Rebellion Racing and Norman Nato topped the timing sheets in the first free practice session for the FIA World Endurance Championship season-opening 4 Hours of Silverstone, beating the pair of Toyota Gazoo Racing TS050s.
In the early running, Toyota was the only LMP1 outfit to set a representative time. A 1:39.306 was set by Sebastien Buemi in the #8 on Silverstone’s refreshed track surface, to go sixth tenths faster than last year’s FP1 ultimate pace within the first 10 minutes.
The Rebellion R 13s arrived at the sharp end of the timing screens shortly thereafter, courtesy of a 1:39.932 from Bruno Senna in the #1 entry.
Norman Nato took the wheel of the #1 Rebellion for the final leg of the session, and registered a 1:39.633 with just under 20 minutes of the session remaining, putting it just three-hundredths of a second back from the second-placed #7 Toyota’s fastest time.
Nato continued to register impressive laps, and with seven minutes of the session remaining, the Frenchman leapt to the top of the timing sheets with a 1:38.860.
That time would remain as the quickest of the session, 0.420 clear of the 1:39.280 set by Kazuki Nakajima in the #8 Toyota. The #7’s fastest time, a 1:39.431, was good enough for third ahead of the #3 Rebellion.
Michael Simpson set the early benchmark for the #6 Team LNT Ginetta, a 1:43.253. Oliver Jarvis then went on to set fast times in his first ever run in a G60. But it was Guy Smith who would set the best time in the car, a 1:40.618, meaning the Team LNT entry was now clear of the quickest LMP2 time by a sizeable margin, and just under a second back from the second of the Rebellion entries.
The #5 Ginetta failed to set a flying lap during the session due to some electrical issues. The team expects the car to be out and setting flying laps in FP2 later today.
For the second consecutive session of the day, following on from the earlier ELMS practice, the pace in LMP2 fell to United Autosports and another of its new ORECAs. With Filipe Albuquerque at the wheel, one of the car’s very first flying laps yielded a 1:43.066. This would ultimately be the quickest time of the session, with the #42 Cool Racing car coming closest to that pace with a 1:43.470 courtesy of new recruit and LMP2 maestro Nicolas Lapierre.
Another new ORECA, the #29 Racing Team Nederland entry, registered the third fastest time in class, a 1:43.776.
In GTE Pro, a late flyer from Gianmaria Bruni saw the #91 Porsche GT Team 911 RSR-19 top the session. The 1:55.766 trumped the long-standing ultimate pace of James Calado (#51 AF Corse Ferrari); a 1:56.069 set early in the session.
The #95 Aston Martin Vantage AMR would register the third-fastest time in class, a 1:56.361, just clear of the sister #97 car’s best of 1:56.390. The #71 AF Corse Ferrari took fifth courtesy of a late 1:56.426 from Miguel Molina, while the #92 Porsche rounded out the Pro class.
In GTE Am, no one could beat a 1:56.611 from Jonathan Adam. The time stood as the second fastest time of any GTE car for a good chunk of the session and indicates early promise for the TF Sport and its new Aston Martin Vantage AMR. The other Am-entered Vantage AMR, the factory #98 entry, was second fastest on a 1:57.251, ahead of the #70 MR Racing Ferrari 488 GTE EVO.
The FIA WEC teams will hit the track again later today in the second Free Practice session. It is scheduled for 16:30 local time though it is likely to be delayed due to the second ELMS session being extended.
Featured image courtesy of FIA WEC
