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Rebellion tops opening COTA WEC practice
Rebellion Racing ran fastest in the first of two free practice sessions for the FIA World Endurance Championship runners at Circuit of The Americas, its No. 1 R-13 setting a 1m49.957s with Gustavo Menezes at the wheel.
The time was just under two tenths clear of the best of the two (success handicap-hobbled) Toyotas, the No. 8 which slotted in second with a 1m50.132s from Sebastien Buemi.
The third and only other LMP1 entry present at this event, the No. 7 Toyota, ended up ninth overall, with a 1:52.460, slower than the top six in LMP2.
United Autosports ended up quickest in LMP2 with its best time, set by Filipe Albuquerque, a 1m50.488s. The No. 37 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA, which was consequently fastest of the two Goodyear entries in the class, ended up second.
Signatech Alpine completed the top three with a 1m50.954s from Andre Negrao.
In the GT classes the No. 97 Aston Martin set the early benchmark, the Vantage lapping the circuit in 2m01.838s during Maxime Martin’s time in the car. The two AF Corse Ferraris completed the top three after a two hour session in which the team’s focused on getting to grips with the new surface.
It was a pretty quiet session for Corvette Racing and its new C8.R. The team ended up slowest of all the GT runners, Am included, 2.4 seconds off the best GTE Pro time. Alarm bells are not ringing in the garage, though, as the team is running through a program with its brand-new chassis, which only has a brief shakedown at Sebring to its name before this session.
In Am, Dempsey Proton made it a 1-2, with Matt Campbell setting a 2m02.742s to go up top in the No. 77 Porsche 911 RSR. It was a Porsche 1-2-3-4 in the session, with Gulf Racing finishing up third ahead of the No. 56 Project 1 Porsche fourth.
UP NEXT: Practice 2 from 12:45-2:45 p.m. Central time
Stephen Kilbey
UK-based Stephen Kilbey is RACER.com's FIA World Endurance Championship correspondent, and is also Deputy Editor of Dailysportscar.com He has a first-class honours degree in Sports Journalism and is a previous winner of the UK Guild of Motoring Writers Sir William Lyons Award.
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