The #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 set the fastest time in Free Practice 1 at the Fuji Speedway earlier today, Laurens Vanthoor completing a 1:30.561 early in the session to put himself and his championship-leading teammates quickest by a hundredth of a second.
Toyota’s #8 GR010 HYBRID ended up second on the timing screen with a 1:30.571 from Ryo Hirakawa, while Ferrari’s #50 499P made it three manufacturers in the top three.
Completing the top five were the sister factory Porsche and Toyota’s #7 car, which ended up fourth and fifth, with marginally faster laps in the hot, humid weather trackside than the #83 AF Corse Ferrari which won last time out at CoTA.
Peugeot’s #94 ended up seventh, with the fastest of the Alpine A424s – the #35 – eighth.
Meanwhile, further down the order the #93 9X8 would slot in 16th, the car completing just 31 laps – the fewest in the class – after missing time early due to engine checks in its pit box.
In LMGT3 it was a strong start to the weekend for United Autosports, its #95 McLaren GT3 EVO topping the times with a 1:40.528.
The #95 did however bring out a red flag in the session after stopping at Turn 10 after Marino Sato had contact with the #2 Cadillac.
The pair of Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3s completed the top three with the #55 ahead of the #54. Both came within two-tenths of the McLaren.
Next up is Free Practice 2 at 14:10 local time.
