WEC Fuji: Toyota completes practice clean sweep

Brendon Hartley set the fastest lap of the weekend so far at the start of the one-hour FP3 session aboard the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid with a qualification simulation on new tyres. 

The 1m29.865s lap gave him a margin of six tenths over the second-placed #93 Peugeot 9X8 in which Jean-Eric Vergne posted a 1m30.510s. 

The #94 Peugeot was third fastest courtesy of a 1m30.828s from Loic Duval, while Matthieu Vaxiviere’s 1m30.964s put the Alpine A480 fourth. 

Kamui Kobayashi, who had been fastest in second practice on Friday, brought up the rear of the Hypercar class in the #7 Toyota with a 1m31.532s and is believed not to have undertaken a qualifying sim during the session.

Antonio Felix da Costa led the LMP2 division for JOTA with a 1m31.822s aboard the best of the British team’s pair of ORECA 07s.

The second-placed Vector Sport ORECA was three tenths back on a 1m32.157s from Sebastien Bourdais, while WRT’s lead entry took was just four hundredths behind on a 1m32.194s set by Robin Frijns.

Charles Milesi was a similar margin back in fourth in the Signatech-run Richard Mille Racing ORECA, while the second JOTA entry took fifth in Ed Jones’s hands.

#91 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR - 19 GTE-PRO: Gianmaria Bruni, Richard Lietz

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Porsche knocked Ferrari off the top of the timesheets in GTE Pro for the first time this weekend. 

Gianmaria Bruni ended up fastest aboard the #91 Porsche 911 RSR-19, his 1m36.883 giving him a two tenth margin over the best of the Ferrari 488 GTE Evos. 

James Calado’s 1m37.109s gave the #51 Ferrari second spot ahead of teammate Miguel Molina, who got down to a 1m37.299s in the sister #52 car. 

Corvette Racing again edged closer to the pace following the Balance of Performance hit it received ahead of this race. A 1m37.372s from Nick Tandy left the solo Corvette C8.R only six tenths off the pace. 

The second Porsche brought up the rear of the GTE Pro class, Michael Christensen ending up on 1m37.697s.

The Project 1 Porsche team blocked out the top two positions in GTE Am. 

Ben Barnicoat was fastest in the 911 run in conjunction with Inception Racing on a 1m38.801s, which was just six hundredths fastest than Matteo Cairoli in the sister car. 

Qualifying for the penultimate round of the 2022 WEC at Fuji begins at 2.40pm local time (GMT +9). 

WEC 6 Hours of Fuji - third practice results:

Cla	#	Drivers	Car	Class	Time	Gap
1	8	Sébastien Buemi Brendon Hartley Ryo Hirakawa	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	HYPERCAR	1'29.865
2	93	Paul di Resta Mikkel Jensen Jean-Eric Vergne	Peugeot 9X8	HYPERCAR	1'30.510	0.645
3	94	Loic Duval Gustavo Menezes James Rossiter	Peugeot 9X8	HYPERCAR	1'30.828	0.963
4	36	Andre Negrao Nicolas Lapierre Matthieu Vaxiviere	Alpine A480	HYPERCAR	1'30.964	1.099
5	7	Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi Jose Maria Lopez	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	HYPERCAR	1'31.532	1.667
6	38	Roberto Gonzalez Antonio Felix da Costa Will Stevens	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'31.822	1.957
7	10	Renger van der Zande Ryan Cullen Sébastien Bourdais	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'32.157	2.292
8	31	Sean Gelael Robin Frijns Dries Vanthoor	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'32.194	2.329
9	1	Lilou Wadoux Paul-Loup Chatin Charles Milesi	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'32.226	2.361
10	28	Oliver Rasmussen Ed Jones Jonathan Aberdein	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'32.356	2.491
11	9	Robert Kubica Louis Deletraz Lorenzo Colombo	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'32.388	2.523
12	23	Alex Lynn Oliver Jarvis Josh Pierson	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'32.588	2.723
13	41	Rui Andrade Ferdinand Habsburg Norman Nato	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'32.764	2.899
14	22	Philip Hanson Filipe Albuquerque Will Owen	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'32.854	2.989
15	35	Jean Baptiste Lahaye Matthieu Lahaye François Heriau	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'33.000	3.135
16	83	François Perrodo Nicklas Nielsen Alessio Rovera	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'33.040	3.175
17	34	Jakub Smiechowski Alex Brundle Esteban Gutierrez	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'33.719	3.854
18	45	Thomas Steven James Allen Rene Binder	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'33.934	4.069
19	91	Gianmaria Bruni Richard Lietz	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	1'36.883	7.018
20	51	Alessandro Pier Guidi James Calado	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	1'37.109	7.244
21	52	Miguel Molina Antonio Fuoco	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	1'37.299	7.434
22	64	Tommy Milner Nick Tandy	Chevrolet Corvette C8.R	LMGTE PRO	1'37.372	7.507
23	92	Michael Christensen Kevin Estre	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	1'37.697	7.832
24	56	Takeshi Kimura Ollie Millroy Ben Barnicoat	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	1'38.801	8.936
25	46	Matteo Cairoli Mikkel Pedersen Nicolas Leutwiler	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	1'38.861	8.996
26	71	Franck Dezoteux Pierre Ragues Gabriel Aubry	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'38.886	9.021
27	54	Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Davide Rigon	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'39.142	9.277
28	21	Simon Mann Christoph Ulrich Toni Vilander	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'39.158	9.293
29	86	Michael Wainwright Riccardo Pera Benjamin Barker	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	1'39.333	9.468
30	33	Ben Keating Henrique Chaves Jr. Marco Sorensen	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	1'39.433	9.568
31	777	Satoshi Hoshino Tomonobu Fujii Charlie Fagg	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	1'39.489	9.624
32	98	Paul Dalla Lana David Pittard Nicki Thiim	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	1'39.570	9.705
33	88	Fred Poordad Patrick Lindsey Jan Heylen	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	1'39.572	9.707
34	85	Rahel Frey Michelle Gatting Sarah Bovy	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'39.582	9.717
35	77	Christian Ried Sebastian Priaulx Harry Tincknell	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	1'39.644	9.779
36	60	Claudio Schiavoni Matteo Cressoni Giancarlo Fisichella	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	1'39.648	9.783
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