WEC - Toyota Out in Front Ahead of Qualifying in Fuji

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13.10.18

2018 6h of Fuji - Free Practice 3 report 

The third and final Free Practice session of the 6 Hours of Fuji, round 4 of the 2018/19 FIA World Endurance Championship, has finished with the two Toyota TS050-Hybrids heading the time sheets. Free Practice 3 was extended by 30 minutes to make up some of the lost time in yesterday’s two practice sessions due to red flags.

The no7 Toyota was the quickest car with Kamui Kobayashi posting a 1m24.589, six tenths slower than the best time of the weekend set by Fernando Alonso in FP2. The no8 Toyota was second fastest with Alonso setting a 1m.25.180, half a second behind the no7 car. The no17 SMP Racing BR1-AER of Egor Orudzhev was the fastest of the six none hybrid cars, just over a second behind the leading Toyota.

Porsche led the way in the LMGTE Pro category with the no92 911 ahead of the ten car field. Kevin Estre set a 1m36.851, 0.180s ahead of the no67 Ford of Harry Tincknell. The top five places were filled by the five manufacturers with the no95 Aston Martin third fastest ahead of the no71 Ferrari 488 and the no82 BMW M8.

The no37 Jackie Chan Racing Oreca was the quickest of the seven LMP2 cars, with Jazeman Jaafar setting a 1m29.352. The no28 TDS Racing Oreca was second fastest, 0.230 seconds behind the leading car.

It was a Porsche 1-2-3 in the final practice session with the no86 Gulf Racing Porsche 911 RSR heading the field. Ben Barker set a 1m37.709 lap, one tenth ahead of the no77 and no88 Dempsey Proton Racing 911s. The no90 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage of Charles Eastwood stopped on track just as the chequered flag was shown with smoke pouring from the engine bay. The British driver managed to pull off track but the red flag was deployed to slow the rest of the field.

Qualifying for the 6 Hours of Fuji will take place this afternoon with the LMGTE session starting at 14h00 (local) / 07h00 CET