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Silverstone WEC: Rebellion beats Toyota in first practice

Rebellion Racing topped the timesheets in the opening practice session of the 2019/20 World Endurance Championship season at Silverstone, beating Toyota by over four tenths of a second

Norman Nato set the fastest time at the wheel of the #1 Rebellion R-13-Gibson with fewer than 10 minutes to go in the 90-minute session, lapping in 1m38.860s.

That was 0.420s up on the quickest Toyota, the #8 TS050 Hybrid, which set a 1m38.280s in the hands of Sebastien Buemi, while the sister #7 car was third-fastest thanks to a late effort of 1m39.431s set by Kamui Kobayashi.

Despite running 54kg heavier than they did in the 2018 Silverstone race, the Toyotas were still 0.7s faster than they were in opening practice last year, helped by the track's recent resurfacing.

Rebellion's second car, the #3, was fourth, 0.858s off the pace with ex-Audi LMP1 driver Loic Duval at the wheel, while the best of the Ginetta G60-LT-P1s was fifth.

One-time Le Mans 24 Hours winner Guy Smith set Ginetta's best time of 1m40.618s, but the sister #5 car failed to set a timed lap due to gear selection problems, completing only three installation laps.

LMP2 was led by United Autosports, with Filipe Albuquerque setting the class benchmark of 1m43.066s early on in the squad's newly-acquired ORECA 07.

That was enough to beat Nicolas Lapierre's benchmark in the Cool Racing ORECA by 0.404s, while third-fastest was the Racing Team Nederland ORECA in the hands of Job van Uitert, who is substituting for Formula 2 championship leader Nyck de Vries this weekend as the Spa round of the F1 feeder series clashes.

Michelin locked out the top three in LMP2, with the best of the Goodyear runners, the #37 Jackie Chan DC Racing car, ending up fourth.

Gianmaria Bruni left it late to send Porsche to the top of the GTE Pro class times with a lap of 1m55.766s in the new 911 RSR-19.

That demoted the #51 Ferrari 488 GTE driven by James Calado to second, while Aston Martin made it three different marques in the top three courtesy of Marco Sorensen in the #95 Vantage GTE.

TF Sport's new-generation Aston Martin topped the order in GTE Am with factory driver Jonathan Adam at the wheel, ahead of the works Vantage of Darren Turner.

Practice one times

Pos Class Driver Team Car Time Gap Laps
1 LMP1 B.Senna, G.Menezes, N.Nato Rebellion Racing Rebellion/Gibson 1m38.860s - 37
2 LMP1 S.Buemi, K.Nakajima, B.Hartley Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota 1m39.280s 0.420s 46
3 LMP1 M.Conway, K.Kobayashi, J.M.Lopez Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota 1m39.431s 0.571s 39
4 LMP1 N.Berthon, P.Derani, L.Duval Rebellion Racing Rebellion/Gibson 1m39.718s 0.858s 35
5 LMP1 M.Simpson, O.Jarvis, G.Smith Team LNT Ginetta/AER 1m40.618s 1.758s 27
6 LMP2 P.Hanson, F.Albuquerque, P.Di Resta United Autosports ORECA/Gibson 1m43.066s 4.206s 28
7 LMP2 N.Lapierre, A.Borga, A.Coigny COOL Racing ORECA/Gibson 1m43.470s 4.610s 34
8 LMP2 F.van Eerd, G.van der Garde, J.van Uitert Racing Team Nederland ORECA/Gibson 1m43.776s 4.916s 34
9 LMP2 H-Pin Tung, G.Aubry, W.Stevens Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA/Gibson 1m43.953s 5.093s 44
10 LMP2 T.Laurent, A.Negrao, P.Ragues Signatech Alpine Elf Alpine/Gibson 1m44.188s 5.328s 36
11 LMP2 R.Gonzalez, A.Davidson, A.F.da Costa JOTA ORECA/Gibson 1m44.497s 5.637s 38
12 LMP2 M.Patterson, K.Yamashita, A.Fjordbach High Class Racing ORECA/Gibson 1m45.367s 6.507s 24
13 LMP2 R.Lacorte, A.Belicchi, G.Sernagiotto Cetilar Racing Dallara/Gibson 1m46.182s 7.322s 34
14 GTE Pro G.Bruni, R.Lietz Porsche GT Team Porsche 1m55.766s 16.906s 35
15 GTE Pro J.Calado, A.P.Guidi AF Corse Ferrari 1m56.069s 17.209s 38
16 GTE Pro M.Sorensen, N.Thiim Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 1m56.361s 17.501s 43
17 GTE Pro A.Lynn, M.Martin Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 1m56.390s 17.530s 44
18 GTE Pro D.Rigon, M.Molina AF Corse Ferrari 1m56.426s 17.566s 36
19 GTE Pro M.Christensen, K.Estre Porsche GT Team Porsche 1m56.445s 17.585s 32
20 GTE Am S.Yoluc, C.Eastwood, J.Adam TF Sport Aston Martin 1m56.611s 17.751s 38
21 GTE Am P.D.Lana, D.Turner, R.Gunn Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 1m57.190s 18.330s 39
22 GTE Am M.Ishikawa, O.Beretta, K.Cozzolino MR Racing Ferrari 1m57.251s 18.391s 38
23 GTE Am E.Perfetti, D.Kolkmann, M.Cairoli Team Project 1 Porsche 1m57.429s 18.569s 34
24 GTE Am B.Keating, F.Fraga, J.Bleekemolen Team Project 1 Porsche 1m57.482s 18.622s 41
25 GTE Am C.Ried, M.Campbell, R.Pera Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 1m57.827s 18.967s 39
26 GTE Am F.Perrodo, E.Collard, N.Nielsen AF Corse Ferrari 1m57.976s 19.116s 36
27 GTE Am T.Flohr, F.Castellacci, G.Fisichella AF Corse Ferrari 1m58.031s 19.171s 24
28 GTE Am T.Preining, G.Giraudi, R.Sanchez Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 1m58.040s 19.180s 38
29 GTE Am M.Wainwright, A.Watson, B.Barker Gulf Racing Porsche 1m58.541s 19.681s 39
30 GTE Am B.Grimes, J.Mowlem, C.Hollings Red River Sport Ferrari 1m58.618s 19.758s 17
31 LMP1 C.Robertson, B.Hanley, E.Orudzhev Team LNT Ginetta/AER - - 3


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