Shanghai WEC: Rebellion leads Ginetta pair in first practice
Rebellion Racing jumped to the top of the times right at the end of the opening session of free practice for this weekend's Shanghai round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Gustavo Menezes posted a 1m48.761s aboard the solo Rebellion-Gibson R-13 to leapfrog the two Team LNT Ginettas.
That put the American four tenths up on Ben Hanley, who set a 1m49.183s in the #5 Ginetta-AER G60-LT-P1 after missing the first half of the 90-minute session with fuel pressure issues.
Hanley was just five hundredths up on the second of the works Ginettas in which Charlie Robertson recorded a 1m49.234s.
The second of the Ginettas is running nearly 30kg lighter than its sister car and the Rebellion under the system of success handicaps introduced into the LMP1 class of the WEC for this season.
The two Toyotas, which are both penalised to the tune of 2.74s for the Shanghai weekend under the handicapping system, brought up the rear of the P1 field.
Kamui Kobayashi set a 1m50.085s in the #7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid to end up fourth in the times, while Sebastien Buemi's 1m50.544s put him sixth behind Cool Racing LMP2 driver Nicolas Lapierre.
The Toyotas' times compare with the 1m45.164s best by one of the TS050s in the only dry practice session at Shanghai last year.
In addition to the success handicaps, the Toyotas are running 28kg heavier than at Shanghai in 2018.
Lapierre's 1m50.338s P2 mark in the Cool Racing Oreca-Gibson 07 put him nearly six tenths up on Giedo van der Garde's 1m50.908s in the TDS-run Racing Team Nederland Oreca.
Filipe Albuquerque took third in class aboard the United Autosports Oreca.
Porsche led the way in GTE Pro, Richard Lietz setting a 2m01.389s to just shade the best of the Aston Martin Vantage GTEs.
Nicki Thiim ended up on a 2m01.464s in the #95 Aston, which put him two tenths up on the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE of James Calado.
The fourth fastest GTE car was the Am class Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR with Matteo Cairoli at the wheel.
The second of the factory AF Ferraris to be driven by Davide Rigon and Miguel Molina did not got out on track courtesy of a fuel leak.
Qualifying and the full 4 Hours of Shanghai will be shown live on Motorsport.tv. Check times here.
FP1 Results:
| Cla | # | Drivers | Car | Class | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |  Bruno Senna  Gustavo Menezes  Norman Nato | Rebellion R13 | LMP1 | 1'48.761 | |
| 2 | 5 |  Jordan King Ben Hanley  Egor Orudzhev | Ginetta G60-LT-P1 | LMP1 | 1'49.183 | 0.422 |
| 3 | 6 | Charles Robertson Michael Simpson Guy Smith | Ginetta G60-LT-P1 | LMP1 | 1'49.234 | 0.473 |
| 4 | 7 | Mike Conway  Kamui Kobayashi  Jose Maria Lopez | Toyota TS050 Hybrid | LMP1 | 1'50.085 | 1.324 |
| 5 | 42 | Nicolas Lapierre  Antonin Borga Alexandre Coigny | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'50.338 | 1.577 |
| 6 | 8 | Sébastien Buemi Kazuki Nakajima  Brendon Hartley | Toyota TS050 Hybrid | LMP1 | 1'50.544 | 1.783 |
| 7 | 29 |  Frits van Eerd Giedo van der Garde Nyck de Vries | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'50.908 | 2.147 |
| 8 | 22 | Philip Hanson  Filipe Albuquerque Paul di Resta | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'50.923 | 2.162 |
| 9 | 37 |  Ho-Pin Tung Gabriel Aubry Will Stevens | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'51.137 | 2.376 |
| 10 | 38 |  Roberto Gonzalez Antonio Felix da Costa Anthony Davidson | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'51.554 | 2.793 |
| 11 | 33 | Mark Patterson Kenta Yamashita  Anders Fjordbach | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'52.125 | 3.364 |
| 12 | 36 | Thomas Laurent Andre Negrao Pierre Ragues | Alpine A470 | LMP2 | 1'52.197 | 3.436 |
| 13 | 47 |  Roberto Lacorte Andrea Belicchi Giorgio Sernagiotto | Dallara P217 | LMP2 | 1'53.304 | 4.543 |
| 14 | 91 | Gianmaria Bruni  Richard Lietz | Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE PRO | 2'01.389 | 12.628 |
| 15 | 95 | Marco Sorensen Nicki Thiim | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE PRO | 2'01.464 | 12.703 |
| 16 | 51 | James Calado Alessandro Pier Guidi | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE PRO | 2'01.603 | 12.842 |
| 17 | 56 |  Egidio Perfetti David Heinemeier Hansson Matteo Cairoli | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 2'01.814 | 13.053 |
| 18 | 98 |  Paul Dalla Lana Darren Turner Ross Gunn | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 2'01.909 | 13.148 |
| 19 | 90 |  Salih Yoluc  Charles Eastwood Jonathan Adam | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 2'01.958 | 13.197 |
| 20 | 70 | Motoaki Ishikawa  Olivier Beretta Kei Cozzolino | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 2'02.013 | 13.252 |
| 21 | 92 | Michael Christensen Kevin Estre | Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE PRO | 2'02.077 | 13.316 |
| 22 | 97 | Alex Lynn  Maxime Martin | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE PRO | 2'02.341 | 13.580 |
| 23 | 86 | Michael Wainwright Andrew Watson Benjamin Barker | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 2'02.591 | 13.830 |
| 24 | 77 |  Christian Ried Riccardo Pera  Matt Campbell | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 2'02.625 | 13.864 |
| 25 | 88 | Angelo Negro Will Bamber Thomas Preining | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 2'02.882 | 14.121 |
| 26 | 83 | François Perrodo Emmanuel Collard Nicklas Nielsen | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 2'02.967 | 14.206 |
| 27 | 54 | Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Giancarlo Fisichella | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 2'03.013 | 14.252 |
| 28 | 78 | Philippe Prette Louis Prette Vincent Abril | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 2'03.174 | 14.413 |
| 29 | 57 | Ben Keating Larry ten Jeroen Bleekemolen | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 2'03.966 | 15.205 |
| 30 | 62 | Bonamy Grimes Johnny Mowlem Charles Hollings | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 2'04.189 | 15.428 |
| 31 | 71 | Davide Rigon  Miguel Molina | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE PRO | ||
| View full results | ||||||
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About this article
| Series | WEC |
| Event | Shanghai |
| Sub-event | FP1 |
| Author | Gary Watkins |
