Ginetta beats pegged-back Toyota to top Shanghai WEC practice
Ginetta topped the times for the first time in the World Endurance Championship during second free practice for Sunday's Shanghai round
Charlie Robertson set the fastest time of the day with a 1m48.127s lap aboard the #6 Ginetta-AER G60-LT-P1 to go fastest in the second of the two 90-minute sessions of free practice on Friday.
His time aboard the #6 Ginetta-AER G60-LT-P1 put him 0.061s ahead of the Kazuki Nakajima's session-two best in the fastest of the pair of Toyota TS050 HYBRIDs.
Bruno Senna's 1m48.288s put the solo Rebellion-Gibson R-13 third fastest in FP2, exactly one tenth of a second behind the best of the Toyotas.
Mike Conway took fourth in the second of the TS050 HYBRIDs on the 1m48.979s.
The two Toyotas, which have been penalised by 2.74s under the new success handicaps, improved significantly over their times in the morning session when they had brought up the rear of the LMP1 field.
The #8 TS050 found nearly 2.4s and the #7 car 1.2s when Nakajima and Buemi undertook qualifying simulations at the start of the afternoon session.
Nicolas Lapierre led the way in LMP2 in both sessions aboard the Cool Racing ORECA-Gibson 07.
His 1m49.754s afternoon best put him six tenths up on United Autosports ORECA driver Phil Hanson, who set a 1m50.397s in FP2.
Kenta Yamashita was just a tenth further back in the High Class Racing ORECA with his second session time.
Ferrari ended up fastest in GTE Pro across the two sessions. The #71 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE missed the opening session with a fuel leak before Miguel Molina posted a 2m00.036s in the repaired car in FP2.
That put him nearly half a second up on the second-placed Aston Martin Vantage GTE driven by Maxime Martin.
A 2m00.528s lap from Martin put him three tenths ahead of the sister car's best with Marco Sorensen at the wheel.
Porsche, which was fastest in the opening session, took fourth courtesy of a 2m01.064s lap from Kevin Estre in the #92 Porsche 911 RSR after Richard Lietz had topped the times in the opening session.
Matteo Cairoli's session one best for the Project 1 Porsche team stood as the fastest GTE Am time of the day.
Practice one result
| Pos | Class | Driver | Team | Car | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LMP1 | B.Senna, G.Menezes, N.Nato | Rebellion Racing | Rebellion/Gibson | 1m48.761s | 33 |
| 2 | LMP1 | J.King, B.Hanley, E.Orudzhev | Team LNT | Ginetta/AER | 0.422s | 11 |
| 3 | LMP1 | C.Robertson, M.Simpson, G.Smith | Team LNT | Ginetta/AER | 0.473s | 25 |
| 4 | LMP1 | M.Conway, K.Kobayashi, J.M.Lopez | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 1.324s | 41 |
| 5 | LMP2 | N.Lapierre, A.Borga, A.Coigny | COOL Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1.577s | 39 |
| 6 | LMP1 | S.Buemi, K.Nakajima, B.Hartley | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 1.783s | 43 |
| 7 | LMP2 | F.van Eerd, G.van der Garde, N.de Vries | Racing Team Nederland | ORECA/Gibson | 2.147s | 32 |
| 8 | LMP2 | P.Hanson, F.Albuquerque, P.Di Resta | United Autosports | ORECA/Gibson | 2.162s | 30 |
| 9 | LMP2 | H-Pin Tung, G.Aubry, W.Stevens | Jackie Chan DC Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 2.376s | 38 |
| 10 | LMP2 | R.Gonzalez, A.F.da Costa, A.Davidson | JOTA | ORECA/Gibson | 2.793s | 35 |
| 11 | LMP2 | M.Patterson, K.Yamashita, A.Fjordbach | High Class Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 3.364s | 35 |
| 12 | LMP2 | T.Laurent, A.Negrao, P.Ragues | Signatech Alpine Elf | Alpine/Gibson | 3.436s | 34 |
| 13 | LMP2 | R.Lacorte, A.Belicchi, G.Sernagiotto | Cetilar Racing | Dallara/Gibson | 4.543s | 33 |
| 14 | GTE Pro | G.Bruni, R.Lietz | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 12.628s | 37 |
| 15 | GTE Pro | M.Sorensen, N.Thiim | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 12.703s | 41 |
| 16 | GTE Pro | J.Calado, A.P.Guidi | AF Corse | Ferrari | 12.842s | 34 |
| 17 | GTE Am | E.Perfetti, D.H.Hansson, M.Cairoli | Team Project 1 | Porsche | 13.053s | 34 |
| 18 | GTE Am | P.D.Lana, D.Turner, R.Gunn | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 13.148s | 34 |
| 19 | GTE Am | S.Yoluc, C.Eastwood, J.Adam | TF Sport | Aston Martin | 13.197s | 21 |
| 20 | GTE Am | M.Ishikawa, O.Beretta, K.Cozzolino | MR Racing | Ferrari | 13.252s | 37 |
