Rebellion fast again but hits trouble in COTA FP2

Rebellion Racing's R-13 Gibson was once again the fastest car on track in the second and final WEC practice session at COTA. However, the car blew its engine midway through the session, leaving the mechanics in a race against time to fit a spare before qualifying.

“I came out of Turn 2 and the engine shut off; I saw the smoke pouring out," said Bruno Senna, who was driving the car at the time. "It’s a very tight schedule now to qualifying. The team has a lot of work to do. We don’t want to start at the back.”

The No. 8 Toyota ended up second, with a 1m49.458s best, six and a half tenths off the No. 1 Rebellion's 1m48.804s posted by Gustavo Menezes before its mechanical woes.

As in FP1, the No. 7 Toyota was unable to better the front-running LMP2 cars over a single lap and ended up seventh overall.

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Racing Team Nederland was quickest of the LMP2s, Nyck de Vries clocking a 1m49.863s which was good enough for third overall. The No. 22 United Autosports ORECA slotted into second in class, with the No. 37 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA putting Goodyear into the LMP2 top three.

In the GT ranks, it was Porsche leading the way this time with Kevin Estre managing a 2m01.716s late in the session in the No. 92 911 RSR 19.

The No. 95 Aston Martin finished up second, though it had dramas of its own, Marco Sorensen pulling off the circuit at Turn 8 after its left-rear wheel became detached.

The No. 91 Porsche would take third.

Slowest of all the GTE runners in FP1, Corvette Racing found significantly more speed in its C8.R for FP2, the team ending up sixth out of the seven cars in Pro, within a second of the best time.

The quickest car in GTE Am, the No. 77 Dempsey Proton Porsche, wound up mixing in with the Pro cars, finishing fourth in the combined GTE classification. The car's 2m02.192s was half a second quicker than the rest of the field, the No. 98 Aston Vantage closest with a 2m02.634s.

Dempsey Proton's sister car, meanwhile, brought out red flags in the final minutes of the session, bringing it to an early end, after Adrien De Leener pulled off the road and stopped.

RESULTS

UP NEXT: Qualifying at 5:40 p.m. local time.