Fuji WEC: Audi one-two in both Friday practice sessions
Audi blocked out the top two positions in the opening sessions of free practice for Sunday's Fuji round of the World Endurance Championship
Lucas di Grassi set the best time of the day early in the 90-minute afternoon period aboard the #1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro, which put him just over half a second up on the 1m28.403s set by team-mate Marcel Fassler.
Loic Duval in the #1 Audi and Andre Lotterer in the #2 car had earlier set the fastest times in the opening practice session.
Third fastest was Neel Jani in the best of the Porsche 919 Hybrids. He was only four hundredths down on Fassler with a 1m28.441s set late in the afternoon.
Toyota, winner both times at Fuji since the creation of the WEC, ended up fourth with a 1m28.587s set by Sebastian Buemi in the #8 TS040 HYBRID in the dying minutes of the second session.
LMP2 was headed by the Ligier-Nissan JSP2 in the hands of Roman Rusinov with a best lap of 1m34.207s.
That put him two tenths ahead of the best of the AF-run SMP ORECA-Nissan 03Rs driven by Kirill Ladygin.
Stefan Mucke led the way in GTE Pro for Aston Martin with the only lap under the 1m40s barrier.
His best time of 1m39.884s, set in the afternoon, was two tenths up on fellow Aston driver Pedro Lamy's best in the top GTE Am Vantage GTE.
Gianmaria Maria was second in Pro, but only sixth overall in GTE, with a time eight tenths back from Turner.
PRACTICE ONE:
Pos | Class | Driver | Team | Car | Time |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | LMP1 | L.di Grassi, L.Duval, T.Kristensen | Audi Sport Team Joest | Audi | 1m28.628s |
2 | LMP1 | M.Fassler, A.Lotterer, B.Treluyer | Audi Sport Team Joest | Audi | 1m28.924s |
3 | LMP1 | A.Davidson, S.Buemi | Toyota Racing | Toyota | 1m28.981s |
4 | LMP1 | R.Dumas, N.Jani, M.Lieb | Porsche Team | Porsche | 1m29.021s |
5 | LMP1 | A.Wurz, S.Sarrazin, K.Nakajima | Toyota Racing | Toyota | 1m29.076s |
6 | LMP1 | T.Bernhard, M.Webber, B.Hartley | Porsche Team | Porsche | 1m29.829s |
7 | LMP1 | N.Prost, N.Heidfeld, M.Beche | Rebellion Racing | Rebellion/Toyota | 1m32.034s |
8 | LMP1 | D.Kraihamer, A.Belicchi, F.Leimer | Rebellion Racing | Rebellion/Toyota | 1m33.020s |
9 | LMP1 | C.Bouchut, J.Rossiter, P.Kaffer | Lotus/AER | 1m34.284s | |
10 | LMP2 | R.Rusinov, O.Pla, J.Canal | G-Drive Racing | Ligier/Nissan | 1m34.356s |
11 | LMP2 | M.Howson, R.Bradley, A.Imperatori | KCMG | ORECA/Nissan | 1m34.716s |
12 | LMP2 | K.Ihara, G.Yacaman, A.Brundle | Oak Racing | Morgan/Judd | 1m34.902s |
13 | LMP2 | K.Ladygin, V.Shaytar, A.Ladygin | SMP Racing | ORECA/Nissan | 1m35.028s |
14 | LMP2 | S.Zlobin, N.Minassian, M.Mediani | SMP Racing | ORECA/Nissan | 1m35.112s |
15 | GTE Pro | F.Makowiecki, P.Pilet | Porsche Team Manthey | Porsche | 1m40.853s |
16 | GTE Pro | D.Turner, S.Mucke | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 1m40.871s |
17 | GTE Pro | G.Bruni, T.Vilander | AF Corse | Ferrari | 1m41.141s |
18 | GTE Am | P.D.Lana, P.Lamy, C.Nygaard | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 1m41.164s |
19 | GTE Am | K.Poulsen, D.H.Hansson, N.Thiim | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 1m41.189s |
