Proton Competition’s #77 Ford Mustang will begin tomorrow’s 6 Hours of Fuji – round six of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship campaign – on pole position in the LMGT3 category.
In wet conditions, standing water and deteriorating visibility prompted the cancellation of today’s qualifying and Hyperpole sessions following an early accident for François Hériau in VISTA AF Corse’s #21 Ferrari 296 Evo.
That meant the grid would be formed based upon each car’s individual fastest lap from the three free practice sessions – which in-turn put the #77 Mustang at the top of the pile, courtesy of Ben Tuck’s benchmark time from FP2 on Friday.
“The car has felt amazing in both wet and dry conditions all weekend, and that’s shown with our pace in practice,” commented the Brit, who alongside team-mates Sebastian Priaulx and Eric Powell, achieved a season-best fifth-place finish last time out on Ford’s home soil of COTA.
“We’re extremely happy to get pole position, even if we were unable to fight in a true qualifying session. The fact the result goes back to our practice pace shows we’ve done enough to deserve pole, and now I can’t wait to get going in the race tomorrow!”
The Mustang will be joined at the front of the order for the start of the six-hour contest by the #79 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG, after Lin Hodenius lapped less than five hundredths-of-a-second adrift of Tuck. The #78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus and #58 Garage 59 McLaren rounded out the top four, followed by the second Mercedes and McLaren.
The top two in the championship standings – the #33 TF Sport Corvette and #21 VISTA Ferrari – will share the fifth row of the grid, while the title-defending Manthey Porsches will both have to fight their way through the field from the very back of the pack.
The 6 Hours of Fuji will get underway at 11:00 local time (GMT+9) tomorrow (Sunday, 27 September).
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