Rebellion Goes 1-2 in Shanghai Third Practice

Rebellion Racing took a surprise 1-2 in the third and final free practice session ahead of Sunday’s FIA World Endurance Championship race in Shanghai.

Bruno Senna posted the best time of the 60-minute pre-qualifying session, 0.019 seconds ahead of team-mate Thomas Laurent, while Toyota ran third and fourth.

It marks the first time an LMP1 non-hybrid has lapped quicker than the factory Toyota TS050 Hybrids this season.

Senna’s 1:45.137 in the No. 1 Rebellion R13 Gibson was 0.027 seconds quicker than the best of the Toyotas driven by Kazuki Nakajima.

Toyota’s No. 7 car, meanwhile, spun around at turn three after Kamui Kobayashi was forced to take avoiding action against the TF Sport GTE-Am Aston Martin.

SMP Racing lapped fifth and sixth in FP3, with the fastest BR Engineering BR1 AER turning in a 1:45.998.

In LMP2, DragonSpeed led the way with Antony Davidson posting a 1:50.907 in the U.S squad’s No. 31 Oreca 07 Gibson.

Davidson lapped a tenth ahead of Signatech Alpine’s Andre Negrao, while the Jackie Chan DC Racing Orecas slotted into third and fourth.

GTE-Pro was paced by Aston Martin’s Marco Sorensen, whose time of 1:59.628 was three tenths quicker than Olivier Pla in the second-placed No. 66 Ford GT.

The British manufacturer is aiming to score its second consecutive pole for the Vantage this weekend, after claiming its first with the new package at Fuji.

Porsche was third-quickest on Saturday morning, ahead of the two AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTEs.

Ferrari teams Clearwater Racing and Spirit of Race led GTE-Am for the second session in a row as the former’s Matt Griffin led the way on a 2:01.583 from Giancarlo Fisichella.

A dry FP3 passed without major incident, although a brief full course yellow period was initiated to retrieve the Gulf Racing Porsche 911 RSR from the gravel after a spin for Michael Wainwright.

UPDATE: Senna Loses All Times 

Senna has lost all of his lap times from FP3 after being penalized for speeding in the pit lane before the session.

This makes Laurent the fastest driver in the session, while the No. 1 Rebellion’s fastest time becomes a 1:46.987 set by Andre Lotterer.

It also means Rebellion no longer has a 1-2 in the session, with the Toyotas instead second and third.