Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

WEC Silverstone: Buemi puts Toyota on top in first practice

Toyota led the way in the opening practice session of the 2017 World Endurance Championship at Silverstone, beating LMP1 rival Porsche by just under eight tenths of a second

The quickest time of the 90 minutes came courtesy of Sebastien Buemi early on, the Swiss driver getting his first official running of the year in Toyota's TS050 HYBRID, after skipping the Monza test to race in Formula E's clashing Mexico City ePrix.

Why Toyota can make up for its heartbreak in 2017

Buemi's benchmark was a 1m40.104s, putting the #8 Toyota - running in high-downforce configuration this weekend - 0.781 seconds clear of the best of the Porsches, the #2 919 Hybrid of Brendon Hartley.

Despite running with a Le Mans 24 Hours-spec low downforce aero kit this weekend, Hartley managed to edge the second Toyota, the #7 of Mike Conway, by 0.075s to end up second fastest.

Completing the four manufacturer LMP1 cars was the #1 Porsche, which set a best time of 1m41.335s in the hands of Nick Tandy, 1.231s off the pace established by Buemi.

The ByKolles ENSO CLM P1/01 - now without Robert Kubica - managed to turn 31 laps after a disastrous Prologue, the quickest of those being a 1m48.224s, slower than all-bar one LMP2 runner.

In LMP2, it was the #13 Rebellion ORECA that started the year on top, with an early effort of 1m45.913s from Mathias Beche enough to lead the way.

Second was the #28 TDS Racing car of Matthieu Vaxiviere, 0.367s slower, while third was the #37 Jota-run DC Racing entry with Alex Brundle at the wheel.

Both GTE classes were led by Aston Martin, with Richie Stanaway putting the #95 Vantage at the head of the standings in the Pro division with a best time of 1m59.110s.

The #98 Am class car of Pedro Lamy was second-best overall of the GTE cars with a 1m59.342s, 0.150s clear of the next-best Pro car, the #66 Ford of Billy Johnson.

It was the #66 car that was responsible for causing the first Full Course Yellow of the season, however, as Stefan Mucke ground to a halt just before the Wellington Straight with around 30 minutes remaining.

Andy Priaulx made it two Fords in the top three with a time of 1m59.500s in the sister #67 car, just 0.017s ahead of the best of the new mid-engined Porsches, the #91 car.

Ferrari ended up at the bottom of the GTE Pro pile in seventh and eighth, newcomer Alessandro Pier Guidi setting the Italian marque's best time of 2m00.181s in the #51 488 GTE.

PRACTICE ONE RESULTS:

Pos Class Driver Team Car Time Gap Laps
1 LMP1 S.Buemi, A.Davidson, K.Nakajima Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota 1m40.104s - 36
2 LMP1 T.Bernhard, E.Bamber, B.Hartley Porsche LMP Team Porsche 1m40.885s 0.781s 35
3 LMP1 M.Conway, K.Kobayashi, J.M.Lopez Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota 1m40.960s 0.856s 33
4 LMP1 N.Jani, A.Lotterer, N.Tandy Porsche LMP Team Porsche 1m41.335s 1.231s 39
5 LMP2 M.Beche, D.H.Hansson, N.Piquet Jr. Vaillante Rebellion ORECA/Gibson 1m45.913s 5.809s 31
6 LMP2 F.Perrodo, M.Vaxiviere, E.Collard TDS Racing ORECA/Gibson 1m46.138s 6.034s 38
7 LMP2 D.Cheng, A.Brundle, T.Gommendy Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA/Gibson 1m46.505s 6.401s 36
8 LMP2 R.Rusinov, P.Thiriet, A.Lynn G-Drive Racing ORECA/Gibson 1m46.689s 6.585s 40
9 LMP2 N.Lapierre, G.Menezes, M.Rao Signatech Alpine Matmut Alpine/Gibson 1m46.826s 6.722s 26
10 LMP2 T.Graves, J.Hirschi, J-E.Vergne CEFC Manor TRS Racing ORECA/Gibson 1m47.530s 7.426s 38
11 LMP2 H-Pin Tung, O.Jarvis, T.Laurent Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA/Gibson 1m47.690s 7.586s 29
12 LMP2 J.Canal, N.Prost, B.Senna Vaillante Rebellion ORECA/Gibson 1m47.960s 7.856s 38
13 LMP1 O.Webb, J.Rossiter, D.Kraihamer ByKOLLES Racing Team ENSO CLM/NISMO 1m48.224s 8.120s 31
14 LMP2 R.Gonzalez, S.Trummer, V.Petrov CEFC Manor TRS Racing ORECA/Gibson 1m49.249s 9.145s 19
15 GTE Pro N.Thiim, M.Sorensen, R.Stanaway Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 1m59.110s 19.006s 39
16 GTE Am P.D.Lana, P.Lamy, M.Lauda Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 1m59.342s 19.238s 39
17 GTE Pro S.Mucke, O.Pla, B.Johnson Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK Ford 1m59.492s 19.388s 32
18 GTE Pro A.Priaulx, H.Tincknell, P.Derani Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK Ford 1m59.500s 19.396s 36
19 GTE Pro R.Lietz, F.Makowiecki Porsche GT Team Porsche 1m59.517s 19.413s 32
20 GTE Pro M.Christensen, K.Estre Porsche GT Team Porsche 1m59.655s 19.551s 23
21 GTE Pro D.Turner, J.Adam, D.Serra Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 1m59.730s 19.626s 42
22 GTE Pro J.Calado, A.P.Guidi AF Corse Ferrari 2m00.181s 20.077s 30
23 GTE Pro D.Rigon, S.Bird AF Corse Ferrari 2m00.271s 20.167s 39
24 GTE Am M.Wainwright, B.Barker, N.Foster Gulf Racing Porsche 2m00.275s 20.171s 33
25 GTE Am C.Ried, M.Cairoli, M.Dienst Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 2m00.402s 20.298s 30
26 GTE Am Mok W.S., K.Sawa, M.Griffin Clearwater Racing Ferrari 2m02.271s 22.167s 37
27 GTE Am T.Flohr, F.Castellacci, M.Molina Spirit of Race Ferrari 2m02.310s 22.206s 36

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Why Toyota can make up for its heartbreak in 2017
Next article Silverstone WEC: Toyota two seconds clear of Porsche in practice

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe