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WEC Fuji: Alonso fastest for Toyota as both practice sessions delayed

Toyota set the pace in both of Friday's free practice sessions for this weekend's Fuji World Endurance Championship round, amid numerous stoppages caused by loose kerbs

The opening session of the weekend was paused for 32 minutes while a kerb at Turn 15 was repaired, and around 50 minutes of track time was lost in the second session in two separate stoppages.

While the morning session was extended by half an hour to compensate for the lost track time, only 10 minutes was added to the afternoon's running as dusk fell.

The #8 Toyota TS050 HYBRID of Sebastien Buemi topped the opening session with a best time of 1m25.847s, which was blown away by Fernando Alonso in the opening minutes of second practice.

Alonso set a 1m23.973s, which was enough to beat Jose Maria Lopez in the sister #7 machine by over a second.

Rebellion was the quickest of the non-hybrid outfits, with the Silverstone race-winning #3 R-13-Gibson leading the charge in the hands of Thomas Laurent with a time 1.724 seconds off the pace of Alonso.

Jenson Button had led the privateer charge in first practice but slipped to fourth in the second session, lapping just a tenth slower than Laurent.

Fifth was the #1 Rebellion of Andre Lotterer, followed by the second of the SMP BR1s, the #17 of Matevos Isaakyan that slowly limped back to the pits in the dying stages of second practice.

The sister #11 car also appeared to suffer a brake issue while in Vitaly Petrov's hands during the first session.

LMP2 was topped by TDS Racing, with Matthieu Vaxiviere setting the best time of 1m30.360s during FP1.

Signatech Alpine led FP2 courtesy of Andre Negrao's 1m30.893s in the #36 ORECA, which left the team second for the day ahead of the two Jota Sport-run Jackie Chan DC ORECAs.

Aston Martin topped the GTE Pro times courtesy of a late flyer in FP2 from Nicki Thiim in the #95 Vantage GTE.

Thiim set a 1m37.659s with less than 10 minutes remaining to depose Ford driver Harry Tincknell by a little under two tenths.

Ferrari made it three different makes in the top three, Davide Rigon leading its charge in the #71 488 GTE Evo, ahead of the two Porsche 911 RSRs and the #66 Ford GT that was fastest in FP1 thanks to Stefan Mucke.

Porsche topped the times in GTE Am, with Matteo Cairoli posting the class benchmark of 1m38.989s in the #88 Dempsey-Proton 911 RSR.

FP1 times

Pos Class Driver Team Car Time Gap Laps
1 LMP1 S.Buemi, K.Nakajima, F.Alonso Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota 1m25.847s - 43
2 LMP1 M.Conway, K.Kobayashi, J.M.Lopez Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota 1m26.381s 0.534s 44
3 LMP1 M.Aleshin, V.Petrov, J.Button SMP Racing BR Engineering/AER 1m26.890s 1.043s 23
4 LMP1 N.Jani, A.Lotterer, B.Senna Rebellion Racing Rebellion/Gibson 1m27.151s 1.304s 44
5 LMP1 S.Sarrazin, E.Orudzhev, M.Isaakyan SMP Racing BR Engineering/AER 1m27.635s 1.788s 36
6 LMP1 M.Beche, T.Laurent, G.Menezes Rebellion Racing Rebellion/Gibson 1m27.916s 2.069s 37
7 LMP1 J.Allen, B.Hanley DragonSpeed BR Engineering/Gibson 1m29.088s 3.241s 40
8 LMP1 O.Webb, T.Dillmann, J.Rossiter ByKOLLES Racing Team ENSO CLM/NISMO 1m29.250s 3.403s 26
9 LMP2 F.Perrodo, M.Vaxiviere, J-E.Vergne TDS Racing ORECA/Gibson 1m30.360s 4.513s 45
10 LMP2 H-Pin Tung, G.Aubry, S.Richelmi Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA/Gibson 1m31.605s 5.758s 39
11 LMP2 R.Gonzalez, P.Maldonado, A.Davidson DragonSpeed ORECA/Gibson 1m31.705s 5.858s 45
12 LMP2 F.van Eerd, G.van der Garde, N.de Vries Racing Team Nederland Dallara/Gibson 1m31.708s 5.861s 40
13 LMP2 N.Lapierre, A.Negrao, P.Thiriet Signatech Alpine Matmut Alpine/Gibson 1m31.926s 6.079s 44
14 LMP2 J.Jaafar, W.Tan, N.Jeffri Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA/Gibson 1m31.965s 6.118s 42
15 LMP2 E.Creed, R.Ricci, K.Ihara Larbre Competition Ligier/Gibson 1m34.342s 8.495s 38
16 GTE Pro S.Mucke, O.Pla Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK Ford 1m38.555s 12.708s 33
17 GTE Pro R.Lietz, G.Bruni Porsche GT Team Porsche 1m38.819s 12.972s 42
18 GTE Pro M.Christensen, K.Estre Porsche GT Team Porsche 1m38.996s 13.149s 29
19 GTE Pro A.Priaulx, H.Tincknell Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK Ford 1m39.387s 13.540s 33
20 GTE Pro A.P.Guidi, J.Calado AF Corse Ferrari 1m39.420s 13.573s 31
21 GTE Pro M.Sorensen, N.Thiim Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 1m39.422s 13.575s 38
22 GTE Pro T.Blomqvist, A.F.da Costa BMW Team MTEK BMW 1m39.626s 13.779s 36
23 GTE Pro D.Rigon, S.Bird AF Corse Ferrari 1m39.660s 13.813s 38
24 GTE Pro M.Tomczyk, N.Catsburg BMW Team MTEK BMW 1m39.715s 13.868s 30
25 GTE Am P.D.Lana, P.Lamy, M.Lauda Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 1m39.763s 13.916s 43
26 GTE Am C.Ried, J.Andlauer, M.Campbell Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 1m39.925s 14.078s 38
27 GTE Pro A.Lynn, M.Martin Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 1m40.125s 14.278s 44
28 GTE Am S.Yoluc, J.Adam, C.Eastwood TF Sport Aston Martin 1m40.139s 14.292s 43
29 GTE Am S.Hoshino, G.Roda, M.Cairoli Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 1m40.232s 14.385s 39
30 GTE Am M.Wainwright, B.Barker, T.Preining Gulf Racing Porsche 1m40.469s 14.622s 37
31 GTE Am Mok W.S., K.Sawa, M.Griffin Clearwater Racing Ferrari 1m40.694s 14.847s 39
32 GTE Am J.Bergmeister, P.Lindsey, E.Perfetti Team Project 1 Porsche 1m40.787s 14.940s 8
33 GTE Am M.Ishikawa, O.Beretta, E.Cheever MR Racing Ferrari 1m40.870s 15.023s 39
34 GTE Am T.Flohr, F.Castellacci, G.Fisichella Spirit of Race Ferrari 1m40.980s 15.133s 42

