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.
- WEC's 2019/20 shake-up
- How new rules guarantee Toyota defeats
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 |
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments