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Autosport
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Sport
Gary Watkins

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