The qualifying session of the 6 Hours of Fuji ended with a double for Toyota, with #7 ahead of #8 thanks to the good work of Kamui Kobayashi. The pole in GTE has been for the #92 Porsche.
The drivers of the Toyota #7 play it all or nothing in Fuji. And the first assault they have overcome with a note. Kamui Kobayashi has achieved pole position for the #7 Toyota in the penultimate round of the WEC after setting a time of 1:29.234 in the qualifying session. The time of the Japanese has been only 20 thousandths faster than that achieved by Brendon Hartley with #8. Porsche commands among the GTE.
Trailing the championship leaders by 40 points, the #7 Toyota needed pole as a basis for a good career. Kobayashi knew it and has not failed in a circuit that he knows very well. Mind you, he has done it by a narrow margin, since Kamui was only 20 thousandths faster than Brendon Hartley. In turn, Toyota has met the forecasts and has achieved the expected double.
Both the qualifying session for the GTEs and the prototypes have passed without incident
Although the result has been as expected, differences between hypercars have been minor in sight in FP3, a free practice session in which the #8 Toyota has surpassed its rivals by more than six tenths. In fact, the Alpine #36 has ’emerged’ from the shadows again to place himself two tenths behind the poleman at the hands of Matthieu Vaxivière.
Yes Alpine has played clueless again in free practice to take a bite out of qualifying, the Peugeots showed performance in line with that seen in FP3. The Peugeot #93 led by Jean-Eric Vergne was fourth to seven tenths from the head, while the sister prototype, the #94, finished at nine tenths. Loïc Duval qualified in this second car.
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The leader imposes his law in LMP2
The pole in LMP2 has gone to António Félix Da Costa with the ORECA #38 of JOTA. The prototype of the leaders of the silver category has finished at the top of the time table in its class after signing the Portuguese pilot a time of 1:31.649. Almost three tenths behind Nicklas Nielsen has been located with the ORECA #83 from AF Corse.
Pole for Porsche in GTE
In development…
Photos: Toyota Gazoo Racing / Porsche Motorsport