EL3 – The Non-Hybrid LM P1s at 1”0 from Toyota

The new EoT, revised again to the advantage of the Non-Hybrid LM P1s this morning, has therefore not reshuffled the cards as much as hoped. The third free practice session for the 6 Hours of Fuji, fourth round of the WEC, once again saw the Non-Hybrid LM P1s dominated by the Toyota. The best of them, the #1 BR17-AER of Sarrazin-Orudzhev-Isaakyan, is 1”0 behind the reference mark (1'24”589) set by the #050 TS7 Hybrid of Conway-Kobayashi-Lopez, which precedes the sister car of Buemi-Alonso-Nakajima. 

The fastest of the two Rebellion R13-Gibson, the No. 1 of Jani-Lotterer-Senna is 0”3 behind the Russian LM P1. The top five is completed by the #3 Rebellion and the #1 BR11.

Already in good spirits yesterday, Jackie Chan DC Racing confirms its good intentions in LM P2, since the No. 37 Oreca of the Tan-Jeffri-Jaafar trio signs the best time of this session in 1'29"352. The top three is completed by TDS Racing (Vaxivière-Perrodo-Vergne) and the second car from Jackie Chan DC Racing, the No. 38 of Aubry-Tung-Richelmi. Championship leader, Signatech Alpine is sixth at 1”4, having used the new entry tires.

In GTE Pro, Porsche took the lead thanks to the No. 911 92 RSR of Christensen-Estre. But what is interesting is to see that the five manufacturers entered are all in the top five. If the German signed a time of 1'36"851, the Ford GT n°67 (Priaulx-Tincknell) and theAston Martin Vantage AMR n°95 (Sorensen-Thiim) are only at 0”1, while the Ferrari 488 GTE n°71 (Bird-Rigon) and the BMW M8 GTE n°82 (Blomqvist-Felix da Costa) complete the top 5 at 0”3.

Porsche strikes a double blow, since the Zuffenhausen firm also dominated the GTE Am. Not thanks to the 911 RSR of Dempsey-Proton Racing, second and third, but thanks to the No. 86 of Gulf Racing that Benjamin Barker shares with Mike Wainwright and Thomas Preining.

Meet at 7 a.m. French time for qualifying