The Headlines from Free Practice
Hypercar
- The track action for the 2025 6 Hours of Fuji and the FIA World Endurance Championship’s 100th race begins with a 90-minute FP1 session at Fuji Speedway.
- In sunny and warm conditions the times are topped by the two Peugeot 9X8 entries as they continue strong momentum after clinching their first podium of the season at COTA last time out.
- Loic Duval, who’s early career saw him race extensively in Japan, sets the pace with a best time of 1m30.152s in the #94 Peugeot TotalEnergies 9X8. The French ace just out-paces the sister Peugeot driven by Jean-Eric Vergne by 0.458s.
- Behind the Peugeots come the pair of Aston Martin The Heart of Racing Valkyrie Hypercars, as #009 leads the #007 car. Marco Sorensen and Harry Tincknell set the times of 1m30.632s and 1m30.766s respectively
- Fifth place sees the leading Porsche Penske car driven by Julien Andlauer and last minute Fuji substitute Mathieu Jaminet. The #5 Porsche 963 Hypercar sets a peak lap of 1m30.959s.
- That lap just shades the leading Toyota GR010 Hypercar shared by Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa by a mere 0.2s as they push to try and achieve a remarkable 10th win in 12 WEC events at Fuji Speedway
- The rest of the Top 10 sees the pair of Alpine A424 Hypercars place seventh and eighth with the #35 heading the #36 entry, while the Ferrari duo of #83 and #51 take ninth and 10th position as they get ready for what looks like being a title battle between them in the final two races of the 2025 WEC season
LMGT3
- Ben Barnicoat claims the best LMGT3 time for the Akkodis ASP Lexus squad as it prepares for a home race for the well-known Japanese luxury brand
- The #78 Lexus, that Barnicoat shares with Arnold Robin and Finn Gehrsitz, sets the pace with a best lap of 1m41.257s as Robin heads the #81 TF Sport Corvette driven via Charlie Eastwood by just 0.033s
- Eastwood, along with teammates Rui Andrade and Tom van Rompuy, look to extend their strong recent results of third at Le Mans and second at Interlagos
- COTA winners United Autosports place third in FP1, as local ace Marino Sato sets a peak lap of 1m41.641s. The #95 McLaren is also raced by Darren Leung and Sean Gelael.
- The VISTA AF Corse Ferrari 296 of Davide Rigon, Francesco Castellacci and Thomas Flohr, that took the chequered flag first in COTA but was subsequently penalised, finish the session in fourth position
- Team WRT take fifth place to make it five different manufacturers in the top five places as Valentino Rossi, Kelvin van der Linde and Ahmed Al Harthy make solid start to the 6 Hours of Fuji in their BMW M4 LMGT3
- Completing the top six in FP1 is the #21 VISTA AF Corse Ferrari of Simon Mann, Francois Heriau and Alessio Rovera, as they seek to reduce the 19-point gap to the points leading Manthey 1stPhorm crew of Richard Lietz, Riccardo Pera and Ryan Hardwick
- The #92 Porsche of Lietz/Pera and Hardwick ends the session 10th in the ultra-competitive LMGT3 field
- The second free practice session at Fuji Speedway is scheduled to start at 14.30 local time
FP1 times are available HERE
Watch FIA WEC live or on-demand via the official FIA WEC TV app – your full-access pass to the FIA World Endurance Championship including the iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans. Don’t miss a moment. For further information, check out the app.
