The No. 8 Toyota leads FP1 at Fuji

The rains that drenched Shizuoka Prefecture overnight stopped at first light. So much so that the first free practice session for the 6 Hours of Fuji, second round of the WEC 2019-2020, was held on a dry track.

The main question of the weekend is whether the #13 Rebellion R1 and the two Ginetta G60 LT P1-AERs will succeed in taking advantage of the Success Handicap to get closer to the Toyota. As a reminder, the TS050 Hybrid n°7 and n°8 are supposed to lose 1”4 and 1”0 respectively on their theoretical time after the double signed by the Japanese firm at Silverstone at the beginning of September.

The fact remains that the first free practice session was dominated by the No. 8, namely the less penalized of the two. The trio Buemi-Hartley-Nakajima is credited with a lap of 1'27"373 which allows him to beat the #0 Rebellion R2 of Nato-Menezes-Senna by 13"1 and the #0 Toyota of Conway-Kobayashi-Lopez. The two Ginetta G60 LT P1 bring up the rear, 1’0 and 1”3 from the reference mark.

In LM P2, High Class Racing and its Japanese driver Kenta Yamashita made the talk. First in the category thanks to a time of 1’29”624, the No. 33 Oreca is ahead of the 07 from Racing Team Nederland and Cool Racing, while Signatch Alpine and Jota Sport complete the top five.

Porsche won the two best times in the GTE Pro, the No. 91 of Bruni-Lietz, in 1'38" 315, preceding the No. 92 of Christensen-Estre. Follow the Ferrari 488 GTE n°71, theAston Martin Vantage AMR n°95 and Ferrari n°51. The good news is that these five cars are grouped into just five tenths.

Last in its class, the No. 97 Aston Martin is ahead of the two fastest GTE Ams, namely the Vantage AMR fielded by TF Sport for Adam-Yoluc-Eastwood and the No. 70 Ferrari of MR Racing.

The second free practice session for the 6 Hours of Fuji is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. French time.

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