WEC – Toyota Sets Pace in Practice at Home in Japan

Home / WEC – Toyota Sets Pace in Practice at Home in Japan

Reigning World Champion Sébastien Buemi set the best time of 1m27.373 lap, 0.286 ahead of the no1 Rebellion Racing R13 driven by Norman Nato, who set the second quickest time in the session’s closing minutes.

Kamui Kobayashi was third quickest in the no7 Toyota with a time of 1:27.790 ahead of the two Team LNT’s Ginettas. The no5 Ginetta was fourth fastest with Ben Hanley clocking a time of 1:28.449, however both cars spent a lengthy period in the pits due to brake cooling issues.

In LMGTE Pro Porsche headed Ferrari and Aston Martin in LMGTE Pro, with Gianmaria Bruni setting a best time of 1:38.315 in the no91 Porsche 911 RSR-19 he shares with Richard Lietz.  A flying lap in the dying minutes of the session by Michael Christensen in the no92 Porsche gave Porsche a 1-2 in class, just one tenth of a second behind the sister car.

The No.71 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE of Davide Rigon and Miguel Molina placed third ahead of the Nicki Thiim and Marco Sørensen crewed No.95 Aston Martin Vantage AMR in fourth.

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Season 8 newcomers High Class Racing equipped with Goodyear tyres top LMP2 times as local star Kenta Yamashita sets the pace early in the session with a time of 1:29.624.  Racing Team Nederland second quickest, with newly crowned FIA Formula 2 Champion Nyck de Vries setting a time of 1:30.832 late in the session.  Third out of the LMP2 teams was Cool Racing with Nicolas Lapierre at the wheel

In LMGTE Am the No.90 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage lead the category, with a fastest time of 1:39.010 set by Jonny Adam, just two hundredths of a second ahead of the second-placed car, the No.70 MR Racing Ferrari 488 GTE. Showing his Fuji Speedway experience early in the 90-minute session was Kei Cozzolino in the MR Racing Ferrari, setting a fastest time of 1:39.039 to claim second spot in the class.  Third in GTE Am was the No.86 Gulf Racing Porsche 911 RSR of Ben Barker with a best lap of 1:39.351.

The second Free Practice session will begin at 15h30 (local time) / 08h30 (CET)

CLICK HERE for the result from Free Practice 1

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