Bahrain WEC: Senna, Nato give Rebellion back-to-back poles
Rebellion Racing claimed a second consecutive pole position in the Bahrain round of the FIA World Endurance Championship on Friday.
Bruno Senna and Norman Nato finished on top with an average time of 1m42.979s, nearly three tenths clear of the leading #5 Ginetta of Ben Hanley and Charlie Robertson.
Senna led the way after the opening runs with a 1m42.396s, before Nato lapped in 1m43.562s to yield a 1m42.979s average for the car that won last time out in Shanghai.
Robertson was only fourth after the first runs with a 1m43.559s before Hanley's 1m42.668s jumped them ahead of the two Toyotas with a 1m43.123s average.
Brendon Hartley and Kazuki Nakajima took third in the #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid with a 1m43.497s average, which was three tenths better than Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez's 1m43.842s in the sister #7 car.
The second Ginetta, qualified by Mike Simpson and Guy Smith, took fifth nearly a second down on the Rebellion.
United Autosports claimed pole in the LMP2 class, courtesy of an average time of 1m45.357s by Phil Hanson and Paul di Resta.
Di Resta set the fastest time in class with a 1m44.869s, which Hanson followed with a 1m45.846s aboard their Oreca 07. Their average put them them nearly three tenths up on the JOTA Sport-run Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca qualified by Will Stevens and Gabriel Aubry.
G-Drive Racing claimed third with Job van Uitert and Jean-Eric Vergne on the TDS-run team's first appearance in the WEC this season.
Porsche locked out the front row in GTE Pro, with Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz claiming pole. Their average time of 1m55.485s was just 0.060s quicker than the sister #92 Porsche of Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen.
Bruni set the fastest time of the session aboard the #91 Porsche 911 RSR-19 with a 1m55.342s, which was nearly two tenths up on Christensen's 1m55.617s.
Estre briefly jumped to the head of the timesheets with a 1m55.473s, but Lietz's 1m55.628s was just enough to put #91 back on top.
Ferrari took third and fourth positions in class, but failed to get within half a second of Porsche.
Alessandro Pier Guidi was fourth after the first runs in the #51 Ferrari 488 GTE, but James Calado did enough to give them a 1m56.087s average and vault them ahead of the sister car of Davide Rigon and Miguel Molina, who set a 1m56.318s average.
The pair of Aston Martins brought up the rear of the GTE Pro. Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen's 1m56.389s average left them nine tenths off the pace, while Alex Lynn and Maxime Martin were a further tenth back on 1m56.572s.
Ben Keating snatched GTE Am pole after the chequered flag had fallen in the Project 1 Racing Porsche 911 RSR he qualified along with Larry ten Voorde.
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LMP Results:
GTE results:
| Cla | # | Drivers | Car | Class | Avg Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 91 |  Gianmaria Bruni  Richard Lietz | Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE PRO | 1'55.485 | |
| 2 | 92 |  Michael Christensen  Kevin Estre | Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE PRO | 1'55.545 | 0.060 |
| 3 | 51 |  James Calado Alessandro Pier Guidi | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE PRO | 1'56.087 | 0.602 |
| 4 | 71 | Davide Rigon  Miguel Molina | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE PRO | 1'56.318 | 0.833 |
| 5 | 95 | Marco Sorensen Nicki Thiim | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE PRO | 1'56.389 | 0.904 |
| 6 | 57 |  Ben Keating  Larry ten Voorde Jeroen Bleekemolen | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 1'57.602 | 2.117 |
| 7 | 88 |  Khaled Al Qubaisi  Adrien de Leener Thomas Preining | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 1'57.661 | 2.176 |
| 8 | 83 | François Perrodo Emmanuel Collard Nicklas Nielsen | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 1'57.690 | 2.205 |
| 9 | 56 |  Egidio Perfetti David Heinemeier Hansson Matteo Cairoli | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 1'57.863 | 2.378 |
| 10 | 86 | Michael Wainwright Andrew Watson Benjamin Barker | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 1'57.977 | 2.492 |
| 11 | 98 |  Paul Dalla Lana Darren Turner Ross Gunn | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 1'58.002 | 2.517 |
| 12 | 90 |  Salih Yoluc  Charles Eastwood Jonathan Adam | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 1'58.047 | 2.562 |
| 13 | 62 | Bonamy Grimes Johnny Mowlem Charles Hollings | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 1'58.217 | 2.732 |
| 14 | 70 |  Motoaki Ishikawa  Olivier Beretta Kei Cozzolino | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 1'58.635 | 3.150 |
| 15 | 77 |  Christian Ried Riccardo Pera  Matt Campbell | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 1'59.959 | 4.474 |
| 16 | 97 | Alex Lynn Maxime Martin | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE PRO | 1'56.253 | 0.768 |
| 17 | 54 |  Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Giancarlo Fisichella | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 1'56.903 | 1.418 |
| View full results | ||||||
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About this article
| Series | WEC |
| Event | Bahrain |
| Author | Gary Watkins |
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