Practice report

Fuji WEC: Toyota flexes its muscles in second practice

Toyota dominated the first dry session of practice ahead of Sunday’s penultimate round of the World Endurance Championship at Fuji.

The Toyota GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercars ended up 1-2 in the times during Friday afternoon's Free Practice 2, Sebastien Buemi in the #8 car ending up over a second clear of the Japanese manufacturer’s closest challenger.

Buemi and Kamui Kobayashi in the sister car each set two lap times faster than the Antonio Felix da Costa managed in the third-placed JOTA Porsche 963 LMDh.

The #8 car in Buemi’s hands ended up six tenths ahead of of Kobayashi in the #7.

Buemi got down to a 1m29.523s on his second hot lap on a fresh set of Michelin slicks at the beginning of the 90-minute session, which compared with a 1m30.120s best from Kobayashi.

The time from Buemi was only two tenths slower than than Kobayashi’s pole position mark for the Fuji 6 Hours 12 months ago.

JOTA driver da Costa vaulted to third position ahead of the best of the Ferrari 499Ps early in the session courtesy of a 1m30.584s.

That pushed Alessandro Pier Guidi down to fourth in the #51 Ferrari in which he had posted a 1m30.618s.

Michael Christensen ended up fifth in the first of the Porsche Penske Motorsport entries with of a 1m30.734s lap set early in the session.

That gave him a margin of just over a tenth on the #50 Ferrari, which had topped the times in Antonio Fuoco’s hands thanks to a late run on slicks on a drying track in the morning session.

Nicklas Nielsen got down to 1m30.877s in the afternoon aboard the second of the Ferraris to take sixth.

The two Peugeot 9X8s took seventh and eighth positions. Jean-Eric Vergne’s 1m31.069s in the #93 car gave him a margin of little more than a tenth over team-mate Loic Duval, who ended up on 1m31.216s in #94.

The second works Porsche was ninth in Kevin Estre’s hands, while Neel Jani took 10th in the Proton Competition’s team privateer 963.

The Vanwall Vandervell 680 LMH outpaced the solo Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac V-Series-R at the rear of the Hypercar class.

Louis Deletraz jumped to the top of the times in LMP2 as the chequered flag fell.

He posted a 1m33.131s aboard the best of the WRT ORECA 07s to go nearly half a second clear of Pietro Fittipaldi in the JOTA team’s solo P2 entry.

The Brazilian had improved mid-session to 1m33.620s, which edged out the #23 United Autosports ORECA driven by Oliver Jarvis by just five thousandths.

Fourth fastest in class less than a tenth behind was Ferdinand Habsburg in second WRT ORECAs.

Factory Ferrari driver Davide Rigon led an AF Corse 1-2-3 in GTE Am. He topped the class order in the #54 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo on 1m38.239s, nearly half a second up on the team’s second entry in which Kei Cozzolino got down to 1m30.718s.

The Richard Mille-sponsored AF car took third position in Alessio Rovera’s hands.

Final practice for the six-hour race at Fuji starts at 10:20 local time on Saturday, with qualifying following at 14:40.

Fuji WEC - second practice results:

