EL3: Faster than Toyota, Rebellion creates a surprise

Once is not customary, it is not Toyota which is at the forefront of the World ChampionshipEndurance (WEC). The last free practice session on the Spa-Francorchamps circuit (Belgium) indeed saw the R13-Gibson Rebellion by Neel Jani, André Lotterer and Bruno Senna sign the best time, despite a spin from the Brazilian at the start of the session.

The non-hybrid LM P1 is ahead of the Toyota of the trio Conway-Kobayashi-Lopez by more than eight tenths. Also in great form, the second Rébellion (Bêche-Laurent-Menezes) completes the podium one second behind the Swiss prototype. You have to go down to the 5th row to see Fernando Alonso (Toyota), relegated to 1”353. Plagued by financial concerns, the two Ginettas from the Manor team only completed one lap leaving the pits.

In LM P2, DragonSpeed continues its domination, which began on Thursday. The ex-pilot's Oreca 07-Gibson Williams F1 Pastor Maldonado (accompanied by Nathanaël Berthon and Roberto Gonzalez) leads the way ahead of the G-Drive Racing prototype for Rusinov-Vergne-Pizzitola.

The pattern from Thursday remains relevant for the GTE Pro. After n°66 of Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK in FP2, the No. 67 (Mücke-Pla-Johnson) took over. Until now discreet, the BMWs are gaining momentum (Blomqvist-Da Costa 2nd), while the Aston Martin perhaps hide their real potential.

As for the GTE Am class, the Dempsey-Proton Racing team asserts itself as the reference structure by placing its two Porsche 911 RSR at the top of the timesheet, the trio Reid-Andlauer-Campbelle ahead of Al Qubaisi-Roda-Cairoli.

The qualifying session will begin at 15 p.m. with the GTE Pro and Am. The prototypes will begin qualifying at 15:35 p.m.