| 21 | GTE Pro | M.Christensen, K.Estre | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 13.316s | 30 |
| 22 | GTE Pro | A.Lynn, M.Martin | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 13.580s | 35 |
| 23 | GTE Am | M.Wainwright, A.Watson, B.Barker | Gulf Racing | Porsche | 13.830s | 39 |
| 24 | GTE Am | C.Ried, R.Pera, M.Campbell | Dempsey-Proton Racing | Porsche | 13.864s | 34 |
| 25 | GTE Am | A.Negro, W.Bamber, T.Preining | Dempsey-Proton Racing | Porsche | 14.121s | 38 |
| 26 | GTE Am | F.Perrodo, E.Collard, N.Nielsen | AF Corse | Ferrari | 14.206s | 39 |
| 27 | GTE Am | T.Flohr, F.Castellacci, G.Fisichella | AF Corse | Ferrari | 14.252s | 39 |
| 28 | GTE Am | P.Prette, L.Prette Jr., V.Abril | Proton Competition | Porsche | 14.413s | 34 |
| 29 | GTE Am | B.Keating, L.ten Voorde, J.Bleekemolen | Team Project 1 | Porsche | 15.205s | 39 |
| 30 | GTE Am | B.Grimes, J.Mowlem, C.Hollings | Red River Sport | Ferrari | 15.428s | 37 |
| 31 | GTE Pro | D.Rigon, M.Molina | AF Corse | Ferrari | - | 0 |
Practice two result
| Pos | Class | Driver | Team | Car | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LMP1 | C.Robertson, M.Simpson, G.Smith | Team LNT | Ginetta/AER | 1m48.127s | 31 |
| 2 | LMP1 | S.Buemi, K.Nakajima, B.Hartley | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 0.061s | 43 |
| 3 | LMP1 | B.Senna, G.Menezes, N.Nato | Rebellion Racing | Rebellion/Gibson | 0.161s | 33 |
| 4 | LMP1 | M.Conway, K.Kobayashi, J.M.Lopez | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 0.852s | 41 |
| 5 | LMP1 | J.King, B.Hanley, E.Orudzhev | Team LNT | Ginetta/AER | 1.551s | 20 |
| 6 | LMP2 | N.Lapierre, A.Borga, A.Coigny | COOL Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1.627s | 40 |
| 7 | LMP2 | P.Hanson, F.Albuquerque, P.Di Resta | United Autosports | ORECA/Gibson | 2.270s | 28 |
| 8 | LMP2 | M.Patterson, K.Yamashita, A.Fjordbach | High Class Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 2.330s | 43 |
| 9 | LMP2 | H-Pin Tung, G.Aubry, W.Stevens | Jackie Chan DC Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 2.378s | 43 |
| 10 | LMP2 | F.van Eerd, G.van der Garde, N.de Vries | Racing Team Nederland | ORECA/Gibson | 2.968s | 39 |
| 11 | LMP2 | R.Gonzalez, A.F.da Costa, A.Davidson | JOTA | ORECA/Gibson | 3.006s | 36 |
| 12 | LMP2 | T.Laurent, A.Negrao, P.Ragues | Signatech Alpine Elf | Alpine/Gibson | 3.932s | 34 |
| 13 | LMP2 | R.Lacorte, A.Belicchi, G.Sernagiotto | Cetilar Racing | Dallara/Gibson | 4.896s | 33 |
| 14 | GTE Pro | D.Rigon, M.Molina | AF Corse | Ferrari | 11.909s | 40 |
| 15 | GTE Pro | A.Lynn, M.Martin | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 12.401s | 39 |
| 16 | GTE Pro | M.Sorensen, N.Thiim | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 12.695s | 40 |
| 17 | GTE Pro | M.Christensen, K.Estre | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 12.937s | 37 |
| 18 | GTE Am | C.Ried, R.Pera, M.Campbell | Dempsey-Proton Racing | Porsche | 13.808s | 35 |
| 19 | GTE Pro | G.Bruni, R.Lietz | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 13.834s | 37 |
| 20 | GTE Am | S.Yoluc, C.Eastwood, J.Adam | TF Sport | Aston Martin | 13.899s | 39 |
| 21 | GTE Am | P.Prette, L.Prette Jr., V.Abril | Proton Competition | Porsche | 13.955s | 37 |
| 22 | GTE Am | A.Negro, W.Bamber, T.Preining | Dempsey-Proton Racing | Porsche | 14.410s | 39 |
| 23 | GTE Am | M.Ishikawa, O.Beretta, K.Cozzolino | MR Racing | Ferrari | 14.415s | 39 |
| 24 | GTE Am | P.D.Lana, D.Turner, R.Gunn | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 14.425s | 38 |
| 25 | GTE Pro | J.Calado, A.P.Guidi | AF Corse | Ferrari | 14.440s | 32 |
| 26 | GTE Am | B.Grimes, J.Mowlem, C.Hollings | Red River Sport | Ferrari | 14.528s | 39 |
| 27 | GTE Am | F.Perrodo, E.Collard, N.Nielsen | AF Corse | Ferrari | 14.767s | 37 |
| 28 | GTE Am | T.Flohr, F.Castellacci, G.Fisichella | AF Corse | Ferrari | 14.835s | 38 |
| 29 | GTE Am | M.Wainwright, A.Watson, B.Barker | Gulf Racing | Porsche | 14.960s | 30 |
| 30 | GTE Am | E.Perfetti, D.H.Hansson, M.Cairoli | Team Project 1 | Porsche | 15.150s | 32 |
| 31 | GTE Am | B.Keating, L.ten Voorde, J.Bleekemolen | Team Project 1 | Porsche | 15.456s | 38 |
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About this article
| Series | WEC |
| Teams | Toyota Racing |
| Author | Gary Watkins |
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