Austin WEC: Rebellion grabs third straight pole

Gustavo Menezes and Norman Nato sealed the top stop ahead of the best of the Toyotas after the team swapped the engine in the back of its solo Rebellion R-13 as a result of a sudden failure halfway through the second practice period. 

Menezes went quickest on the first runs with a 1m47.674s and then Nato set a 1m48.087s before a brief red-flag period. The Frenchman improved to a 1m47.387s after the interruption to give the Rebellion a 1m47.530s average.

Jose Maria Lopez and Mike Conway took second in the more heavily penalised of the two Toyota TS050 Hybrids, the #7 car.

Lopez was third-fastest after his run with a 1m48.634s, which Conway followed with a 1m49.688s to yield a 1m49.161s average. 

Kazuki Nakajima had been eight tenths quicker than Lopez in the first runs with a 1m47.891s, but Brendon Hartley lost his first lap to a track limits violation. 

He managed a 1m50.971s on his final lap before the chequered flag, which gave the #8 Toyota a 1m49.431s average. 

Nicolas Lapierre and Antonin Borga took the LMP2 pole aboard the Cool Racing Oreca.

Lapierre was second fastest after the first runs with a 1m49.343s, while Borga managed a 1m50.478s. That yielded a 1m49.910s average, which was a tenth up on the 1m50.073s from Filipe Albuquerque and Phil Hanson in the United Autosports Oreca.

Nyck de Vries set the fastest P2 time aboard the Racing Team Nederland Oreca with a 1m48.696s, which briefly split the Toyotas during the first runs. 

GTE Pro points leaders Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim took the class pole in the #95 Aston Martin Vantage GTE. 

Sorensen led the way after the first runs on a 2m00.742s before his teammate maintained the top spot on his first run. Thiim then improved on his lap, getting down to a 2m00.725s to give them a 2m00.733s average and a two-tenth margin over the second-placed Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre. 

Christensen was only fifth in class after his run on a 2m01.106s, but Estre's 2m00.798s brought their average down to 2m00.952s. 

Alex Lynn and Maxime Martin took third in the second of the Astons with a 2m01.029s average. 

The two AF Corse-run Ferrari 488 GTEs took fourth and sixth after both lost times for track limits violations. 

James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi just edged out the Porsche of Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz for fourth, while Davide Rigon and Miguel Molina ended up sixth ahead of the solo Corvette C8.R of Jan Magnussen and Mike Rockenfeller

GTE Am pole went to the Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR qualified by Matteo Cairoli and Egidio Perfetti from the Aston Martin of Paul Dalla Lana and Ross Gunn.

LMP qualifying times:

Cla	#	Drivers	Car	Class	Avg Time	Gap
1	1	Bruno Senna Gustavo Menezes Norman Nato	Rebellion R13	LMP1	1'47.530
2	7	Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi Jose Maria Lopez	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	1'49.161	1.631
3	8	Sébastien Buemi Kazuki Nakajima Brendon Hartley	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	1'49.431	1.901
4	42	Nicolas Lapierre Antonin Borga Alexandre Coigny	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'49.910	2.380
5	22	Philip Hanson Filipe Albuquerque Paul di Resta	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'50.073	2.543
6	36	Thomas Laurent Andre Negrao Pierre Ragues	Alpine A470	LMP2	1'50.984	3.454
7	37	Ho-Pin Tung Gabriel Aubry Will Stevens	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'51.354	3.824
8	38	Roberto Gonzalez Antonio Felix da Costa Anthony Davidson	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'51.592	4.062
9	33	Mark Patterson Kenta Yamashita Anders Fjordbach	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'51.747	4.217
10	21	Henrik Hedman Ben Hanley Colin Braun	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'52.765	5.235
11	29	Frits van Eerd Giedo van der Garde Nyck de Vries	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'53.131	5.601
12	47	Roberto Lacorte Andrea Belicchi Giorgio Sernagiotto	Dallara P217	LMP2	1'54.305	6.775
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GTE qualifying times:

Cla	#	Drivers	Car	Class	Avg Time	Gap
1	95	Marco Sorensen Nicki Thiim	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE PRO	2'00.733
2	92	Michael Christensen Kevin Estre	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	2'00.952	0.219
3	97	Alex Lynn Maxime Martin	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE PRO	2'01.029	0.296
4	51	James Calado Alessandro Pier Guidi	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	2'01.031	0.298
5	91	Gianmaria Bruni Richard Lietz	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	2'01.049	0.316
6	71	Davide Rigon Miguel Molina	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	2'01.229	0.496
7	56	Egidio Perfetti Laurents Hörr Matteo Cairoli	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	2'02.784	2.051
8	98	Paul Dalla Lana Darren Turner Ross Gunn	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	2'02.830	2.097
9	90	Salih Yoluc Charles Eastwood Jonathan Adam	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	2'02.909	2.176
10	63	Jan Magnussen Mike Rockenfeller	Chevrolet Corvette C8.R	LMGTE PRO	2'02.967	2.234
11	77	Christian Ried Riccardo Pera Matt Campbell	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	2'03.110	2.377
12	83	François Perrodo Emmanuel Collard Nicklas Nielsen	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	2'03.376	2.643
13	57	Ben Keating Felipe Fraga Jeroen Bleekemolen	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	2'03.450	2.717
14	54	Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Giancarlo Fisichella	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	2'03.462	2.729
15	88	Bret Curtis Adrien de Leener Thomas Preining	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	2'03.682	2.949
16	70	Motoaki Ishikawa Olivier Beretta Kei Cozzolino	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	2'03.781	3.048
17	62	Bonamy Grimes Johnny Mowlem Charles Hollings	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	2'03.964	3.231
18	86	Michael Wainwright Andrew Watson Benjamin Barker	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	2'04.296	3.563
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