Fuji WEC: Toyota fastest in FP1 as Alpine struggles

Sebastien Buemi led the way in the 90-minute FP1 session with a 1m31.171s aboard the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, which gave him a margin of two tenths over Mike Conway’s 1m31.418s in the second of the Japanese manufacturer’s Le Mans Hypercars.

The best of the Peugeot 9X8 LMHs ended up only a couple of hundredths behind the #7 Toyota, James Rossiter setting a 1m31.439s to take third position in the times.

The fastest times in the Hypercar class were set at the start of the session, while Paul di Resta in fourth place aboard the second Peugeot posted the car’s best lap of 1m31.738s after taking over from Mikkel Jensen.

The Alpine A480, which won last time out at Monza in July, brought up the rear of a class that numbers just five cars in the absence of Glickenhaus.

Nicolas Lapierre’s 1m32.556s in the grandfathered LMP1 car left it more than a second off the pace after pre-event Balance of Performance changes, which have reduced the power of the Alpine and lowered the minimum weights of the LMH cars.

The LMP2 field was led by the Pro/Am-entered AF Corse Oreca 07 in which Nicklas Nielsen set a 1m32.624s at the start of the session. 

That gave him a margin of a shade more than a tenth over the two United Autosports Orecas, which set identical times in the hands of Alex Lynn and Filipe Albuquerque. Lynn posted his 1m32.866s lap first, so was classified second in class.

JOTA claimed fourth in P2 courtesy of a 1m33.165s from Ed Jones in its #28 car. 

Ferrari was on top in the opening practice session in GTE Pro, James Calado leading the way in the best of the two AF Corse-run 488 GTE Evos. 

His 1m37.723s put him just over a tenth up on the best of the factory Porsche 911 RSR-19s in which Michael Christensen ended up on 1m37.892s.

Richard Lietz was close behind in the second of the Manthey-run Porsches on 1m37.962s, while Antonio Fuoco was within four tenths of the pace in fourth position with a 1m38.121s in the second AF Ferrari. 

The solo Corvette C8.R ended up more than a second off the pace after being hit with a 10kg increase in minimum weight under the BoP for Fuji. A 1m38.829s from Nick Tandy stood as the best time from the American car. 

Matteo Cairoli took the top spot in GTE Am by just three thousandths of a second aboard the fastest of the two Project 1 Porsches.

His 1m39.064s compared with Tomonobu Fujii’s 1m39.067s in the TF Sport-run D’station Racing Aston Martin Vantage GTE.

WEC 6 Hours of Fuji - first practice results:

Cla	#	Drivers	Car	Class	Time	Gap
1	8	Sébastien Buemi Brendon Hartley Ryo Hirakawa	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	HYPERCAR	1'31.171
2	7	Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi Jose Maria Lopez	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	HYPERCAR	1'31.418	0.247
3	94	Loic Duval Gustavo Menezes James Rossiter	Peugeot 9X8	HYPERCAR	1'31.439	0.268
4	93	Paul di Resta Mikkel Jensen Jean-Eric Vergne	Peugeot 9X8	HYPERCAR	1'31.738	0.567
5	36	Andre Negrao Nicolas Lapierre Matthieu Vaxiviere	Alpine A480	HYPERCAR	1'32.556	1.385
6	83	François Perrodo Nicklas Nielsen Alessio Rovera	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'32.624	1.453
7	23	Alex Lynn Oliver Jarvis Josh Pierson	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'32.866	1.695
8	22	Philip Hanson Filipe Albuquerque Will Owen	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'32.866	1.695
9	28	Oliver Rasmussen Ed Jones Jonathan Aberdein	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'33.165	1.994
10	31	Sean Gelael Robin Frijns Dries Vanthoor	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'33.258	2.087
11	10	Renger van der Zande Ryan Cullen Sébastien Bourdais	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'33.271	2.100
12	1	Lilou Wadoux Paul-Loup Chatin Charles Milesi	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'33.403	2.232
13	9	Robert Kubica Louis Deletraz Lorenzo Colombo	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'33.715	2.544
14	41	Rui Andrade Ferdinand Habsburg Norman Nato	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'33.855	2.684
15	45	Steven Thomas James Allen Rene Binder	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'34.054	2.883
16	38	Roberto Gonzalez Antonio Felix da Costa Will Stevens	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'34.198	3.027
17	34	Jakub Smiechowski Alex Brundle Esteban Gutierrez	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'34.421	3.250
18	35	Jean Baptiste Lahaye Matthieu Lahaye François Heriau	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'34.617	3.446
19	51	Alessandro Pier Guidi James Calado	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	1'37.723	6.552
20	92	Michael Christensen Kevin Estre	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	1'37.892	6.721
21	91	Gianmaria Bruni Richard Lietz	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	1'37.962	6.791
22	52	Miguel Molina Antonio Fuoco	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	1'38.121	6.950
23	64	Tommy Milner Nick Tandy	Chevrolet Corvette C8.R	LMGTE PRO	1'38.829	7.658
24	46	Matteo Cairoli Mikkel Pedersen Nicolas Leutwiler	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	1'39.064	7.893
25	777	Satoshi Hoshino Tomonobu Fujii Charlie Fagg	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	1'39.067	7.896
26	98	Paul Dalla Lana David Pittard Nicki Thiim	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	1'39.313	8.142
27	60	Claudio Schiavoni Matteo Cressoni Giancarlo Fisichella	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'39.337	8.166
28	71	Franck Dezoteux Pierre Ragues Gabriel Aubry	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'39.405	8.234
29	86	Michael Wainwright Riccardo Pera Benjamin Barker	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	1'39.443	8.272
30	54	Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Davide Rigon	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'39.489	8.318
31	56	Takeshi Kimura Ollie Millroy Ben Barnicoat	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	1'39.622	8.451
32	85	Rahel Frey Michelle Gatting Sarah Bovy	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'39.709	8.538
33	33	Ben Keating Henrique Chaves Jr. Marco Sorensen	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	1'39.768	8.597
34	77	Christian Ried Sebastian Priaulx Harry Tincknell	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	1'39.959	8.788
35	21	Simon Mann Christoph Ulrich Toni Vilander	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'40.287	9.116
36	88	Fred Poordad Patrick Lindsey Jan Heylen	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	1'40.299	9.128
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