22.02.2020 - 22h00

6H COTA: Rebellion fastest in FP2 while Porsche top LMGTE Pro times

Below are the main headlines from this afternoon’s second free practice session at the Lone Star Le Mans - round 5 of FIA WEC - in Austin, Texas.

LMP1
-   Rebellion Racing produces fastest lap of the day as home driver Gustavo Menezes sets time of 1:48.804 in the No. 1 Rebellion R13 Gibson he shares with Bruno Senna and Norman Nato
-   No. 1 Rebellion stops out on track half-way through FP2 with engine issues. Team will now work hard to replace the engine before the start of Qualifying later today
-   Toyota Gazoo Racing’s No. 8 car second quickest with Brendon Hartley at the wheel, 0.654s behind Menezes
-   No. 7 car third out of LMP1 entries with the sister Toyota TS050 Hybrid car posting a fastest lap time of 1:51.185

LMGTE Pro
-   Porsche finished FP2 in 1st and 3rd places in class, both cars making a late surge to the top of the timing screens in the last 10 minutes of the session
-   Michael Christensen in the No.92 911 RSR-19 led the way with a time of 2:01.716, just five hundredths of a second ahead of Marco Sorensen in the No.95 Aston Martin
-   The British car had earlier caused the session to be red-flagged as its left rear wheel came loose and the car had to be brought back to the pits on a flat bed truck. Due to the condensed nature of the timetable, the car was allowed to continue
-   Porsche’s No.91 was third with a lap of 2:02.045, followed by the two Ferraris 488 GTEs and the Corvette C8.R
-   Corvette Racing, after working through a number of new-car issues from FP1 this morning, closed the gap to their competitors. The No.63 chassis is brand new and had only completed a shake-down before being shipped to COTA
-   Magnussen and Rockenfeller continue to get familiarised with their new ‘office’ and are sure to be in the mix for tomorrow’s race

Lone Star Le Mans #6hCOTA FP2, leaders of each class

LMP1 1: #1 @RebellionRacing
LMP2 1: #29 @RacingTeamNL
GTE-Pro 1: #92 @PorscheRaces
GTE-Am 1: #77 @PatrickDempsey @ProtonRacing
#WEC pic.twitter.com/p96EaOrZHy
— WEC 🤠 (@FIAWEC) February 22, 2020

LMP2
-   Racing Team Nederland top LMP2 times with Nyck De Vries posting a time of 1:49.863 early in the session
-   The Dutch-based team were the only LMP2 team to post a sub 1:50 time out of the nine LMP2 crews competing at COTA
-   United Autosports second quickest as Phil Hanson clocked 1:50.803 in the ORECA 07 Gibson car
-   Third in LMP2 was Jackie Chan DC Racing equipped with Goodyear tyres as Will Stevens set a time of 1:50.954 just before the session was red flagged with six minutes left on the clock

LMGTE Am
-   In LMGTE Am Dempsey Proton Racing experienced highs and lows in the session. No.77 Porsche 911 RSR of Matt Campbell set a blistering time of 2:02.192 to take p1 in class, placing him in the middle of GTE Pro entries
-   The No.88 sister Dempsey Proton Porsche, with Adrien de Leener at the wheel, went off track in the latter stages of FP2 causing the second of the two red flags. The session was not restarted
-   Second was the No.98 Aston Martin Vantage AMR with a time of 2:02.844, set by Ross Gunn. Paul Dalla Lana, his team mate, makes his 2020 racing return after injuring his ankle over the holiday period.
-   Third in class, with an excellent 2:02.706 was the No.70 MR Racing Ferrari of Kei Cozzolino