Fuji WEC: Rebellion splits Toyotas in first practice
Toyota topped first practice for this weekend's Fuji FIA World Endurance Championship round by just under three tenths of a second ahead of closest LMP1 rival Rebellion.
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 |
| View full results | ||||||
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