488 GTE.
PRACTICE ONE RESULTS:
Pos | Class | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | LMP1 | S.Buemi, A.Davidson, K.Nakajima | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 1m40.104s | - | 36 |
2 | LMP1 | T.Bernhard, E.Bamber, B.Hartley | Porsche LMP Team | Porsche | 1m40.885s | 0.781s | 35 |
3 | LMP1 | M.Conway, K.Kobayashi, J.M.Lopez | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 1m40.960s | 0.856s | 33 |
4 | LMP1 | N.Jani, A.Lotterer, N.Tandy | Porsche LMP Team | Porsche | 1m41.335s | 1.231s | 39 |
5 | LMP2 | M.Beche, D.H.Hansson, N.Piquet Jr. | Vaillante Rebellion | ORECA/Gibson | 1m45.913s | 5.809s | 31 |
6 | LMP2 | F.Perrodo, M.Vaxiviere, E.Collard | TDS Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m46.138s | 6.034s | 38 |
7 | LMP2 | D.Cheng, A.Brundle, T.Gommendy | Jackie Chan DC Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m46.505s | 6.401s | 36 |
8 | LMP2 | R.Rusinov, P.Thiriet, A.Lynn | G-Drive Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m46.689s | 6.585s | 40 |
9 | LMP2 | N.Lapierre, G.Menezes, M.Rao | Signatech Alpine Matmut | Alpine/Gibson | 1m46.826s | 6.722s | 26 |
10 | LMP2 | T.Graves, J.Hirschi, J-E.Vergne | CEFC Manor TRS Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m47.530s | 7.426s | 38 |
11 | LMP2 | H-Pin Tung, O.Jarvis, T.Laurent | Jackie Chan DC Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m47.690s | 7.586s | 29 |
12 | LMP2 | J.Canal, N.Prost, B.Senna | Vaillante Rebellion | ORECA/Gibson | 1m47.960s | 7.856s | 38 |
13 | LMP1 | O.Webb, J.Rossiter, D.Kraihamer | ByKOLLES Racing Team | ENSO CLM/NISMO | 1m48.224s | 8.120s | 31 |
14 | LMP2 | R.Gonzalez, S.Trummer, V.Petrov | CEFC Manor TRS Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m49.249s | 9.145s | 19 |
15 | GTE Pro | N.Thiim, M.Sorensen, R.Stanaway | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 1m59.110s | 19.006s | 39 |
16 | GTE Am | P.D.Lana, P.Lamy, M.Lauda | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 1m59.342s | 19.238s | 39 |
17 | GTE Pro | S.Mucke, O.Pla, B.Johnson | Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK | Ford | 1m59.492s | 19.388s | 32 |
18 | GTE Pro | A.Priaulx, H.Tincknell, P.Derani | Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK | Ford | 1m59.500s | 19.396s | 36 |
19 | GTE Pro | R.Lietz, F.Makowiecki | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 1m59.517s | 19.413s | 32 |
20 | GTE Pro | M.Christensen, K.Estre | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 1m59.655s | 19.551s | 23 |
21 | GTE Pro | D.Turner, J.Adam, D.Serra | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 1m59.730s | 19.626s | 42 |
22 | GTE Pro | J.Calado, A.P.Guidi | AF Corse | Ferrari | 2m00.181s | 20.077s | 30 |
23 | GTE Pro | D.Rigon, S.Bird | AF Corse | Ferrari | 2m00.271s | 20.167s | 39 |
24 | GTE Am | M.Wainwright, B.Barker, N.Foster | Gulf Racing | Porsche | 2m00.275s | 20.171s | 33 |
25 | GTE Am | C.Ried, M.Cairoli, M.Dienst | Dempsey-Proton Racing | Porsche | 2m00.402s | 20.298s | 30 |
26 | GTE Am | Mok W.S., K.Sawa, M.Griffin | Clearwater Racing | Ferrari | 2m02.271s | 22.167s | 37 |
27 | GTE Am | T.Flohr, F.Castellacci, M.Molina | Spirit of Race | Ferrari | 2m02.310s | 22.206s | 36 |
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