WEC Fuji: Porsche pips Toyota in red-flagged opening practice

Porsche led home favourite Toyota in a red-flagged opening practice for this weekend’s World Endurance Championship round at Fuji.

Laurens Vanthoor set a best time of 1m30.581s in the #6 Porsche 963 LMDh at the very beginning of the 90-minute session to head the #8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID of Ryo Hirakawa by just 0.010s.

Third place went to Antonio Fuoco in the Le Mans 24 Hours-winning #50 Ferrari 499P, but the Italian trailed the leading two cars by almost half a second with a time of 1m31.104s.

Frederic Makowiecki claimed fourth in in the #5 Porsche, the French driver making a relatively late improvement to demote the #7 Toyota of Nyck de Vries to fifth place.

The #83 customer AF Corse Ferrari took sixth in the hands of Yifei Ye, while Stoffel Vandoorne guided the #94 Peugeot 9X8 to a strong seventh place ahead of Ferdinand Habsburg in the best of the Alpines, the #35 A424.

The top 10 was completed by the #12 Jota Porsche of Will Stevens and the #51 Ferrari driven by James Calado.

Cadillac finished a distant 12th with Earl Bamber ending up almost a second off the best time set by Vanthoor. The American marque separated the two BMW entries, the #15 car finishing ahead in 11th place.

The #63 Lamborghini shared by Mirko Bortolotti, Daniil Kvyat and Edoardo Mortara was classified 17th, only ahead of the #38 Jota Porsche in the Hypercar class.

McLaren quickest in LMGT3

In the LMGT3 class, Marino Sato ended up fastest in the #95 United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 with a best lap of 1m40.528s.

However, the sister #59 McLaren driven by Gregoire Saucy caused the only major interruption of the session when he stopped at the Dunlop chicane with 21 minutes left on the clock.

The car could be recovered quickly, with green flag being waved with 14 minutes remaining.

Alessio Rovera set an identical time to Sato in the #55 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 to finish second, with Davide Rigon finishing another two tenths behind in the sister Ferrari to claim third.

The best of the rest was Franck Perera in the #60 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo with a best effort of 1m40.849s.

