Fuji WEC: Toyota locks out front row in qualifying
Toyota locked out the top two positions in qualifying for this weekend's Fuji FIA World Endurance Championship round.
Brendon Hartley and Kazuki Nakajima set an average time of 1m25.013s to score pole in the #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid, almost eight tenths faster than their counterparts in the #7 car, Jose Maria Lopez and Kamui Kobayashi managed.
Nakajima set the fastest time of the session, a 1m24.822s, which Hartley followed with a 1m25.205s.
Lopez set a 1m25.639s on the opening runs before Kobayashi posted a 1m25.125s to leave them four tenths behind the sister car on aggregate.
But the Japanese driver lost his initial time to a track limits infringement and after that could only a manage a 1m25.968s give them a 1m25.803s average.
Rebellion ended up as best of the rest, with Gustavo Menezes and Norman Nato ending up 0.876s adrift on average times in the #1 R-13.
Ginetta's #5 entry was fourth, while the #6 car failed to set an average time after a spin for Charlie Robertson which brought out the red flags with three minutes to go.
LMP2 honours went to Ho-Pin Tung and Gabriel Aubry in the JOTA Sport-run Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca 07.
The United Autosports pairing of Filipe Albuquerque and Phil Hanson jumped to second after Albuquerque went out for a second run after the red flag - pushing the the JOTA Sport Oreca shared by Anthony Davidson and Roberto Gonzalez down to third.
Nyck de Vries set the fastest time in the class aboard the TDS-run Racing Team Nederland Oreca which ended up seventh after Frits van Eerd's run.
GTE: Porsche beats Ferrari to pole
Porsche stole position in GTE Pro right at the end of the first qualifying period.
Gianmaria Bruni had been third-fastest in the #91 Porsche 911 RSR after the first runs on a 1m37.350s, before teammate Richard Lietz jumped to the top of the times in the second runs.
The Austrian found six tenths on his second lap to bring the #91 Porsche's average down to 1m37.356s and claim the pole.
The Porsche just edged out the AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE of Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado, which ended up with a time of 1m37.397s.
Pier Guidi's 1m37.292s put him second to Nicki Thiim's Aston Martin initially and James Calado looked to have done enough to secure the pole with a 1m37.503s after losing his first lap to a track limits violation.
Thiim's 1m37.178s, the fastest GTE Pro of the session, was followed by a 1m37.723s from Marco Sorensen, which gave them third place with a 1m37.466s average.
Davide Rigon and Miguel Molina took fourth spot in the second Ferrari with a 1m37.792s average., while Porsche pair Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen brought up the rear in GTE Pro behind the Aston of Maxime Martin and Alex Lynn.
Estre was slowest after the first runs and then Christensen spun on his first quick lap, the rear of the car sustaining minor damage.
GTE Am honours went to the Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR shared by Felipe Fraga and Ben Keating. Fraga was third after the first runs before driver Keating was quickest on the second runs to put the car on the class pole.
Their 1m38.733s average just edged out the TF Sport Aston Martin, which Jonny Adam and Salih Yoluc qualified with a 1m38.821s average.
Session results:
Cla | Drivers | Car | Class | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Sébastien Buemi
Kazuki Nakajima Brendon Hartley |
Toyota TS050 Hybrid | LMP1 | 1'25.013 | |
2 |
Mike Conway
Kamui Kobayashi Jose Maria Lopez |
Toyota TS050 Hybrid | LMP1 | 1'25.803 | 0.790 |
3 |
Bruno Senna
Gustavo Menezes Norman Nato |
Rebellion R13 | LMP1 | 1'26.163 | 1.150 |
4 |
Luca Ghiotto
Ben Hanley Egor Orudzhev |
Ginetta G60-LT-P1 | LMP1 | 1'26.820 | 1.807 |
5 |
Ho-Pin Tung
Gabriel Aubry Will Stevens |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'29.302 | 4.289 |
6 |
Philip Hanson
Filipe Albuquerque Oliver Jarvis |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'29.787 | 4.774 |
7 |
Roberto Gonzalez
Antonio Felix da Costa Anthony Davidson |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'29.792 | 4.779 |
8 |
Mark Patterson
Kenta Yamashita Anders Fjordbach |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'30.073 | 5.060 |
9 |
Nicolas Lapierre
Antonin Borga Alexandre Coigny |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'30.087 | 5.074 |
10 |
Thomas Laurent
Andre Negrao Pierre Ragues |
Alpine A470 | LMP2 | 1'30.858 | 5.845 |
11 |
Frits van Eerd
Giedo van der Garde Nyck de Vries |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'30.935 | 5.922 |
12 |
Roberto Lacorte
Andrea Belicchi Giorgio Sernagiotto |
Dallara P217 | LMP2 | 1'31.342 | 6.329 |
13 |
Gianmaria Bruni
Richard Lietz |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE PRO | 1'37.356 | 12.343 |
14 |
James Calado
Alessandro Pier Guidi |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE PRO | 1'37.397 | 12.384 |
15 |
Marco Sorensen
Nicki Thiim |
Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE PRO | 1'37.466 | 12.453 |
16 |
Davide Rigon
Miguel Molina |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE PRO | 1'37.792 | 12.779 |
17 |
Alex Lynn
Maxime Martin |
Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE PRO | 1'37.820 | 12.807 |
18 |
Michael Christensen
Kevin Estre |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE PRO | 1'37.935 | 12.922 |
19 |
Ben Keating
Felipe Fraga Jeroen Bleekemolen |
Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 1'38.733 | 13.720 |
20 |
Salih Yoluc
Charles Eastwood Jonathan Adam |
Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 1'38.821 | 13.808 |
21 |
François Perrodo
Emmanuel Collard Nicklas Nielsen |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 1'38.850 | 13.837 |
22 |
Paul Dalla Lana
Darren Turner Ross Gunn |
Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 1'38.917 | 13.904 |
23 |
Egidio Perfetti
David Heinemeier Hansson Matteo Cairoli |
Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 1'39.022 | 14.009 |
24 |
Satoshi Hoshino
Adrien de Leener Thomas Preining |
Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 1'39.025 | 14.012 |
25 |
Thomas Flohr
Francesco Castellacci Giancarlo Fisichella |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 1'39.291 | 14.278 |
26 |
Christian Ried
Riccardo Pera Matt Campbell |
Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 1'39.549 | 14.536 |
27 |
Michael Wainwright
Andrew Watson Benjamin Barker |
Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 1'39.610 | 14.597 |
28 |
Motoaki Ishikawa
Olivier Beretta Kei Cozzolino |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 1'39.628 | 14.615 |
29 |
Bonamy Grimes
Johnny Mowlem Charles Hollings |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 1'39.889 | 14.876 |
30 |
Charles Robertson
Michael Simpson Guy Smith |
Ginetta G60-LT-P1 | LMP1 | 1'25.889 | 0.876 |
View full results |
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