Driver Info

Cla	Team	#	Drivers	Car	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	Toyota Racing HYPERCAR	8	S. Buemi B. Hartley R. Hirakawa	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	51	1'29.523		183.492
2	Toyota Racing HYPERCAR	7	M. Conway K. Kobayashi J. Lopez	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	48	+0.597	0.597	182.276
3	HERTZ TEAM JOTA HYPERCAR	38	A. Felix da Costa W. Stevens Y. Yifei	Porsche 963	53	+1.061	0.464	181.343
4	FERRARI AF CORSE HYPERCAR	51	A. Pier Guidi J. Calado A. Giovinazzi	Ferrari 499P	51	+1.095	0.034	181.275
5	PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT HYPERCAR	5	D. Cameron M. Christensen F. Makowiecki	Porsche 963	48	+1.211	0.116	181.043
6	FERRARI AF CORSE HYPERCAR	50	A. Fuoco M. Molina N. Nielsen	Ferrari 499P	49	+1.354	0.143	180.758
7	PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES HYPERCAR	93	P. di Resta M. Jensen J. Vergne	Peugeot 9X8	42	+1.546	0.192	180.377
8	PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES HYPERCAR	94	L. Duval G. Menezes S. Vandoorne	Peugeot 9X8	48	+1.693	0.147	180.086
9	PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT HYPERCAR	6	K. Estre A. Lotterer L. Vanthoor	Porsche 963	39	+1.713	0.020	180.047
10	Proton Competition HYPERCAR	99	N. Jani G. Bruni H. Tincknell	Porsche 963	29	+1.880	0.167	179.718
11	FLOYD VANWALL RACING TEAM HYPERCAR	4	E. Guerrieri T. Vautier J. De	Vanwall Vandervell 680	32	+1.902	0.022	179.675
12	CADILLAC RACING HYPERCAR	2	E. Bamber A. Lynn R. Westbrook	Cadillac V-Series.R	48	+2.068	0.166	179.349
13	TEAM WRT LMP2	41	R. Andrade R. Kubica L. Deletraz	Oreca 07	48	+3.608	1.540	176.383
14	Jota Sport LMP2	28	D. Heinemeier Hansson P. Fittipaldi O. Rasmussen	Oreca 07	43	+4.097	0.489	175.462
15	United Autosports LMP2	23	J. Pierson B. Hanley O. Jarvis	Oreca 07	46	+4.102	0.005	175.453
16	TEAM WRT LMP2	31	S. Gelael F. Habsburg R. Frijns	Oreca 07	48	+4.188	0.086	175.292
17	INTER EUROPOL COMPETITION LMP2	34	J. Smiechowski F. Scherer A. Costa	Oreca 07	43	+4.463	0.275	174.779
18	United Autosports LMP2	22	F. Lubin P. Hanson F. Albuquerque	Oreca 07	45	+4.684	0.221	174.369
19	PREMA RACING LMP2	9	F. Ugran B. Viscaal J. Correa	Oreca 07	48	+4.915	0.231	173.942
20	VECTOR SPORT LMP2	10	R. Cullen M. Kaiser G. Aubry	Oreca 07	47	+4.968	0.053	173.845
21	ALPINE ELF TEAM LMP2	36	M. Vaxiviere J. Canal C. Milesi	Oreca 07	40	+5.125	0.157	173.556
22	PREMA RACING LMP2	63	D. Pin A. Caldarelli D. Kvyat	Oreca 07	46	+5.136	0.011	173.536
23	ALPINE ELF TEAM LMP2	35	A. Negrao M. Rojas O. Caldwell	Oreca 07	43	+5.290	0.154	173.254
24	AF Corse LMGTE AM	54	T. Flohr F. Castellacci D. Rigon	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	48	+8.716	3.426	167.212
25	AF Corse LMGTE AM	21	H. Koizumi S. Mann K. Cozzolino	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	47	+9.195	0.479	166.401
26	RICHARD MILLE AF CORSE LMGTE AM	83	L. Perez Companc L. Wadoux A. Rovera	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	48	+9.201	0.006	166.391
27	Proton Competition LMGTE AM	77	C. Ried M. Pedersen J. Andlauer	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	47	+9.341	0.140	166.155
28	PROJECT 1 - AO LMGTE AM	56	P. Hyett G. Jeannette M. Cairoli	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	44	+9.343	0.002	166.152
29	D'Station Racing LMGTE AM	777	S. Hoshino C. Stevenson T. Fujii	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	45	+9.378	0.035	166.093
30	GR RACING LMGTE AM	86	M. Wainwright R. Pera B. Barker	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	45	+9.488	0.110	165.908
31	NORTHWEST AMR LMGTE AM	98	I. James D. Mancinelli A. Riberas	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	48	+9.612	0.124	165.701
32	IRON DAMES LMGTE AM	85	S. Bovy M. Gatting R. Frey	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	43	+9.730	0.118	165.504
33	Corvette Racing LMGTE AM	33	B. Keating N. Varrone N. Catsburg	Chevrolet Corvette C8.R	46	+9.748	0.018	165.474
34	IRON LYNX LMGTE AM	60	C. Schiavoni M. Cressoni A. Picariello	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	42	+9.821	0.073	165.352
35	Kessel Racing LMGTE AM	57	T. Kimura S. Huffaker R. Miyata	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	48	+9.974	0.153	165.098
36	ORT BY TF LMGTE AM	25	A. Al Harthy M. Dinan C. Eastwood	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	45	+10.392	0.418	164.407
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