Fuji WEC: Rebellion splits Toyotas in first practice

Sebastien Buemi took the top spot in a 90-minute session that began on a damp but rapidly drying track at the wheel of the #8 TS050 Hybrid.

Toyota was on course to lock out the top two spots for much of the session until Norman Nato set a 1m27.659s in the solo Rebellion R-13-Gibson to split the Japanese cars.

Kamui Kobayashi's best effort of 1m27.790s in the Silverstone-winning #7 Toyota was only enough for third in the end, a little over a tenth slower than Nato.

Toyota's #7 car is carrying the biggest handicap under the new system that is being implemented in LMP1 for the first time this weekend at Fuji, having been slowed by 1.4 seconds a lap compared to the so-called 'reference car', the #6 Ginetta G60-LT-P1.

The #8 Toyota, which finished second in last month's season-opening round, has been slowed by only a second, reflected by the 0.4s gap between the cars in practice.

Ginetta's pair of AER-powered cars propped up the order, with the #5 of Ben Hanley fourth - just over a second off the pace - and the #6 of Charlie Robertson fifth.

Toyota protege Kenta Yamashita put High Class Racing's Oreca 07 on top of the times in LMP2 at his home track with a best time of 1m29.624s.

The SUPER GT points leader was seven tenths ahead of the second-placed Racing Team Nederland Oreca driven by new Formula 2 champion Nyck de Vries, while Nicolas Lapierre put the Cool Racing Oreca third, another half a second back.

Both Cool's Alexander Coigny and JOTA Sport's Anthony Davidson returned to action after being forced to skip the Silverstone opener due to injury.

Porsche swept the top two spots in GTE Pro with its new 911 RSR-19s, Gianmaria Bruni in the #91 car setting a 1m38.315s to beat Michael Christensen in the #92 car by 0.104s.

Miguel Molina was best of the rest in the #71 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE, four tenths off the pace, followed by the top Aston Martin Vantage GTE of Nicki Thiim.

Jonathan Adam put the TF Sport Aston on top in GTE Am with a 1m39.010s.

Session results:

Cla	#	Drivers	Car	Class	Time	Gap
1	8	Sébastien Buemi Kazuki Nakajima Brendon Hartley	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	1'27.373
2	1	Bruno Senna Gustavo Menezes Norman Nato	Rebellion R13	LMP1	1'27.659	0.286
3	7	Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi Jose Maria Lopez	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	1'27.790	0.417
4	5	Luca Ghiotto Ben Hanley Egor Orudzhev	Ginetta G60-LT-P1	LMP1	1'28.449	1.076
5	6	Charles Robertson Michael Simpson Guy Smith	Ginetta G60-LT-P1	LMP1	1'28.712	1.339
6	33	Mark Patterson Kenta Yamashita Anders Fjordbach	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'29.624	2.251
7	29	Frits van Eerd Giedo van der Garde Nyck de Vries	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'30.382	3.009
8	42	Nicolas Lapierre Antonin Borga Alexandre Coigny	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'30.814	3.441
9	36	Thomas Laurent Andre Negrao Pierre Ragues	Alpine A470	LMP2	1'31.025	3.652
10	38	Roberto Gonzalez Antonio Felix da Costa Anthony Davidson	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'31.141	3.768
11	22	Philip Hanson Filipe Albuquerque Oliver Jarvis	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'31.398	4.025
12	37	Ho-Pin Tung Gabriel Aubry Will Stevens	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'31.805	4.432
13	47	Roberto Lacorte Andrea Belicchi Giorgio Sernagiotto	Dallara P217	LMP2	1'32.491	5.118
14	91	Gianmaria Bruni Richard Lietz	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	1'38.315	10.942
15	92	Michael Christensen Kevin Estre	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	1'38.419	11.046
16	71	Davide Rigon Miguel Molina	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	1'38.707	11.334
17	95	Marco Sorensen Nicki Thiim	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE PRO	1'38.738	11.365
18	51	James Calado Alessandro Pier Guidi	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	1'38.825	11.452
19	90	Salih Yoluc Charles Eastwood Jonathan Adam	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	1'39.010	11.637
20	70	Motoaki Ishikawa Olivier Beretta Kei Cozzolino	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'39.039	11.666
21	97	Alex Lynn Maxime Martin	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE PRO	1'39.069	11.696
22	86	Michael Wainwright Andrew Watson Benjamin Barker	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	1'39.351	11.978
23	56	Egidio Perfetti David Heinemeier Hansson Matteo Cairoli	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	1'39.542	12.169
24	88	Satoshi Hoshino Adrien de Leener Thomas Preining	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	1'39.576	12.203
25	77	Christian Ried Riccardo Pera Matt Campbell	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	1'39.616	12.243
26	54	Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Giancarlo Fisichella	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'39.618	12.245
27	83	François Perrodo Emmanuel Collard Nicklas Nielsen	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'39.663	12.290
28	98	Paul Dalla Lana Darren Turner Ross Gunn	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	1'39.761	12.388
29	57	Ben Keating Felipe Fraga Jeroen Bleekemolen	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	1'39.942	12.569
30	62	Bonamy Grimes Johnny Mowlem Charles Hollings	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'40.678	13.305
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