WEC Fuji: Toyota locks out front row for home race

Kamui Kobayashi took the pole in the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid with a 1m29.234s on his first flying lap. 

Brendon Hartley’s first lap in the sister car was a 1m29.285s, before he made a minor improvement to 1m29.254s. 

Matthieu Vaxiviere took third position aboard the Alpine A480-Gibson, ending up only two tenths behind the Toyotas on a 1m29.446s. 

The two Peugeots were both within a second of the pace in fourth and fifth positions. 

A 1m30.00s from Jean-Eric Vergne in the #93 Peugeot 9X8 gave him fourth place, while Loic Duval ended up on a 1m30.152s in #94.

Antonio Felix da Costa took LMP2 pole for the Jota squad with a 1m31.649s aboard the #38 ORECA 07-Gibson LMP2. 

That put him half a second up on the pack after the first runs, but the gap was narrowed after all the leading runners went for further runs on a second set of tyres. 

Da Costa was unable to improve his time, but Nicklas Nielsen got down to a 1m31.929s in the AF Corse Pro/Am ORECA to take second position. 

Robin Frijns had qualified third in the #31 WRT ORECA on a 1m32.059s but had his laptime scratched for a track limits violation, dropping him to fourth behind Ferdinand Habsburg in the sister #41 Realteam by WRT car.

#92 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR - 19 GTE-PRO: Michael Christensen, Kevin Estre

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Porsche tops GTE Pro qualifying

Michael Christensen took pole position for Porsche in GTE Pro. 

The Dane grabbed the top spot on his first flying lap with a 1m36.371s aboard the #92 Porsche 911 RSR, which ended up nearly two tenths clear of James Calado in the fastest of the AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evos. 

Calado’s 1m36.566s gave him a similar margin over the second Porsche qualified by Gianmaria Bruni, who posted a 1m36.800s. 

Miguel Molina took fourth spot in the second of the Ferraris with a 1m36.851s set on his third flying lap. 

Corvette's Nick Tandy brought up the rear of the five-car GTE Pro class on a 1m37.127s. 

Ben Keating claimed a third pole of the season in GTE Am aboard the TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage GTE, pipping Sarah Bovy in the Iron Dames Ferrari by just five hundredths of a second. 

Keating set a 1m39.309s, which compared with Bovy’s 1m39.371s. 

Franck Dezoteux took third in the AF-run Spirit of Race Ferrari. 

The Fuji 6 Hours, the penultimate round of this year’s WEC, begins at 11:00 local time on Sunday.

WEC Fuji - Hypercar and LMP2 Qualifying Results

Cla	#	Drivers	Car	Class	Avg Time	Gap
1	7	Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi Jose Maria Lopez	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	HYPERCAR	1'29.234
2	8	Sébastien Buemi Brendon Hartley Ryo Hirakawa	Toyota GR010 - Hybrid	HYPERCAR	1'29.254	0.020
3	36	Andre Negrao Nicolas Lapierre Matthieu Vaxiviere	Alpine A480	HYPERCAR	1'29.446	0.212
4	93	Paul di Resta Mikkel Jensen Jean-Eric Vergne	Peugeot 9X8	HYPERCAR	1'30.000	0.766
5	94	Loic Duval Gustavo Menezes James Rossiter	Peugeot 9X8	HYPERCAR	1'30.152	0.918
6	38	Roberto Gonzalez Antonio Felix da Costa Will Stevens	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'31.649	2.415
7	83	François Perrodo Nicklas Nielsen Alessio Rovera	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'31.929	2.695
8	41	Rui Andrade Ferdinand Habsburg Norman Nato	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'32.143	2.909
9	31	Sean Gelael Robin Frijns Dries Vanthoor	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'32.210	2.976
10	10	Renger van der Zande Ryan Cullen Sébastien Bourdais	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'32.297	3.063
11	22	Philip Hanson Filipe Albuquerque Will Owen	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'32.337	3.103
12	23	Alex Lynn Oliver Jarvis Josh Pierson	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'32.342	3.108
13	28	Oliver Rasmussen Ed Jones Jonathan Aberdein	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'32.439	3.205
14	9	Robert Kubica Louis Deletraz Lorenzo Colombo	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'32.479	3.245
15	1	Lilou Wadoux Paul-Loup Chatin Charles Milesi	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'32.529	3.295
16	34	Jakub Smiechowski Alex Brundle Esteban Gutierrez	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'32.800	3.566
17	45	Thomas Steven James Allen Rene Binder	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'32.879	3.645
18	35	Jean Baptiste Lahaye Matthieu Lahaye François Heriau	Oreca 07	LMP2	1'33.155	3.921
View full results

WEC Fuji - GTE Pro and GTE Am Qualifying Results

Cla	#	Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Avg Time	Gap
1	92	Michael Christensen Kevin Estre	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	5	1'36.371
2	51	Alessandro Pier Guidi James Calado	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	5	1'36.566	0.195
3	91	Gianmaria Bruni Richard Lietz	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	6	1'36.800	0.429
4	52	Miguel Molina Antonio Fuoco	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	5	1'36.851	0.480
5	64	Tommy Milner Nick Tandy	Chevrolet Corvette C8.R	LMGTE PRO	5	1'37.127	0.756
6	33	Ben Keating Henrique Chaves Jr. Marco Sorensen	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	6	1'39.309	2.938
7	85	Rahel Frey Michelle Gatting Sarah Bovy	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	6	1'39.371	3.000
8	71	Franck Dezoteux Pierre Ragues Gabriel Aubry	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	5	1'39.461	3.090
9	777	Satoshi Hoshino Tomonobu Fujii Charlie Fagg	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	6	1'39.710	3.339
10	46	Matteo Cairoli Mikkel Pedersen Nicolas Leutwiler	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	6	1'39.796	3.425
11	54	Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Davide Rigon	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	6	1'39.809	3.438
12	56	Takeshi Kimura Ollie Millroy Ben Barnicoat	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	6	1'39.853	3.482
13	77	Christian Ried Sebastian Priaulx Harry Tincknell	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	6	1'39.874	3.503
14	88	Fred Poordad Patrick Lindsey Jan Heylen	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	6	1'40.052	3.681
15	86	Michael Wainwright Riccardo Pera Benjamin Barker	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE AM	6	1'40.271	3.900
16	21	Simon Mann Christoph Ulrich Toni Vilander	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	6	1'40.418	4.047
17	60	Claudio Schiavoni Matteo Cressoni Giancarlo Fisichella	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	6	1'40.683	4.312
18	98	Paul Dalla Lana David Pittard Nicki Thiim	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	6
View full results