Austin WEC: Rebellion grabs third straight pole
Rebellion Racing scored its third straight FIA World Endurance Championship pole position, trouncing the Toyotas to top qualifying for Sunday’s Lone Star Le Mans.
Gustavo Menezes and Norman Nato sealed the top stop ahead of the best of the Toyotas after the team swapped the engine in the back of its solo Rebellion R-13 as a result of a sudden failure halfway through the second practice period.
Menezes went quickest on the first runs with a 1m47.674s and then Nato set a 1m48.087s before a brief red-flag period. The Frenchman improved to a 1m47.387s after the interruption to give the Rebellion a 1m47.530s average.
Jose Maria Lopez and Mike Conway took second in the more heavily penalised of the two Toyota TS050 Hybrids, the #7 car.
Lopez was third0fastest after his run with a 1m48.634s, which Conway followed with a 1m49.688s to yield a 1m49.161s average.
Kazuki Nakajima had been eight tenths quicker than Lopez in the first runs with a 1m47.891s, but Brendon Hartley lost his first lap to a track limits violation.
He managed a 1m50.971s on his final lap before the chequered flag, which gave the #8 Toyota a 1m49.431s average.
Nicolas Lapierre and Antonin Borga took the LMP2 pole aboard the Cool Racing Oreca.
Lapierre was second fastest after the first runs with a 1m49.343s, while Borga managed a 1m50.478s. That yielded a 1m49.910s average, which was a tenth up on the 1m50.073s from Filipe Albuquerque and Phil Hanson in the United Autosports Oreca.
Nyck de Vries set the fastest P2 time aboard the Racing Team Nederland Oreca with a 1m48.696s, which briefly split the Toyotas during the first runs.
GTE Pro points leaders Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim took the class pole in the #95 Aston Martin Vantage GTE.
Sorensen led the way after the first runs on a 2m00.742s before his teammate maintained the top spot on his first run. Thiim then improved on his lap, getting down to a 2m00.725s to give them a 2m00.733s average and a two-tenth margin over the second-placed Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre.
Christensen was only fifth in class after his run on a 2m01.106s, but Estre’s 2m00.798s brought their average down to 2m00.952s.
Alex Lynn and Maxime Martin took third in the second of the Astons with a 2m01.029s average.
Gianmaria Bruni, who had been second after his lap, and Richard Lietz ended up just over one hundredth back in fourth with 2m01.049s.
The two AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTEs brought up the rear of the GTE Pro field after both lost times for track limits violations. James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi edged out teammates Davide Rigon and Miguel Molina for fifth by four hundredths.
GTE Am pole went to the Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR qualified by Matteo Cairoli and Egidio Perfetti from the Aston Martin of Paul Dalla Lana and Ross Gunn.
LMP qualifying times:
| Cla | # | Drivers | Car | Class | Avg Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |  Bruno Senna  Gustavo Menezes  Norman Nato |
Rebellion R13 | LMP1 | 1’47.530 | |
| 2 | 7 |  Mike Conway  Kamui Kobayashi  Jose Maria Lopez |
Toyota TS050 Hybrid | LMP1 | 1’49.161 | 1.631 |
| 3 | 8 |  Sébastien Buemi Kazuki Nakajima  Brendon Hartley |
Toyota TS050 Hybrid | LMP1 | 1’49.431 | 1.901 |
| 4 | 42 | Nicolas Lapierre Antonin Borga Alexandre Coigny |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1’49.910 | 2.380 |
| 5 | 22 | Philip Hanson  Filipe Albuquerque Paul di Resta |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1’50.073 | 2.543 |
| 6 | 36 | Thomas Laurent Andre Negrao Pierre Ragues |
Alpine A470 | LMP2 | 1’50.984 | 3.454 |
| 7 | 37 |  Ho-Pin Tung Gabriel Aubry Will Stevens |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1’51.354 | 3.824 |
| 8 | 38 |  Roberto Gonzalez Antonio Felix da Costa Anthony Davidson |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1’51.592 | 4.062 |
| 9 | 33 | Mark Patterson Kenta Yamashita  Anders Fjordbach |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1’51.747 | 4.217 |
| 10 | 21 |  Henrik Hedman Ben Hanley Colin Braun |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1’52.765 | 5.235 |
| 11 | 29 |  Frits van Eerd Giedo van der Garde Nyck de Vries |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1’53.131 | 5.601 |
| 12 | 47 |  Roberto Lacorte Andrea Belicchi Giorgio Sernagiotto |
Dallara P217 | LMP2 | 1’54.305 | 6.775 |
| View full results | ||||||
GTE qualifying times:
| Cla | # | Drivers | Car | Class | Avg Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 95 | Marco Sorensen Nicki Thiim |
Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE PRO | 2’00.733 | |
| 2 | 92 | Michael Christensen Kevin Estre |
Porsche 911 RSR – 19 | LMGTE PRO | 2’00.952 | 0.219 |
| 3 | 97 | Alex Lynn  Maxime Martin |
Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE PRO | 2’01.029 | 0.296 |
| 4 | 91 | Gianmaria Bruni  Richard Lietz |
Porsche 911 RSR – 19 | LMGTE PRO | 2’01.049 | 0.316 |
| 5 | 51 | James Calado Alessandro Pier Guidi |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE PRO | 2’01.190 | 0.457 |
| 6 | 71 | Davide Rigon  Miguel Molina |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE PRO | 2’01.229 | 0.496 |
| 7 | 56 |  Egidio Perfetti  Laurents Hörr Matteo Cairoli |
Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 2’02.784 | 2.051 |
| 8 | 98 |  Paul Dalla Lana Darren Turner Ross Gunn |
Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 2’02.830 | 2.097 |
| 9 | 63 | Jan Magnussen Mike Rockenfeller |
Chevrolet Corvette C8.R | LMGTE PRO | 2’02.967 | 2.234 |
| 10 | 77 | Christian Ried Riccardo Pera  Matt Campbell |
Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 2’03.110 | 2.377 |
| 11 | 83 | François Perrodo Emmanuel Collard Nicklas Nielsen |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 2’03.376 | 2.643 |
| 12 | 57 | Ben Keating Felipe Fraga Jeroen Bleekemolen |
Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 2’03.450 | 2.717 |
| 13 | 54 | Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Giancarlo Fisichella |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 2’03.462 | 2.729 |
| 14 | 90 |  Salih Yoluc  Charles Eastwood Jonathan Adam |
Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 2’03.464 | 2.731 |
| 15 | 88 | Bret Curtis Adrien de Leener Thomas Preining |
Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 2’03.682 | 2.949 |
| 16 | 70 | Motoaki Ishikawa  Olivier Beretta Kei Cozzolino |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 2’03.781 | 3.048 |
| 17 | 86 | Michael Wainwright Andrew Watson Benjamin Barker |
Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 2’04.296 | 3.563 |
| 18 | 62 | Bonamy Grimes Johnny Mowlem Charles Hollings |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 2’04.832 | 4.099 |
| View full results | ||||||
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