Rebellion Racing will be starting from pole position in tomorrow’s six-hour Lone Star Le Mans round of the FIA World Endurance Championship after Gustavo Menezes and Norman Nato took pole in a session that was interrupted by a red flag after the High Class Racing LMP2 entry stopped on track.
Menezes and Nato put together an average time of 01:47:530 in the #1 Rebellion R13-Gibson, which had an engine swap completed after an engine failure in the final practice session on Saturday.
The prototype qualifying session was marred by a red flag that was brought out when the #33 High Class Racing ORECA 07-Gibson of Anders Fjordbach stopped on track. The red flag interrupted proceedings, with both Toyotas having not yet set a time with their second drivers.
They were able to set a time after the restart, but were far off the pole time. The #7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid of Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez qualified second with an average of 01:49:161, and the #8 Toyota was third, over three-tenths back.
Cool Racing took LMP2 pole position with a bit of luck, as the #42 ORECA 07-Gibson was the only runner to have completed two lap times before Fjordbach’s stoppage, courtesy of Nicloas Lapierre and Antonin Borga.
Borga was not able to improve his lap time, but it was enough for pole as a frantic dash for lap times after the restart did not lead to any notable improvements.
Phil Hanson and Felipe Albuquerque put the #22 ORECA 07-Gibson in second with an averae time of 01:50:073, while the #36 Signatech Alpine A470-Gibson will be lining up third.
Nyck de Vries set a blistering lap at the beginning of the session to briefly put Racing Team Nederland on provisional pole, but their average dropped once bronze-rated Frits van Eerd took over the #29 ORECA 07-Gibson.
The #33 High Class Racing machine, which qualified sixth in class, was involved in another incident after the restart when it made contact with the #37 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA 07-Gibson of Will Stevens in the first corner, nearly ending both their sessions prematurely.
Stevens recovered to put the black and yellow ORECA fourth in class with an average of 01:51:354 in a session where lap times were not entirely representative.
