Fuji WEC: Toyota goes 1.4s clear in FP2
Toyota concluded the opening day of practice for this weekend's Fuji FIA World Endurance Championship round 1.4 seconds up on the best of the privateer LMP1s.
As was the case in the morning's opening session, the #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid led the way in the afternoon's second session, this time in the hands of Kazuki Nakajima.
In what appeared to be a qualifying simulation, Nakajima set an early benchmark of 1m25.623s, some 1.7s up on Sebastien Buemi's session-topping FP1 time.
That effort went unchallenged for the remainder of the 90-minute session, with Rebellion Racing's solo R-13-Gibson again ending up second, this time 1.419s off the pace.
Norman Nato's best effort of 1m27.042s put the #1 car half a second up on the best of the Ginettas, the #5 car driven by SMP Racing-backed Egor Orudzhev.
The #6 Ginetta G60-LT-P1 of Charlie Robertson was fourth-fastest ahead of the Silverstone-winning #7 Toyota, which was the slowest of the five LMP1 cars.
Mike Conway's best time of 1m28.171s put him 2.5s off the pace set by Nakajima and a tenth behind the second Ginetta.
JOTA Sport led the way in LMP2 courtesy of a 1m29.633s effort from Anthony Davidson at the wheel of the Goodyear-liveried #38 Oreca 07.
Toyota protege Kenta Yamashita put the High Class Racing Oreca second on a 1m30.163s, slower than the SUPER GT points leader managed in FP1, while best of the Michelin-shod cars was the United Autosports Oreca in third, driven by Phil Hanson.
Porsche maintained a narrow edge over the opposition in GTE Pro, with Michael Christensen topping the times with a 1m38.214s in the #92 911-RSR - enough to shade James Calado's effort in the best of the Ferrari 488 GTEs by 0.038s.
The #91 Porsche of Richard Lietz was third-fastest, followed by the best of the Aston Martin Vantage GTEs in fourth.
In GTE Am, TF Sport again topped the class timesheets, with Charlie Eastwood setting the British squad's best time of 1m38.719s - faster than the two slowest Pro cars.
Session results:
| Cla | # | Drivers | Car | Class | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 |  Sébastien Buemi  Kazuki Nakajima  Brendon Hartley | Toyota TS050 Hybrid | LMP1 | 1'25.623 | |
| 2 | 1 |  Bruno Senna  Gustavo Menezes  Norman Nato | Rebellion R13 | LMP1 | 1'27.042 | 1.419 |
| 3 | 5 |  Luca Ghiotto  Ben Hanley  Egor Orudzhev | Ginetta G60-LT-P1 | LMP1 | 1'27.602 | 1.979 |
| 4 | 6 | Charles Robertson Michael Simpson Guy Smith | Ginetta G60-LT-P1 | LMP1 | 1'28.062 | 2.439 |
| 5 | 7 | Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi  Jose Maria Lopez | Toyota TS050 Hybrid | LMP1 | 1'28.171 | 2.548 |
| 6 | 38 |  Roberto Gonzalez  Antonio Felix da Costa Anthony Davidson | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'29.633 | 4.010 |
| 7 | 33 | Mark Patterson Kenta Yamashita  Anders Fjordbach | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'30.163 | 4.540 |
| 8 | 22 | Philip Hanson Filipe Albuquerque Oliver Jarvis | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'30.205 | 4.582 |
| 9 | 42 | Nicolas Lapierre Antonin Borga Alexandre Coigny | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'30.346 | 4.723 |
| 10 | 29 |  Frits van Eerd Giedo van der Garde Nyck de Vries | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'30.462 | 4.839 |
| 11 | 36 | Thomas Laurent Andre Negrao Pierre Ragues | Alpine A470 | LMP2 | 1'30.833 | 5.210 |
| 12 | 37 |  Ho-Pin Tung Gabriel Aubry Will Stevens | Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'31.118 | 5.495 |
| 13 | 47 | Roberto Lacorte Andrea Belicchi Giorgio Sernagiotto | Dallara P217 | LMP2 | 1'31.836 | 6.213 |
| 14 | 92 | Michael Christensen Kevin Estre | Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE PRO | 1'38.214 | 12.591 |
| 15 | 51 | James Calado Alessandro Pier Guidi | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE PRO | 1'38.252 | 12.629 |
| 16 | 91 | Gianmaria Bruni  Richard Lietz | Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE PRO | 1'38.315 | 12.692 |
| 17 | 97 | Alex Lynn  Maxime Martin | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE PRO | 1'38.451 | 12.828 |
| 18 | 90 |  Salih Yoluc  Charles Eastwood Jonathan Adam | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 1'38.719 | 13.096 |
| 19 | 95 | Marco Sorensen Nicki Thiim | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE PRO | 1'38.728 | 13.105 |
| 20 | 71 | Davide Rigon  Miguel Molina | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE PRO | 1'38.909 | 13.286 |
| 21 | 56 |  Egidio Perfetti David Heinemeier Hansson Matteo Cairoli | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 1'38.916 | 13.293 |
| 22 | 98 |  Paul Dalla Lana Darren Turner Ross Gunn | Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 1'38.949 | 13.326 |
| 23 | 54 | Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Giancarlo Fisichella | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 1'38.953 | 13.330 |
| 24 | 88 | Satoshi Hoshino Adrien de Leener Thomas Preining | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 1'39.051 | 13.428 |
| 25 | 77 |  Christian Ried Riccardo Pera  Matt Campbell | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 1'39.071 | 13.448 |
| 26 | 57 | Ben Keating Felipe Fraga Jeroen Bleekemolen | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 1'39.127 | 13.504 |
| 27 | 83 | François Perrodo Emmanuel Collard Nicklas Nielsen | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 1'39.337 | 13.714 |
| 28 | 70 | Motoaki Ishikawa  Olivier Beretta Kei Cozzolino | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 1'39.405 | 13.782 |
| 29 | 86 | Michael Wainwright Andrew Watson Benjamin Barker | Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE AM | 1'39.676 | 14.053 |
| 30 | 62 | Bonamy Grimes Johnny Mowlem Charles Hollings | Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 1'40.512 | 14.889 |
| View full results | ||||||
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Fuji WEC: Rebellion splits Toyotas in first practice
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De Vries handed Toyota LMP1 test outing
About this article
| Series | WEC |
| Event | Fuji |
| Sub-event | FP2 |
| Teams | Toyota Gazoo Racing WEC |
| Author | Jamie Klein |
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