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Shanghai WEC: Rebellion on pole ahead of Ginetta, Toyota off the pace

Rebellion Racing claimed its first overall World Endurance Championship pole position as Toyota brought up the rear in LMP1 qualifying for Sunday's Shanghai round of the World Endurance Championship

Gustavo Menezes and Bruno Senna took the top spot at the wheel of the solo Rebellion-Gibson R-13 by over a second from the best of the works Team LNT Ginettas.

Menezes led the way during the opening runs with a 1m46.006s before Senna posted the fastest time of the session with a 1m45.778s to give them a 1m45.892s average.

Senna said: "For the conditions it felt the car was gripping better [than in free practice], but I felt that I still left something on the track today."

The #6 Ginetta-AER G60-LT-P1 qualified by Charlie Robertson and Mike Simpson ended up 1.2s in arrears of the Rebellion on a 1m47.092s average.

Robertson was third fastest after the first runs with a 1m46.757s, while Simpson managed a 1m47.427s.

The second of the Ginettas, in which Egor Orudzhev and Ben Hanley ended up third, was less than two hundredths behind their team-mates.

Orudzhev set a 1m47.368s before Hanley set a 1m46.850s to give them a 1m47.109s average.

Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway took fourth spot in the best of the Toyota TS050 HYBRIDs, which are carrying penalties under the new system of success handicaps designed to slow them by 2.74s a lap.

The drivers of the #7 Toyota ended up with a 1m47.235s average, which put them nearly a second up on the sister car qualified by Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley.

Nicolas Lapierre and Antonin Borga claimed the LMP2 pole in the Cool Racing ORECA-Gibson 07.

Their 1m48.649s average just edged out Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA qualified by Will Stevens and Gabriel Aubry, which ended up on 1m48.775s average.

The United Autosports ORECA took third in the hands of Filipe Albuquerque and Phil Hanson.

A lap from Kevin Estre that was four tenths quicker than anyone else in the class propelled the #92 Porsche 911 RSR to the top of the GTE Pro times.

Team-mate Michael Christensen's 2m00.134s left the car sixth and last in class, before Estre put in a 1m59.024s to leapfrog the car onto the class pole.

Their 1m59.579s average gave them the top spot ahead of the Aston Martin Vantage GTE shared by Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen by just 0.018s.

Thiim topped the times after the first runs with a 1m59.708s before Sorensen went three tenths faster with a 1m59.486s on the same set of tyres.

That gave them a 1m59.597s, which was just one hundredth up on the sister car of Maxime Martin and Alex Lynn.

The two Ferrari 488 GTE Evos took fourth and fifth positions, the 1m59.687s average from James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi putting them four tenths up on the sister car of Davide Rigon and Miguel Molina.

Matteo Cairoli and Egidio Perfetti took the GTE Am pole in their Project 1 Porsche.

Starting grid

Pos Class Driver Team Car Time Gap
1 LMP1 B.Senna, G.Menezes, N.Nato Rebellion Racing Rebellion/Gibson 1m45.892s -
2 LMP1 C.Robertson, M.Simpson, G.Smith Team LNT Ginetta/AER 1m47.092s 1.200s
3 LMP1 J.King, B.Hanley, E.Orudzhev Team LNT Ginetta/AER 1m47.109s 1.217s
4 LMP1 M.Conway, K.Kobayashi, J.M.Lopez Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota 1m47.235s 1.343s
5 LMP1 S.Buemi, K.Nakajima, B.Hartley Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota 1m48.180s 2.288s
6 LMP2 N.Lapierre, A.Borga, A.Coigny COOL Racing ORECA/Gibson 1m48.649s -
7 LMP2 H-Pin Tung, G.Aubry, W.Stevens Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA/Gibson 1m48.775s -
8 LMP2 P.Hanson, F.Albuquerque, P.Di Resta United Autosports ORECA/Gibson 1m48.972s -
9 LMP2 M.Patterson, K.Yamashita, A.Fjordbach High Class Racing ORECA/Gibson 1m49.245s -
10 LMP2 R.Gonzalez, A.F.da Costa, A.Davidson JOTA ORECA/Gibson 1m49.739s -
11 LMP2 R.Lacorte, A.Belicchi, G.Sernagiotto Cetilar Racing Dallara/Gibson 1m50.496s -
12 LMP2 T.Laurent, A.Negrao, P.Ragues Signatech Alpine Elf Alpine/Gibson 1m50.941s -
13 GTE Pro M.Christensen, K.Estre Porsche GT Team Porsche 1m59.579s -
14 GTE Pro M.Sorensen, N.Thiim Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 1m59.597s -
15 GTE Pro A.Lynn, M.Martin Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 1m59.607s -
16 GTE Pro J.Calado, A.P.Guidi AF Corse Ferrari 1m59.687s -
17 GTE Pro D.Rigon, M.Molina AF Corse Ferrari 2m00.067s -
18 GTE Pro G.Bruni, R.Lietz Porsche GT Team Porsche 2m00.224s -
19 GTE Am E.Perfetti, D.H.Hansson, M.Cairoli Team Project 1 Porsche 2m00.824s -
20 GTE Am P.D.Lana, D.Turner, R.Gunn Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 2m01.528s -
21 GTE Am C.Ried, R.Pera, M.Campbell Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 2m01.655s -
22 GTE Am S.Yoluc, C.Eastwood, J.Adam TF Sport Aston Martin 2m02.192s -
23 GTE Am B.Keating, L.ten Voorde, J.Bleekemolen Team Project 1 Porsche 2m02.228s -
24 GTE Am T.Flohr, F.Castellacci, G.Fisichella AF Corse Ferrari 2m02.404s -
25 GTE Am M.Ishikawa, O.Beretta, K.Cozzolino MR Racing Ferrari 2m02.602s -
26 GTE Am A.Negro, W.Bamber, T.Preining Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 2m02.714s -
27 GTE Am M.Wainwright, A.Watson, B.Barker Gulf Racing Porsche 2m02.978s -
28 GTE Am F.Perrodo, E.Collard, N.Nielsen AF Corse Ferrari 2m03.001s -
29 GTE Am P.Prette, L.Prette Jr., V.Abril Proton Competition Porsche 2m03.086s -
30 GTE Am B.Grimes, J.Mowlem, C.Hollings Red River Sport Ferrari 2m03.239s -
31 LMP2 F.van Eerd, G.van der Garde, N.de Vries Racing Team Nederland ORECA/Gibson 1m48.431s -

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