20 | GTE Am | C.Ried, K.Bachler, K.Al Qubaisi | Proton Competition | Porsche | 1m41.234s |
21 | GTE Pro | J.Bergmeister, R.Lietz | Porsche Team Manthey | Porsche | 1m41.402s |
22 | GTE Pro | A.MacDowall, D.O'Young, F.Rees | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 1m41.512s |
23 | GTE Am | F.Perrodo, E.Collard, M.Vaxiviere | Prospeed Competition | Porsche | 1m41.876s |
24 | GTE Pro | D.Rigon, J.Calado | AF Corse | Ferrari | 1m41.999s |
25 | GTE Am | S.Wyatt, M.Rugolo, A.Bertolini | AF Corse | Ferrari | 1m42.034s |
26 | GTE Am | G.Roda, P.Ruberti, J.Segal | 8 Star Motorsports | Ferrari | 1m42.412s |
27 | GTE Am | B.Curtis, J.Bleekemolen, M.Skeen | AF Corse | Ferrari | 1m42.418s |
PRACTICE TWO:
Pos | Class | Driver | Team | Car | Time |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | LMP1 | L.di Grassi, L.Duval, T.Kristensen | Audi Sport Team Joest | Audi | 1m27.852s |
2 | LMP1 | M.Fassler, A.Lotterer, B.Treluyer | Audi Sport Team Joest | Audi | 1m28.403s |
3 | LMP1 | R.Dumas, N.Jani, M.Lieb | Porsche Team | Porsche | 1m28.441s |
4 | LMP1 | A.Davidson, S.Buemi | Toyota Racing | Toyota | 1m28.587s |
5 | LMP1 | A.Wurz, S.Sarrazin, K.Nakajima | Toyota Racing | Toyota | 1m29.083s |
6 | LMP1 | T.Bernhard, M.Webber, B.Hartley | Porsche Team | Porsche | 1m29.672s |
7 | LMP1 | D.Kraihamer, A.Belicchi, F.Leimer | Rebellion Racing | Rebellion/Toyota | 1m31.971s |
8 | LMP1 | N.Prost, N.Heidfeld, M.Beche | Rebellion Racing | Rebellion/Toyota | 1m32.441s |
9 | LMP2 | R.Rusinov, O.Pla, J.Canal | G-Drive Racing | Ligier/Nissan | 1m34.027s |
10 | LMP2 | K.Ladygin, V.Shaytar, A.Ladygin | SMP Racing | ORECA/Nissan | 1m34.203s |
11 | LMP2 | M.Howson, R.Bradley, A.Imperatori | KCMG | ORECA/Nissan | 1m34.387s |
12 | LMP2 | S.Zlobin, N.Minassian, M.Mediani | SMP Racing | ORECA/Nissan | 1m34.690s |
13 | LMP1 | C.Bouchut, J.Rossiter, P.Kaffer | Lotus/AER | 1m34.798s | |
14 | LMP2 | K.Ihara, G.Yacaman, A.Brundle | Oak Racing | Morgan/Judd | 1m34.800s |
15 | GTE Pro | D.Turner, S.Mucke | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 1m39.884s |
16 | GTE Am | P.D.Lana, P.Lamy, C.Nygaard | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 1m40.006s |
17 | GTE Am | K.Poulsen, D.H.Hansson, N.Thiim | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 1m40.401s |
18 | GTE Am | C.Ried, K.Bachler, K.Al Qubaisi | Proton Competition | Porsche | 1m40.483s |
19 | GTE Am | F.Perrodo, E.Collard, M.Vaxiviere | Prospeed Competition | Porsche | 1m40.494s |
20 | GTE Pro | G.Bruni, T.Vilander | AF Corse | Ferrari | 1m40.643s |
21 | GTE Pro | F.Makowiecki, P.Pilet | Porsche Team Manthey | Porsche | 1m40.855s |
22 | GTE Pro | J.Bergmeister, R.Lietz | Porsche Team Manthey | Porsche | 1m41.078s |
23 | GTE Pro | A.MacDowall, D.O'Young, F.Rees | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 1m41.191s |
24 | GTE Pro | D.Rigon, J.Calado | AF Corse | Ferrari | 1m41.579s |
25 | GTE Am | G.Roda, P.Ruberti, J.Segal | 8 Star Motorsports | Ferrari | 1m41.683s |
26 | GTE Am | B.Curtis, J.Bleekemolen, M.Skeen | AF Corse | Ferrari | 1m41.767s |
27 | GTE Am | S.Wyatt, M.Rugolo, A.Bertolini | AF Corse | Ferrari | 1m42.095s |
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