After an entertaining and hard fought qualifying session this morning, Audi took pole position for the 6 Hours of Fuji tomorrow.
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| © Gabi Tomescu - AdrenalMedia.com |
Loic Duval and Lucas Di Grassi scored pole position in the #8 Audi R18 with an average laptime of 1.23.570. Mark Webber & Timo Bernhard came in second fastest in the #1 Porsche 919, just 0.025 short of the Audi. The Toyota's qualified third and fourth in their home race. Sébastien Buemi & Kazuki Nakajima had an average time of 1.23.739, just 0.042 seconds ahead of the #6 of Kobayashi and Sarrazin. Kamui Kobayashi was the fastest driver around the track this afternoon, showing that they have the pace to go for the win tomorrow. The Audi #7 and Porsche #2 rounded out the top 6.
Rebellion Racing took pole again in the privateer class with an average time of 1.28.837, almost a second faster than byKolles.
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| © Gabi Tomescu - AdrenalMedia.com |
In LMP2 G-Drive Racing took their fifth pole of the season. Roman Rusinov and Will Stevens drove an average time of 1.31.698 around the Japanese track in their Oreca05/Nissan. Championship leaders Nicolas Lapierre & Gustavo Menezes in the #36 Signatech Alpine clocked an average time of 1.31.919 which puts them second on the LMP2 grid tomorrow. Third fastest was the #30 Extreme Speed Motorsports of Abtonio Giovanazzi and Sean Gelael. Jonny Kane and Lewis Williamson just missed the top three (again), putting their #42 Strakka Gibson on fourth position ahead of the #43 RGR Sport by Morand Ligier.
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| © Gabi Tomescu - AdrenalMedia.com |
Ford continued to dominate the GTE-Pro class today. Olivier Pla & Stefan Mücke claimed pole position in the #66 Ford GT with an average time of 1.37.817. The #67 Ford with Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell at the wheel was second fastest, just 0.044 seconds behind. Both Ferrari's followed in the qualifying order; Davide Rigon & Sam Bird third quickest in the #71 AF Corse and Gianmaria Bruni & James Calado fourth in the #51 Ferrari F488. Aston Martin took fifth and sixth ahead of the #77 Demsey-Proton Porsche.
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| © Gabi Tomescu - AdrenalMedia.com |
Pedro Lamy and Paul Dalla Lana took pole position again in GTE-Am. With an average time of 1.38.982 the #98 Aston Martin Vantage was 0.373 seconds faster than Rui Aguas and François Perrodo in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari. Ricky Taylor and Yataka Yamagishi were third fastest in the #50 Larbre Corvette.
FREE PRACTICE 3
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| © Gabi Tomescu - AdrenalMedia.com |
Earlier this morning Toyota was fastest in the third and final practice session. Kazuki Nakajima topped the timesheets in his #5 TS050 (1.24.078). Lucas Di Grassi was second fastest in the #8 Audi R18, Neel Jani the fastest Porsche driver putting the #2 919 Hybrid on third place. G-Drive showed a strong pace again in LMP2. Will Stevens set the fastest time in 1.31.474. Second fastest was the all new crew in the #30 Extreme Speed Motorsports Ligier with Antonio Giovinazzi at the wheel. The Strakka Gibson was third fastest in the hands of Jonny Kane.
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| © Gabi Tomescu - AdrenalMedia.com |
Like the first two practice sessions yesterday, Ford outpaced the competition again in GTE-Pro. Andy Priaulx now fastest in the #67 Ford GT (1.38.092) ahead of Marco Sorenson in the #95 Aston Martin Vantage and Stefan Mücke in the second Ford GT. Aston Martin was the fastest car in the GTE-Am class again. Pedro Lamy setting the fastest time in 1.39.492. Behind him, Ben Barker put the #86 Gulf Racing Porsche on second place ahead of Rui Aguas in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari F458 Italia.
The 6 Hours of Fuji will start tomorrow at 11 am local time, and can be followed live with the WEC app and Motorstv.
Free Practice 3 results
Qualifying LMP1 & LMP2
Qualifying GTE
Kristof Vermeulen.
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