Rebellion Racing has smashed Toyota for six to take a third successive WEC pole position, this time for the Six Hours of COTA.
American Rebellion star Gustavo Menezes and teammate Norman Nato had set a combined average time of 1m47.530ss in the prototype session, enough to take pole by a massive 1.631s over the #7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid driven by Jose Maria Lopez and Mike Conway.
The two Toyota TS050 Hybrids were restrained by a success handicap even before the weekend began. But ultimately the No.1 Rebellion was far superior over one lap pace.
Kiwi Brendon Hartley’s session was marred by errors as he had his fastest lap time deleted for exceeding track limits. Hartley and fellow Toyota teammate Kazuki Nakajima finished third and last of all the LMP1 runners, 1.9s off the pace.
The Prototype session was halted temporarily as the No.33 High Class Racing LMP2 car struck mechanical trouble out on the track. Though, barring the consequent red flag, qualifying ran uninterrupted.
The #95 Aston Martin Vantage of Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen claimed pole position in GTE Pro after an intense battle with the AF Corsa Ferrari’s. It will be the first time all season that the Vantage will start from pole position.
Top spot in LMP2 went to the Cool Racing Oreca driven by Nicolas Lapierre and Antonin Borga, while Egidio Perfetti and Matteo Cairoli secured pole in GTE Am, driving a Porsche 911 RSR.
The 6 Hours of COTA makes up round fine for the World Endurance Championship, with coverage of the race live on Sky Sports 9 from 0630 tomorrow morning.