1 - 2
Cla	Team	#	Drivers	Car	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT HYPERCAR	6	K. Estre A. Lotterer L. Vanthoor	Porsche 963	39	1'30.561		181.389
2	Toyota Racing HYPERCAR	8	S. Buemi B. Hartley R. Hirakawa	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	43	+0.010 1'30.571	0.010	181.369
3	FERRARI AF CORSE HYPERCAR	50	A. Fuoco M. Molina N. Nielsen	Ferrari 499P	45	+0.543 1'31.104	0.533	180.308
4	PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT HYPERCAR	5	M. Campbell M. Christensen F. Makowiecki	Porsche 963	43	+0.567 1'31.128	0.024	180.260
5	Toyota Racing HYPERCAR	7	M. Conway K. Kobayashi N. de Vries	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	43	+0.585 1'31.146	0.018	180.225
6	AF Corse HYPERCAR	83	R. Kubica R. Shwartzman Y. Yifei	Ferrari 499P	44	+0.721 1'31.282	0.136	179.956
7	PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES HYPERCAR	94	P. di Resta L. Duval S. Vandoorne	Peugeot 9X8 2024	36	+0.729 1'31.290	0.008	179.940
8	Alpine Endurance Team HYPERCAR	35	J. Gounon F. Habsburg C. Milesi	Alpine A424	46	+0.737 1'31.298	0.008	179.925
9	HERTZ TEAM JOTA HYPERCAR	12	W. Stevens C. Ilott N. Nato	Porsche 963	47	+0.744 1'31.305	0.007	179.911
10	FERRARI AF CORSE HYPERCAR	51	A. Pier Guidi J. Calado A. Giovinazzi	Ferrari 499P	39	+0.763 1'31.324	0.019	179.873
11	BMW M Team WRT HYPERCAR	15	D. Vanthoor R. Marciello M. Wittmann	BMW M Hybrid V8	51	+0.845 1'31.406	0.082	179.712
12	CADILLAC RACING HYPERCAR	2	E. Bamber A. Lynn	Cadillac V-Series.R	38	+0.960 1'31.521	0.115	179.486
13	BMW M Team WRT HYPERCAR	20	S. Van Der Linde R. Frijns R. Rast	BMW M Hybrid V8	45	+1.011 1'31.572	0.051	179.386
14	Alpine Endurance Team HYPERCAR	36	N. Lapierre M. Schumacher M. Vaxiviere	Alpine A424	49	+1.151 1'31.712	0.140	179.112
15	Proton Competition HYPERCAR	99	H. Tincknell N. Jani J. Andlauer	Porsche 963	43	+1.168 1'31.729	0.017	179.079
16	PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES HYPERCAR	93	M. Jensen N. Müller J. Vergne	Peugeot 9X8 2024	31	+1.190 1'31.751	0.022	179.036
17	Lamborghini Iron Lynx HYPERCAR	63	M. Bortolotti E. Mortara D. Kvyat	Lamborghini SC63	45	+1.192 1'31.753	0.002	179.032
18	HERTZ TEAM JOTA HYPERCAR	38	J. Button P. Hanson O. Rasmussen	Porsche 963	46	+1.248 1'31.809	0.056	178.923
19	United Autosports LMGT3	95	J. Caygill N. Pino M. Sato	McLaren 720S GT3 Evo	42	+9.967 1'40.528	8.719	163.405
20	Vista AF Corse LMGT3	55	F. Heriau S. Mann A. Rovera	Ferrari 296 GT3	41	+9.967 1'40.528	0.000	163.405
21	Vista AF Corse LMGT3	54	T. Flohr F. Castellacci D. Rigon	Ferrari 296 GT3	38	+10.232 1'40.793	0.265	162.975
22	IRON LYNX LMGT3	60	C. Schiavoni M. Cressoni F. Perera	Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2	41	+10.288 1'40.849	0.056	162.885
23	Proton Competition LMGT3	88	C. Ried M. Pedersen D. Olsen	Ford Mustang GT3	36	+10.333 1'40.894	0.045	162.812
24	AKKODIS ASP Team LMGT3	78	A. Robin C. Schmid K. van der Linde	Lexus RC F GT3	38	+10.350 1'40.911	0.017	162.785
25	TF Sport LMGT3	81	T. Van Rompuy R. Andrade C. Eastwood	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	43	+10.386 1'40.947	0.036	162.726
26	TF Sport LMGT3	82	H. Koizumi S. Baud D. Juncadella	Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R	41	+10.395 1'40.956	0.009	162.712
27	United Autosports LMGT3	59	J. Cottingham N. Costa G. Saucy	McLaren 720S GT3 Evo	34	+10.452 1'41.013	0.057	162.620
28	D'Station Racing LMGT3	777	C. Mateu E. Bastard M. Sorensen	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	42	+10.564 1'41.125	0.112	162.440
29	AKKODIS ASP Team LMGT3	87	T. Kimura E. Masson J. Lopez	Lexus RC F GT3	38	+10.609 1'41.170	0.045	162.368
30	Proton Competition LMGT3	77	R. Hardwick Z. Robichon B. Barker	Ford Mustang GT3	39	+10.629 1'41.190	0.020	162.336
31	IRON DAMES LMGT3	85	S. Bovy R. Frey M. Gatting	Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2	40	+10.784 1'41.345	0.155	162.087
32	Manthey EMA LMGT3	91	Y. Shahin M. Schuring R. Lietz	Porsche 911 GT3 R	42	+11.144 1'41.705	0.360	161.514
33	Heart of Racing Team LMGT3	27	I. James D. Mancinelli A. Riberas	Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3	20	+11.170 1'41.731	0.026	161.472
34	TEAM WRT LMGT3	46	A. Al Harthy V. Rossi M. Martin	BMW M4 GT3	34	+11.217 1'41.778	0.047	161.398
35	TEAM WRT LMGT3	31	D. Leung S. Gelael A. Farfus	BMW M4 GT3	38	+11.439 1'42.000	0.222	161.047
36	Manthey PureRxcing LMGT3	92	A. Malykhin J. Sturm K. Bachler	Porsche 911 GT3 R	44	+11.573 1'42.134	0.134	160.835
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