The 6 Hours of Fuji weekend got off to a great start with the no7 Audi taking the top spot at the end of the first Free Practice session on the 4.5km Japanese track.  However the German manufacturer had to contend with the two Toyota TS050s, the Japanese manufacturer looking for their first win in WEC since 2014 on home soil.

Marcel Fassler’s 1m25.030 lap in the no7 Audi R18 was 0.5 seconds quicker than Kamui Kobayashi in the no 6 Toyota, who was in turn 0.282 seconds ahead of Loic Duval in the no8 Audi.  Sebastien Buemi set the quickest lap in the no5 Toyota, just 0.047 behind Duval.  The two Porsches were 5^th and 6^th quickest with championship leader Neel Jani in the no2 919 setting a 1m25.962, 0.135 seconds ahead of his world champion teammate Mark Webber in the no1 Porsche, the Australian’s 1m26.097 lap one second behind the leading Audi.

The no13 Rebellion R-One was the quicker of the  two LMP1 privateers, with Alexandre Imperatori setting a 1m30.917, 0.6 seconds ahead of the no4 Bykolles Racing Team CLM.

The LMP2 category was headed by the no26 G-Drive Racing Oreca05 with recently crowned LMP3 European Le Mans Series champion Alex Brundle posting 1m33.204, 0.271 seconds ahead of the no31 Extreme Speed Motorsports Ligier of Ryan Dalziel, with the no42 Strakka Racing Gibson of Jonny Kane just 0.011 seconds behind Dalziel.

The no67 Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK Ford GT was the quickest of the seven PRO class GTE competitors with former FIA World Touring Car Champion Andy Priaulx  posting the fastest LMGTE time of 90-minute session.  The British driver’s 1m39.216 lap was 0.329s faster than the no77 Dempsey Proton Racing Porsche of Michael Christensen and another 0.152 seconds ahead of the no51 AF Corse Ferrari of Gianmaria Bruni.

The LMGTE AM class was headed by the no83 AF Corse Ferrari of Emmanuel Collard with the French driver setting a 1m40.775, just 0.16 seconds ahead of the no98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage of Pedro Lamy and 0.5 seconds in front of the no50 Larbre Competition Corvette with a best lap of 1m41.287 set by Ricky Taylor.

The second Free Practice session will start at 15h30 (local) / 08h30 (CET).

CLICK HERE for the results from Free Practice 1