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WEC: Kobayashi on pole at Fuji for Toyota

  • gb
09.09.23

Kamui Kobayashi took the third pole position of the season for the #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing entry in front of his home crowd at Fuji International Speedway, which will host the penultimate round of this year’s FIA World Endurance Championship, the 6 Hours of Fuji, this Sunday

Kobayashi in the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid clocked his best time of 1m27.794 to head his team-mate Brendon Hartley in the #8 car by 0.6s. Rain shower arrived with six minutes of the session remaining, denying any attempt to beat Kobayashi’s time.

Porsche Penske Motorsport secured its best-ever qualifying result with third and fourth and with Kevin Estre and Frederic Makowiecki on qualifying duties behind the wheels of the two Porsche 963s.

Cadillac Racing’s sole V-Series.R will start fifth tomorrow, owing to Alex Lynn’s best tour of 1m28.770.

The #51 car was the faster of the two Ferrari AF Corse entries, with James Calado setting the sixth-best time of the session.

The top ten was completed by the #50 Ferrari AF Corse (Nielsen), Hertz Team Jota’s sole Porsche (da Costa), Proton Competition’s Porsche (Bruni) and the #93 Peugeot 9X8 (Jensen).

UNITED ON TOP IN LMP2 AS KEATING GOES FASTEST IN LMGTE AM
The #22 United Autosports Oreca-Gibson recorded its first LMP2 pole of the season as Phil Hanson set the best time of 1m32.182s to head the championship-leading Team WRT entry driven by Louis Deletraz.

The Anglo-American squad enjoyed strong qualifying as Oliver Jarvis ended up third after setting his best lap of 1m3.453.

A last-ditch lap from Albert Costa ensured that Inter Europol Competition claimed fifth as the squad chases down the #41 Team WRT entry in the title race.

Crowned champion Ben Keating took his third LMGTE Am pole position of the 2023 season as he stopped the clock at 1m38.338 to eclipse the #85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 RSR 19 driven by Sarah Bovy by just 0.035s.

Local squad D’Station Racing will start its home race from third position as Satoshi Hoshino lapped in 1m38.875 aboard his Aston Martin Vantage.