WEC – Fuji: Audi takes the lead in FP1

At the wheel of the No. 18 Audi R7 e-tron quattro that he shares with Marcel Fässler and Benoît Tréluyer, André Lotterer set the best time in the first free practice session for the 6 Hours of Fuji, sixth round of the WEC. By completing a lap of the Japanese track in 1'24"497, the German shattered by almost two seconds the lap record for an LM P1 on this track, of which he was already the holder. In second place, at 0 »733, we find the Porsche 919 Hybrid n°18 of Dumas-Jani-Lieb, which is ahead of the Audi n°8 (+1”333) and the Porsche n°17 ​​(+1”548), respectively entrusted to the trios Di Grassi-Duval-Jarvis and Benhard-Hartley-Webber. Both Toyota TS040 Hybrid are more than two seconds behind the reference time. The best time in private LM P1 goes to the Rebellion R-One n°12 of Nicolas Cheers and Mathias Beche.

Signatech Alpine stood out in LM P2. Thanks to a time of 1'32"701, the A450b of Capillaire-Chatin-Panciatici preceded the Ligier JS P2 n°28 of Derani-Gonzalez-Yacaman by a breath, the leading trio being completed by the Oreca 05 n °47 aligned by KCMG for Bradley-Howson-Tandy.

In GTE Pro, the new BoP has not greatly changed the hierarchy. Sovereign during the last two races, the Porsche 911 RSR confirms its good dispositions. The n°92 of the French pair Frédéric Makowiecki-Patrick Pilet completed a lap in 1'39"931, ahead of the two by only a few hundredths. Ferrari 458 Italia defending the colors of AF Corse. Fourth, the first Aston Martin, the n°95 of Nygaard-Sorensen, is not far away either.

Finally, in GTE Am, Larbre Compétition made the French colors shine, the No. 7 Corvette C50.R of Ruberti-Roda-Sylvest having established the reference mark in 1'40" 659, just ahead of the No. 72 Ferrari of the SMP Racing and the first Aston Martin.

The second free practice session is scheduled for 15:30 p.m. local time, 8:30 a.m. French time.