Spa WEC: Rebellion, ByKolles outpace Toyota in FP1

Norman Nato topped the times with a 2m02.469s set early in the 90-minute session aboard the solo Rebellion R-13-Gibson he shares with Bruno Senna and Gustavo Menezes. 

That gave him a margin of just over a second ahead of the ByKolles team's ENSO CLM P1/01-Gibson in which Oliver Webb posted a 2m03.515s.

The best of the Toyota TS050 Hybrids was the #7 entry which is running the greater penalty under the system of success handicaps introduced in LMP1 for the 2019/20 WEC. 

Mike Conway set a 2m03.632s to end up a couple of tenths up on Kazuki Nakajima's 2m03.824s in the sister car. 

The class-leading Toyota's 1.1s deficit to the Rebellion is significantly less than the near two-second differential in the success handicaps they are carrying for the sixth round of the WEC. 

The #7 and #8 Toyotas are penalised by 3.52s and 3.08s respectively, while the Rebellion is running a 1.58s handicap. 

ByKolles is forced to run the same penalty as the Rebellion because it is making its season debut in the WEC.

Toyota is debuting the Le Mans-spec version of the new high-nose aerodynamics introduced on the TS050 this year, whereas the Rebellion is in high-downforce trim. 

The ByKolles squad's ENSO CLM has a revised version of its Le Mans bodywork for this race. 

The Racing Team Nederland Oreca 07 was fastest in LMP2 with Giedo van der Garde at the wheel. The Dutchman posted 2m03.888s to eclipse Anthony Davidson's 2m3.395s aboard the JOTA Sport Oreca. 

Third fastest in class was the United Autosports Oreca in which Phil Hanson set a 2m04.119s. 

The two factory Porsche 911 RSR-19s blocked out the top two positions in GTE Pro for the majority of the session, Michael Christensen leading the way on 2m16.057s. 

Maxime Martin put in a 2m16.308s right at the end of the 90 minutes in his Aston Martin Vantage GTE to eclipse the 2m16.349s set early on by Gianmaria Bruni in the second of the Porsches.

Alessandro Pier Guidi was the best-placed Ferrari driver in fourth with a 2m16.779s. 

Nicklas Nielsen ended up fastest in GTE Am with the AF Corse Ferrari squad. The Dane's 2m17.853s put him a couple of tenths up on Augusto Farfus in the factory-run Aston Martin GTE Am entry. 

Jackie Chan DC Racing driver Gabriel Aubry did not take part in the session after testing positive for COVID-19 yesterday. The results of a second test will determine whether he can race the JOTA-run Oreca P2 car. 

The Algarve Pro Oreca remained in its garage throughout the session. The Anglo-Portuguese team has been forced to self-isolate because Aubry drove one of its cars in last weekend's European Le Mans Series round at Spa. 

It remains unclear whether it will be able to run its solo Oreca LMP2 car on Friday.

Motorsport.tv will show qualifying and the race live HERE. Not available in USA/Canada.

Spa WEC - First practice results:

Cla	#	Drivers	Car	Class	Time	Gap
1	1	Bruno Senna Gustavo Menezes Norman Nato	Rebellion R13	LMP1	2'02.469
2	4	Tom Dillmann Bruno Spengler Oliver Webb	ENSO CLM P1/01	LMP1	2'03.515	1.046
3	7	Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi Jose Maria Lopez	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	2'03.632	1.163
4	8	Sébastien Buemi Kazuki Nakajima Brendon Hartley	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	2'03.824	1.355
5	29	Frits van Eerd Giedo van der Garde Job Van Uitert	Oreca 07	LMP2	2'03.888	1.419
6	38	Roberto Gonzalez Antonio Felix da Costa Anthony Davidson	Oreca 07	LMP2	2'03.935	1.466
7	22	Philip Hanson Filipe Albuquerque Paul di Resta	Oreca 07	LMP2	2'04.119	1.650
8	36	Thomas Laurent Andre Negrao Pierre Ragues	Alpine A470	LMP2	2'04.181	1.712
9	42	Nicolas Lapierre Antonin Borga Alexandre Coigny	Oreca 07	LMP2	2'04.311	1.842
10	37	Ho-Pin Tung Gabriel Aubry Will Stevens	Oreca 07	LMP2	2'04.532	2.063
11	33	Mark Patterson Kenta Yamashita Anders Fjordbach	Oreca 07	LMP2	2'06.047	3.578
12	35	Nobuya Yamanaka Nick Foster Roberto Merhi	Ligier JSP 217	LMP2	2'06.596	4.127
13	47	Roberto Lacorte Andrea Belicchi Giorgio Sernagiotto	Dallara P217	LMP2	2'07.211	4.742
14	92	Michael Christensen Kevin Estre	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	2'16.057	13.588
15	97	Alex Lynn Maxime Martin	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE PRO	2'16.308	13.839
16	91	Gianmaria Bruni Richard Lietz	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	2'16.349	13.880
17	51	James Calado Alessandro Pier Guidi	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	2'16.779	14.310
18	71	Davide Rigon Miguel Molina	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	2'17.122	14.653
19	95	Marco Sorensen Nicki Thiim	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE PRO	2'17.188	14.719
20	83	François Perrodo Emmanuel Collard Nicklas Nielsen	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	2'17.853	15.384
21	98	Paul Dalla Lana Augusto Farfus Ross Gunn	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	2'18.020	15.551
22	56	Egidio Perfetti Laurents Hörr Matteo Cairoli	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	2'18.182	15.713
23	77	Christian Ried Riccardo Pera Matt Campbell	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	2'18.247	15.778
24	86	Michael Wainwright Andrew Watson Benjamin Barker	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	2'18.522	16.053
25	54	Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Giancarlo Fisichella	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	2'18.533	16.064
26	90	Salih Yoluc Charles Eastwood Jonathan Adam	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	2'18.575	16.106
27	57	Ben Keating Felipe Fraga Jeroen Bleekemolen	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	2'19.398	16.929
28	62	Bonamy Grimes Johnny Mowlem Charles Hollings	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	2'19.711	17.242
29	88	Vutthikorn Inthraphuvasak Ricardo Sanchez Lucas Legeret	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	2'19.861	17.392
30	25	John Falb Simon Trummer Jon Lancaster	Oreca 07	LMP2
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