Mike Conway (GBR) / Kamui Kobayashi (JPN) / Jose Maria Lopez (ARG) #07 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 Hybrid. 08.09.2023. FIA World Endurance Championship, Round 6, Six Hours of Fuji, Fuji, Japan, Friday. – www.xpbimages.com, EMail: [email protected] © Copyright: Moy / XPB Images
Kamui Kobayashi of the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid set the quickest lap time in the third and final free practice session ahead of qualifying for the 6 Hours of Fuji.
Proceedings began in damp conditions with fog ever present, so intermediate tyres were initially used before the track evolved and became drier.
High humidity during final free practice for the FIA World Endurance Championship’s 6 Hours of Fuji, hitting 89% during the one-hour session.
The running was smooth and continued, apart from minor contact between the Le Mans-winning #34 Inter Europol Competition Oreca 07 LMP2 of Fabio Scherer and the #54 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo into Turn 1.
With the acuteness and temporary crowdedness of the Turn 1 hairpin, the GTE-Am car resulted with a rear-right puncture and nursed it back to the pits.
With qualifying as the next session, teams and drivers focussed on preparing for the fast-paced sessions which would determine their grid position ahead of tomorrow’s penultimate round of the WEC.
This meant that some teams opted for more track time for all besides one of their three drivers.
In Hypercar, there were several cars trading the top spots as lap times were close to one another, and the fastest ones being set later when the track was at its utmost evolution.
By the end, it was Kobayashi for the #7 Toyota GAZOO Racing entry who set a fastest time of 1:30.068, ahead of the #94 Peugeot 9X8 which finished in second place as Loic Duval set a best time of 1:30.476.
Third in Hypercar was the #38 Team Jota Porsche 963, Hybrid which set a quickest time of 1:30.501 in the hands of Antonio Felix da Costa.
Behind was the other #93 Peugeot, which claimed the team’s first podium finish last time out at the 6 Hours of Monza, and finished with a fastest time of 1:30.695 by Mikkel Jensen.
Fifth place was occupied by the other customer Porsche 963 of #99 Proton Competition which set a fastest time of 1:30.710 by Harry Tincknell, ahead of the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 499P which did a 1:30.798 from James Calado.
The other #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid finished in seventh place when Ryo Hirakawa, a two-time champion in Super GT and reigning WEC champion, put a 1:30.826 lap time.
In eighth was the #2 Cadillac Racing entry, with Alex Lynn who set their fastest time of 1:30.914.
Both Porsche Penske entries rounded out the top-10, with the #5 followed by #6 car.
LMP2 was topped by the #23 United Autosports crew, as Olly Jarvis set their fastest time of 1:34.258.
Alpine came second which came from Matthieu Vaxiviere who posted a 1:34.595.
Third place in the LMP2 class was occupied by other #22 United Autosports machine, with their Phil Hanson putting a best lap of 1:34.608.
In fourth was the #10 Vector Sport after Gabriel Aubry posted their fastest time of 1:34.719, followed by Ben Viscaal’s 1:34.777 in the #9 Prema Racing.
Despite the small altercation with the LMP2 earlier in the session, the #54 AF Corse was fastest in the GTE-Am field.
Davide Rigon set a quickest lap time of 1:39.074, followed closely by home-favourites #777 D’station Racing who completed a fastest time of 1:39.260 in the hands of Tomonobu Fujii.
The #77 Dempsey Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR GTE which went fastest in FP1 was third, as the #33 Corvette Racing of Nicky Catsburg put a quickest time of 1:39.690.
In fifth spot was the #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari in which Ritomo Miyata drove their fastest time of 1:39.705.
Next will be the qualifying session, which will take place from 06.40 am to 07.45 am as each class will receive its own session as per usual.
Keyword: Kobayashi quickest in final free practice at Fuji