Practice report
WEC Fuji
Fuji WEC: Hartley sets pace for Porsche on opening day
Porsche's Brendon Hartley set the fastest lap during free practice for this weekend's 6 Hours of Fuji.
Edited: Oct 9, 2015, 9:58 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The Kiwi set a best of 1m24.480s in the #17 Porsche 919 Hybrid, as he and teammates Mark Webber and Timo Bernhard look to score a third successive WEC victory in Japan.
Hartley’s FP2 time was a fraction quicker than Audi man Andre Lotterer’s best effort from the slightly cooler opening session.
The German, who treats Japan as a second home after racing there for the last decade, set the quickest ever WEC lap of Fuji on a 1m24.497s - 1.8s faster than the previous best, which he had set in 2012.
Most of the teams were experimenting with different set-ups during the morning session, with Porsche evaluating body-kits in an effort to determine the best aero solution for the near-mile long straight and technical final sector.
With rain forecast for raceday on Sunday, teams also took the opportunity to throw on additional downforce and test grippier set-ups.
Romain Dumas looked set to eclipse team mate Hartley’s best effort in the afternoon, but his lap was compromised because of a red flag, as Scott Sharp stopped in his ESM Ligier.
As a result, the #18 Porsche 919 Hybrid had to settle for third, ahead of the other Audi R18 e-tron quattro crewed by Lucas Di Grassi, Oliver Jarvis and Loic Duval.
The only significant on-track incident during the day came in the morning session as Nick Leventis in the Strakka Racing Gibson was adjudged to have made contact with Loic Duval's Audi. Leventis was subsequently given a suspended stop/go penalty for the altercation.
Nelson Panciatici’s Signatech Alpine led LMP2 class in the morning, but his time of 1m32.701s was beaten by Sam Bird in the afternoon session.
The former Mercedes test driver set a series of fast laps around the 2.83-mile track, peaking with a 1m32.131s in the G-Drive Ligier-Nissan.
G-Drive’s title rivals KCMG placed second in the quicker afternoon session with Nick Tandy exploring the Fuji track for the first time and immediately showing good pace in the ORECA 05-Nissan.
The #92 Manthey Porsche and the Larbre Corvette topped the GTE-Pro and Am classes respectively in the first session, while Gianmaria Bruni showed his Ferrari's straight-line speed supremacy in the afternoon by leading home AF Corse teammate James Calado for a Maranello 1-2.
Stuart Hall made it a positive afternoon for AF Corse by claiming the top spot in LMGTE Am on a 1m40.706s lap.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article KCMG poised for WEC and Asian Le Mans battle at Fuji
Next article The Rebellion Racing team is ready for the Japanese challenger
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Brendon Hartley
Toyota drivers predict faster lap times and “plenty of fighting” ahead at Le Mans
WEC
WEC
24 Hours of Le Mans
Toyota drivers predict faster lap times and “plenty of fighting” ahead at Le Mans
WEC Sao Paulo: Toyota dominates to defeat Porsche
WEC
WEC
Interlagos
WEC Sao Paulo: Toyota dominates to defeat Porsche
Acura’s Daytona 24h hopes hit by Albuquerque stoppage
IMSA
IMSA
Daytona 24 Hours
Acura’s Daytona 24h hopes hit by Albuquerque stoppage
More from
Porsche Team
Antonio Felix da Costa defends Jaguar, says Pascal Wehrlein took Jake Dennis out “on purpose”
Formula E
Formula E
London ePrix II
Antonio Felix da Costa defends Jaguar, says Pascal Wehrlein took Jake Dennis out “on purpose”
Pascal Wehrlein: Jaguar wanted to "destroy my race” in controversial London finale
Formula E
Formula E
London ePrix II
Pascal Wehrlein: Jaguar wanted to "destroy my race” in controversial London finale
Pascal Wehrlein responds to Porsche’s team tactics after dominant London win
Formula E
Formula E
London ePrix I
Pascal Wehrlein responds to Porsche’s team tactics after dominant London win
Latest news
How Geri Halliwell helped Christian Horner deal with fan hate
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 1 h
How Geri Halliwell helped Christian Horner deal with fan hate
Max Verstappen stars with 15-place charge in 45 minutes: 'I learned a lot and had fun'
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
WCEE GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
Portimão
1 h
Max Verstappen stars with 15-place charge in 45 minutes: 'I learned a lot and had fun'
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe