Fuji WEC: Porsche leads as rain and crash disrupt Friday practice
Porsche ended up fastest after a pair of wet free practice sessions for this weekend's Fuji round of the World Endurance Championship
The two Porsche 919 Hybrids set the best times of the day in the opening session in the hands of Andre Lotterer and Earl Bamber before a red flag and then heavy rain limited running in the second of the two 90-minute periods.
Lotterer led the way in the morning with a 1m35.527s, which put him just over a tenth of a second up on the 1m35.660s set by Bamber in the sister car.
The best of the Toyota TS050 HYBRIDs was just under half a second back on a 1m35.738s from Jose Maria Lopez.
Sebastien Buemi was a further tenth behind in the second of TS050.
Lopez was at the top of the session-two times in the #7 Toyota on a 1m39.202s when it was red-flagged with 22 minutes on the clock after Vitaly Petrov went off in his Manor LMP2 ORECA-Gibson 07.
Barrier repairs and then an intensification of the rain prevented the session from restarting for nearly 45 minutes.
The #7 Toyota was the only LMP1 car to return to the track for the final 25 minutes of the session.
Alex Brundle was fastest in LMP2 for the Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA squad with a 1m42.735s.
That put Brundle just under half a second up on Matthieu Vaxiviere in the TDS Racing ORECA.
The second of the DC Racing ORECAs was fastest in P2 in session two in the hands of Thomas Laurent on a 1m47.437s.
Petrov had just gone third fastest in class when he hit the barriers at the long Turn 4 right-hander.
The two factory Porsches were quickest in GTE Pro with times set in the opening session.
Michael Christensen's 1m47.365s put him just over two tenths up on team-mate Richard Lietz in the sister Porsche 911 RSR.
Davide Rigon was third fastest in the best of the factory AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTEs, while Miguel Molina was only marginally slower on the way to topping the GTE Am times in his AF entry.
Olivier Pla ended up fastest in GTE Pro for the Ganassi in the afternoon session with a 1m52.658s.
FP1 times
Pos | Class | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | LMP1 | N.Jani, A.Lotterer, N.Tandy | Porsche LMP Team | Porsche | 1m35.527s | - | 34 |
2 | LMP1 | T.Bernhard, E.Bamber, B.Hartley | Porsche LMP Team | Porsche | 1m35.660s | 0.133s | 35 |
3 | LMP1 | M.Conway, K.Kobayashi, J.M.Lopez | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 1m36.010s | 0.483s | 38 |
4 | LMP1 | S.Buemi, A.Davidson, K.Nakajima | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 1m36.105s | 0.578s | 38 |
5 | LMP2 | D.Cheng, A.Brundle, T.Gommendy | Jackie Chan DC Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m42.735s | 7.208s | 40 |
6 | LMP2 | F.Perrodo, M.Vaxiviere, E.Collard | TDS Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m43.225s | 7.698s | 37 |
7 | LMP2 | H-Pin Tung, O.Jarvis, T.Laurent | Jackie Chan DC Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m43.327s | 7.800s | 38 |
8 | LMP2 | M.Rao, B.Hanley, J-E.Vergne | CEFC Manor TRS Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m43.533s | 8.006s | 33 |
9 | LMP2 | N.Lapierre, G.Menezes, A.Negrao | Signatech Alpine Matmut | Alpine/Gibson | 1m43.727s | 8.200s | 28 |
10 | LMP2 | R.Rusinov, P.Thiriet, J.Rossiter | G-Drive Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m43.912s | 8.385s | 36 |
11 | LMP2 | J.Canal, N.Prost, B.Senna | Vaillante Rebellion | ORECA/Gibson | 1m44.287s | 8.760s | 34 |
12 | LMP2 | M.Beche, D.H.Hansson, N.Piquet Jr. | Vaillante Rebellion | ORECA/Gibson | 1m44.370s | 8.843s | 37 |
13 | LMP2 | R.Gonzalez, S.Trummer, V.Petrov | CEFC Manor TRS Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m45.228s | 9.701s | 32 |
14 | GTE Pro | M.Christensen, K.Estre | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 1m47.365s | 11.838s | 35 |
15 | GTE Pro | R.Lietz, F.Makowiecki | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 1m47.617s | 12.090s | 35 |
16 | GTE Pro | D.Rigon, S.Bird | AF Corse | Ferrari | 1m47.627s | 12.100s | 32 |
17 | GTE Am | T.Flohr, F.Castellacci, M.Molina | Spirit of Race | Ferrari | 1m47.655s | 12.128s | 37 |
18 | GTE Pro | J.Calado, A.P.Guidi | AF Corse | Ferrari | 1m47.681s | 12.154s | 37 |
19 | GTE Pro | S.Mucke, O.Pla | Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK | Ford | 1m47.881s | 12.354s | 31 |
20 | GTE Am | Mok W.S., K.Sawa, M.Griffin | Clearwater Racing | Ferrari | 1m48.246s | 12.719s | 28 |
21 | GTE Pro | A.Priaulx, H.Tincknell | Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK | Ford | 1m48.710s | 13.183s | 25 |
22 | GTE Pro | N.Thiim, M.Sorensen | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 1m48.834s | 13.307s | 29 |
23 | GTE Am | C.Ried, M.Cairoli, M.Dienst | Dempsey-Proton Racing | Porsche | 1m49.042s | 13.515s | 36 |
24 | GTE Pro | D.Turner, J.Adam | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 1m49.210s | 13.683s | 30 |
25 | GTE Am | P.D.Lana, P.Lamy, M.Lauda | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 1m50.967s | 15.440s | 31 |
26 | GTE Am | M.Hedlund, B.Barker, N.Foster | Gulf Racing | Porsche | 1m52.439s | 16.912s | 32 |
FP2 times
Pos | Class | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | LMP1 | M.Conway, K.Kobayashi, J.M.Lopez | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 1m39.202s | - | 7 |
2 | LMP1 | N.Jani, A.Lotterer, N.Tandy | Porsche LMP Team | Porsche | 1m40.523s | 1.321s | 6 |
3 | LMP1 | S.Buemi, A.Davidson, K.Nakajima | Toyota Gazoo Racing | Toyota | 1m41.413s | 2.211s | 6 |
4 | LMP1 | T.Bernhard, E.Bamber, B.Hartley | Porsche LMP Team | Porsche | 1m42.783s | 3.581s | 6 |
5 | LMP2 | H-Pin Tung, O.Jarvis, T.Laurent | Jackie Chan DC Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m47.437s | 8.235s | 5 |
6 | LMP2 | J.Canal, N.Prost, B.Senna | Vaillante Rebellion | ORECA/Gibson | 1m47.521s | 8.319s | 8 |
7 | LMP2 | R.Gonzalez, S.Trummer, V.Petrov | CEFC Manor TRS Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m48.004s | 8.802s | 8 |
8 | LMP2 | R.Rusinov, P.Thiriet, J.Rossiter | G-Drive Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m49.152s | 9.950s | 6 |
9 | LMP2 | M.Beche, D.H.Hansson, N.Piquet Jr. | Vaillante Rebellion | ORECA/Gibson | 1m50.604s | 11.402s | 10 |
10 | LMP2 | F.Perrodo, M.Vaxiviere, E.Collard | TDS Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m50.920s | 11.718s | 5 |
11 | LMP2 | N.Lapierre, G.Menezes, A.Negrao | Signatech Alpine Matmut | Alpine/Gibson | 1m51.228s | 12.026s | 8 |
12 | LMP2 | D.Cheng, A.Brundle, T.Gommendy | Jackie Chan DC Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m52.630s | 13.428s | 8 |
13 | GTE Pro | S.Mucke, O.Pla | Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK | Ford | 1m52.658s | 13.456s | 16 |
14 | GTE Pro | R.Lietz, F.Makowiecki | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 1m52.710s | 13.508s | 6 |
15 | GTE Pro | M.Christensen, K.Estre | Porsche GT Team | Porsche | 1m52.719s | 13.517s | 7 |
16 | GTE Am | Mok W.S., K.Sawa, M.Griffin | Clearwater Racing | Ferrari | 1m53.381s | 14.179s | 7 |
17 | GTE Am | T.Flohr, F.Castellacci, M.Molina | Spirit of Race | Ferrari | 1m53.407s | 14.205s | 5 |
18 | GTE Pro | A.Priaulx, H.Tincknell | Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK | Ford | 1m53.409s | 14.207s | 12 |
19 | GTE Pro | J.Calado, A.P.Guidi | AF Corse | Ferrari | 1m53.772s | 14.570s | 4 |
20 | GTE Pro | D.Rigon, S.Bird | AF Corse | Ferrari | 1m53.932s | 14.730s | 10 |
21 | GTE Pro | D.Turner, J.Adam | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 1m54.760s | 15.558s | 11 |
22 | GTE Pro | N.Thiim, M.Sorensen | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 1m54.870s | 15.668s | 5 |
23 | LMP2 | M.Rao, B.Hanley, J-E.Vergne | CEFC Manor TRS Racing | ORECA/Gibson | 1m54.899s | 15.697s | 5 |
24 | GTE Am | M.Hedlund, B.Barker, N.Foster | Gulf Racing | Porsche | 1m55.512s | 16.310s | 4 |
25 | GTE Am | C.Ried, M.Cairoli, M.Dienst | Dempsey-Proton Racing | Porsche | 1m59.453s | 20.251s | 8 |
26 | GTE Am | P.D.Lana, P.Lamy, M.Lauda | Aston Martin Racing | Aston Martin | 2m00.394s | 21.192s | 3 |
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.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.
Top Comments