Silverstone WEC: Toyota sees off Rebellion for pole

Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway posted an average time of 1m36.015s in the #7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid during Saturday's 20-minute qualifying session, beating the sister #8 car driven by Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima by exactly three tenths of a second.

The best of the privateers was the #1 Rebellion R-13 a further two tenths back in the hands of Bruno Senna and Gustavo Menezes.

Conway paid credit to the Toyota team after qualifying, revealing that the car had been rebuilt a new monocoque overnight.

The car he and Kobayashi share with Jose Maria Lopez was found to have sustained chassis damage after the Japanese driver spun across the kerbs at Becketts as the result of minor contact with one of the Rebellions in second practice.

"Thanks to the team for their work overnight," said Conway. "All in all it was a decent lap from me and then a great lap from Kamui to secure the pole."

Conway headed the times after the first runs with a 1m36.038s, before Kobayashi set the fast time of the session with a 1m35.992s. That gave them a 1m36.015s average, which compared with the 1m36.315s from Nakajima and Buemi.

Menezes set the fastest time by a privateer with the 1m36.521s, which shaded Senna's best by just seven hundredths. 

They ended up on a 1m36.560s average, which was half a second quicker than the 1m37.024s from team-mates Nathanael Berthon and Pipo Derani in the sister Rebellion.

The two Ginetta G60-LT-P1s ended up fifth and sixth. Mike Simpson and Oliver Jarvis were only two tenths behind the second Rebellion with a 1m37.220s average in the #6 car.

Racing Team Nederland drivers Giedo van der Garde and Job van Uitert look pole in LMP2 aboard their TDS Racing-run Oreca on Michelin tyres. 

Their 1m40.948s average put them seven tenths up on United Autosports Oreca drivers Paul di Resta and Phil Hanson, while the Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca qualified by Will Stevens and Gabriel Aubry was the first Goodyear runner in third place.

Ferrari takes 1-2 in GTE Pro

Ferrari blocked out the top two positions in GTE Pro, James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi taking the pole from team-mates Davide Rigon and Miguel Molina by a shade over a tenth. 

Calado was just behind Molina after the first runs before Pier Guidi set the fastest lap of the GTE session, which gave them a 1m54.171s average in their AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo. That compared with Rigon and Molina's 1m54.302s.

Alex Lynn and and Maxime Martin took third for Aston Martin with a 1m54.992s average in their Vantage GTE.

Gianmaria Bruni, who had a spin at Abbey halfway through the session as the result of a puncture, and Richard Lietz took fourth in the second-generation Porsche 911 RSR on 1m55.067s. 

Reigning champions Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen brought up the rear of the six-car GTE Pro field in their Porsche behind the second of the Astons.

Charlie Eastwood and Salih Yoluc took GTE Am qualifying honours in the TF Sport Aston. 

The #57 Project 1 Porsche did not take part in qualifying after a suffering an apparent engine issue in third practice earlier in the day.

The WEC 4 Hours of Silverstone will be streamed live on Motorsport.tv. Click here for more coverage details.

Prototype results:

Cla	#	Drivers	Car	Class	Avg Time	Gap
1	7	Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi Jose Maria Lopez	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	1'36.015
2	8	Sébastien Buemi Kazuki Nakajima Brendon Hartley	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	1'36.315	0.30
3	1	Bruno Senna Gustavo Menezes Norman Nato	Rebellion R13	LMP1	1'36.560	0.545
4	3	Nathanael Berthon Pipo Derani Loic Duval	Rebellion R13	LMP1	1'37.024	1.009
5	6	Michael Simpson Oliver Jarvis Guy Smith	Ginetta G60-LT-P1	LMP1	1'37.220	1.205
6	5	Charles Robertson Ben Hanley Egor Orudzhev	Ginetta G60-LT-P1	LMP1	1'37.464	1.449
7	29	Frits van Eerd Giedo van der Garde Job Van Uitert	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'40.948	4.933
8	22	Philip Hanson Filipe Albuquerque Paul di Resta	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'41.683	5.668
9	37	Ho-Pin Tung Gabriel Aubry Will Stevens	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'41.976	5.961
10	42	Nicolas Lapierre Antonin Borga Alexandre Coigny	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'42.017	6.002
11	36	Thomas Laurent Andre Negrao Pierre Ragues	Alpine A470	LMP2	1'42.216	6.201
12	33	Mark Patterson Kenta Yamashita Anders Fjordbach	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'42.414	6.399
13	38	Roberto Gonzalez Antonio Felix da Costa Anthony Davidson	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'42.885	6.870
14	47	Roberto Lacorte Andrea Belicchi Giorgio Sernagiotto	Dallara P217	LMP2	1'43.363	7.348
View full results

GTE qualifying:

Cla	#	Drivers	Car	Class	Avg Time	Gap
1	51	James Calado Alessandro Pier Guidi	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	1'54.171
2	71	Davide Rigon Miguel Molina	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	1'54.302	0.131
3	97	Alex Lynn Maxime Martin	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE PRO	1'54.992	0.821
4	91	Gianmaria Bruni Richard Lietz	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	1'55.067	0.896
5	95	Marco Sorensen Nicki Thiim	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE PRO	1'55.149	0.978
6	92	Michael Christensen Kevin Estre	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	1'55.493	1.322
7	90	Salih Yoluc Charles Eastwood Jonathan Adam	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	1'56.034	1.863
8	56	Egidio Perfetti David Kolkmann Matteo Cairoli	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	1'56.371	2.20
9	98	Paul Dalla Lana Darren Turner Ross Gunn	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	1'56.469	2.298
10	83	François Perrodo Emmanuel Collard Nicklas Nielsen	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'56.489	2.318
11	54	Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Giancarlo Fisichella	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'56.742	2.571
12	77	Christian Ried Matt Campbell Riccardo Pera	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	1'57.351	3.180
13	88	Thomas Preining Gianluca Giraudi Ricardo Sanchez	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	1'57.507	3.336
14	62	Bonamy Grimes Johnny Mowlem Charles Hollings	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'57.934	3.763
15	86	Michael Wainwright Andrew Watson Benjamin Barker	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	1'58.199	4.028
16	70	Motoaki Ishikawa Olivier Beretta Kei Cozzolino	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'58.336	4.165
17	57	Ben Keating Felipe Fraga Jeroen Bleekemolen	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM
View full results