Rebellion Loses Second Place with Trip to Garage

Rebellion Racing lost its 8 Hours of Bahrain second place in the third hour following a problem that promoted Toyota into a commanding one-two position.

Gustavo Menezes was just over 50 seconds behind race leader Kamui Kobayashi when he pitted the Rebellion 13 Gibson with a suspected driveline problem.

This released Brendon Hartley and the No. 8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid into second to give the Japanese manufacturer a significant advantage with five and a half hours to go.

The Rebellion lost three laps – enough to drop it outside the overall top ten – as Kamui Kobayashi led the way in the No. 7 Toyota that has dominated since the start.

Team LNT’s No. 6 Ginetta G60-LT-P1 AER, which Kobayashi relegated off the lead lap at the end of the second hour, is now running in third with Chris Dyson at the wheel.

LMP1 returnee Dyson experienced a spin during his first stint behind the wheel of the Ginetta and is now a lap behind both Toyotas which are separated by just over a minute.

The No. 5 Ginetta that was involved in a first-lap collision with the Rebellion has since recovered from the back of the 31-car field and is above all but one of the LMP2 cars.

Shortly after the Rebellion’s trip to the garage, the lead changed in the GTE-Pro category as Ferrari’s Alessandro Pier Guidi overtook the Porsche 911 RSR of Michael Christensen and the Aston Martin Vantage GTE of Nicki Thiim in the space of two laps.

Thiim and Marco Sorensen’s No. 95 Aston has been the net leader for much of the race thanks to an early first stop which elevated it ahead of the rest of the field.

However, Thiim dropped to third in the second half of the third hour when points leader Christensen found a way past.

The LMP2 category continues to be led by United Autosports while Andrew Watson took the GTE-Am lead for Gulf Racing after passing the Aston Martin of Paul Dalla Lana.