FP2 times

Pos Class Driver Team Car Time Gap Laps
1 LMP1 S.Buemi, K.Nakajima, F.Alonso Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota 1m23.973s - 30
2 LMP1 M.Conway, K.Kobayashi, J.M.Lopez Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota 1m25.068s 1.095s 29
3 LMP1 M.Beche, T.Laurent, G.Menezes Rebellion Racing Rebellion/Gibson 1m25.697s 1.724s 22
4 LMP1 M.Aleshin, V.Petrov, J.Button SMP Racing BR Engineering/AER 1m25.801s 1.828s 27
5 LMP1 N.Jani, A.Lotterer, B.Senna Rebellion Racing Rebellion/Gibson 1m25.931s 1.958s 29
6 LMP1 S.Sarrazin, E.Orudzhev, M.Isaakyan SMP Racing BR Engineering/AER 1m27.664s 3.691s 27
7 LMP1 O.Webb, T.Dillmann, J.Rossiter ByKOLLES Racing Team ENSO CLM/NISMO 1m28.209s 4.236s 26
8 LMP1 J.Allen, B.Hanley DragonSpeed BR Engineering/Gibson 1m28.914s 4.941s 16
9 LMP2 N.Lapierre, A.Negrao, P.Thiriet Signatech Alpine Matmut Alpine/Gibson 1m30.410s 6.437s 28
10 LMP2 H-Pin Tung, G.Aubry, S.Richelmi Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA/Gibson 1m30.842s 6.869s 24
11 LMP2 J.Jaafar, W.Tan, N.Jeffri Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA/Gibson 1m30.990s 7.017s 28
12 LMP2 F.Perrodo, M.Vaxiviere, J-E.Vergne TDS Racing ORECA/Gibson 1m31.040s 7.067s 29
13 LMP2 F.van Eerd, G.van der Garde, N.de Vries Racing Team Nederland Dallara/Gibson 1m31.259s 7.286s 28
14 LMP2 R.Gonzalez, P.Maldonado, A.Davidson DragonSpeed ORECA/Gibson 1m31.995s 8.022s 21
15 LMP2 E.Creed, R.Ricci, K.Ihara Larbre Competition Ligier/Gibson 1m32.736s 8.763s 27
16 GTE Pro M.Sorensen, N.Thiim Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 1m37.659s 13.686s 21
17 GTE Pro A.Priaulx, H.Tincknell Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK Ford 1m37.821s 13.848s 25
18 GTE Pro D.Rigon, S.Bird AF Corse Ferrari 1m38.041s 14.068s 26
19 GTE Pro R.Lietz, G.Bruni Porsche GT Team Porsche 1m38.053s 14.080s 24
20 GTE Pro M.Christensen, K.Estre Porsche GT Team Porsche 1m38.081s 14.108s 26
21 GTE Pro S.Mucke, O.Pla Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK Ford 1m38.179s 14.206s 28
22 GTE Pro A.P.Guidi, J.Calado AF Corse Ferrari 1m38.248s 14.275s 26
23 GTE Pro M.Tomczyk, N.Catsburg BMW Team MTEK BMW 1m38.388s 14.415s 27
24 GTE Pro A.Lynn, M.Martin Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 1m38.477s 14.504s 24
25 GTE Pro T.Blomqvist, A.F.da Costa BMW Team MTEK BMW 1m38.504s 14.531s 28
26 GTE Am S.Hoshino, G.Roda, M.Cairoli Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 1m38.989s 15.016s 26
27 GTE Am C.Ried, J.Andlauer, M.Campbell Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 1m39.152s 15.179s 23
28 GTE Am Mok W.S., K.Sawa, M.Griffin Clearwater Racing Ferrari 1m39.295s 15.322s 23
29 GTE Am T.Flohr, F.Castellacci, G.Fisichella Spirit of Race Ferrari 1m39.410s 15.437s 25
30 GTE Am M.Ishikawa, O.Beretta, E.Cheever MR Racing Ferrari 1m39.559s 15.586s 24
31 GTE Am J.Bergmeister, P.Lindsey, E.Perfetti Team Project 1 Porsche 1m39.712s 15.739s 27
32 GTE Am M.Wainwright, B.Barker, T.Preining Gulf Racing Porsche 1m39.930s 15.957s 25
33 GTE Am S.Yoluc, J.Adam, C.Eastwood TF Sport Aston Martin 1m40.181s 16.208s 26
34 GTE Am P.D.Lana, P.Lamy, M.Lauda Aston Martin Racing Aston Martin 1m40.429s 16.456s 25


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