Silverstone WEC: Lead Toyota edges Rebellion in final practice
Toyota led Rebellion by less than half a second in the final practice session for the opening round of the 2019/20 World Endurance Championship season at Silverstone
Kazuki Nakajima topped Saturday morning's hour-long session with an early effort of 1m37.014s in the #8 Toyota TS050 HYBRID around the newly-surfaced British venue.
That time was just under three tenths slower than stablemate Kamui Kobayashi managed on Friday, but enough to beat the quickest of the Rebellion R-13s, the #3 car of Nathanael Berthon, by 0.398s.
Gustavo Menezes put the #1 Rebellion in third, 0.936s off the pace but fractionally ahead of the #7 Toyota driven by Mike Conway.
Ginetta filled out fifth and sixth places with its pair of G60-LT-P1s, the quickest of which was 1.421s off the pace in the hands of factory driver Charlie Robertson.
There was drama for Robertson, however, who spun the #5 car at Becketts midway through the session and had to crawl back to the pits with a flat right-rear tyre.
The car, which did not set a timed lap in FP1 due to gear selection issues, reappeared on track later in the session.
LMP2 was topped once again by United Autosports and its new Michelin-shod ORECA, with silver-rated Phil Hanson setting the squad's fastest time of 1m41.271s.
Giedo van der Garde put Racing Team Nederland's ORECA, also running Michelins, in second with a time six tenths off the pace, while Will Stevens set the best time for a Goodyear-shod car in the Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA in third.
Ferrari led the way in GTE Pro courtesy of a 1m54.462s lap by James Calado in the #51 488 GTE, which was a little under a tenth up on the best of the all-new Porsche 911 RSR-19s driven by Gianmaria Bruni.
Michael Christensen was third fastest in the second of the Porsches, while the two Aston Martin Vantage GTEs could manage no better than fifth and sixth.
GTE Am was led by the #83 AF Corse Ferrari of WEC newcomer Nicklas Nielsen, whose lap of 1m54.662s was enough to put that car third overall in GTE and 1.5s up on the next-best Am car, Project 1's #56 Porsche 911 RSR.
FP3 times
Pos | Class | Driver | Team | Car | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | LMP1 | S.Buemi, K.Nakajima, B.Hartley | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 1m37.014s | 31 |
2 | LMP1 | N.Berthon, P.Derani, L.Duval | Rebellion Racing | Rebellion/Gibson | 0.398s | 25 |
3 | LMP1 | B.Senna, G.Menezes, N.Nato | Rebellion Racing | Rebellion/Gibson | 0.936s | 29 |
4 | LMP1 | M.Conway, K.Kobayashi, J.M.Lopez | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 0.967s | 30 |
5 | LMP1 | C.Robertson, B.Hanley, E.Orudzhev | Team LNT | Ginetta/AER | 1.421s | 20 |
6 | LMP1 | M.Simpson, O.Jarvis, G.Smith | Team LNT | Ginetta/AER | 1.747s | 28 |
7 | LMP2 | P.Hanson, F.Albuquerque, P.Di Resta | United Autosports | ORECA/Gibson | 4.257s | 24 |
8 | LMP2 | F.van Eerd, G.van der Garde, J.van Uitert | Racing Team Nederland | ORECA/Gibson | 4.888s | 28 |
9 | LMP2 | H-Pin Tung, G.Aubry, W.Stevens | Jackie Chan DC Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 5.065s | 30 |
10 | LMP2 | N.Lapierre, A.Borga, A.Coigny | COOL Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 5.334s | 28 |
11 | LMP2 | M.Patterson, K.Yamashita, A.Fjordbach | High Class Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 5.698s | 29 |
12 | LMP2 | R.Gonzalez, A.Davidson, A.F.da Costa | JOTA | ORECA/Gibson | 5.969s | 28 |
13 | LMP2 | T.Laurent, A.Negrao, P.Ragues | Signatech Alpine Elf | Alpine/Gibson | 7.039s | 28 |
14 | LMP2 | R.Lacorte, A.Belicchi, G.Sernagiotto | Cetilar Racing | Dallara/Gibson | 7.305s | 29 |
15 | GTE Pro | J.Calado, A.P.Guidi | AF Corse | Ferrari | 17.453s | 28 |
16 | GTE Pro | G.Bruni, R.Lietz | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 17.546s | 24 |
17 | GTE Am | F.Perrodo, E.Collard, N.Nielsen | AF Corse | Ferrari | 17.648s | 25 |
18 | GTE Pro | M.Christensen, K.Estre | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 17.941s | 23 |
19 | GTE Pro | D.Rigon, M.Molina | AF Corse | Ferrari | 18.063s | 29 |
20 | GTE Pro | M.Sorensen, N.Thiim | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 18.232s | 20 |
21 | GTE Pro | A.Lynn, M.Martin | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 18.702s | 16 |
22 | GTE Am | E.Perfetti, D.Kolkmann, M.Cairoli | Team Project 1 | Porsche | 19.121s | 26 |
23 | GTE Am | T.Flohr, F.Castellacci, G.Fisichella | AF Corse | Ferrari | 19.173s | 26 |
24 | GTE Am | T.Preining, G.Giraudi, R.Sanchez | Dempsey-Proton Racing | Porsche | 19.507s | 28 |
25 | GTE Am | S.Yoluc, C.Eastwood, J.Adam | TF Sport | Aston Martin | 19.585s | 25 |
26 | GTE Am | M.Wainwright, A.Watson, B.Barker | Gulf Racing | Porsche | 19.638s | 27 |
27 | GTE Am | P.D.Lana, D.Turner, R.Gunn | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 19.696s | 25 |
28 | GTE Am | B.Grimes, J.Mowlem, C.Hollings | Red River Sport | Ferrari | 19.745s | 27 |
29 | GTE Am | C.Ried, M.Campbell, R.Pera | Dempsey-Proton Racing | Porsche | 19.749s | 25 |
30 | GTE Am | M.Ishikawa, O.Beretta, K.Cozzolino | MR Racing | Ferrari | 19.755s | 25 |
31 | GTE Am | B.Keating, F.Fraga, J.Bleekemolen | Team Project 1 | Porsche | 20.298s | 24 |
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