The Headlines from FP1
Hypercar
- Toyota began the track action at the 2026 6 Hours of Fuji in positive fashion as the #8 Toyota Racing TR010 Hypercar, driven by local ace, Ryo Hirakawa, set the pace in the first of two free practice sessions
- The undulating Fuji Speedway track will play host to a 13th WEC encounter this Sunday with the world championship manufacturers and drivers title in both Hypercar and LMGT3 up for grabs.
- Hirakawa’s time of 1m29.694s set early on in the 90-minute session, conducted in warm, dry and cloudy conditions was 0.343s quicker than the #12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA entry driven by Will Stevens and Norman Nato
- The COTA winning #50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P of Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen and Antonio Fuoco placed third as they look to ensure a Ferrari Hypercar is on the podium this Sunday for the first time ever
- The second Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar of Earl Bamber, Jack Aitken and Sébastien Bourdais took fourth best time as they look to consolidate their strong second place last time out at the Lone Star Le Mans event
- Last year’s winners Alpine slotted in to fifth position as Victor Martins and Jules Gounon got used to racing as a duo for the first session this season. The French pair will be without Frederic Makowiecki for the rest as the season, just as stablemates Ferdinand Habsburg and Charles Milesi will be without Antonio Felix da Costa in the #35 Alpine A424 Hypercar
- Completing the top six in Hypercar was the #19 Genesis Magma Racing entry of Mathieu Jaminet, Daniel Juncadella and Paul-Loup Chatin upon the Genesis manufacturer’s first visit to Fuji Speedway
- The top ten was completed by the #007 Aston Martin Racing Valkyrie, the #7 Toyota Racing entry, the #83 AF Corse Ferrari and the reigning champion #51 Ferrari AF Corse car
LMGT3
- McLaren ruled the roost in LMGT3 as the #58 Garage 59 entry set the best time in category as young German ace, Finn Gehrsitz, punched in an ultimate best lap of 1m40.214s
- A late lap by the sister #10 McLaren got to within 0.045s of Gehristz’s time, as Tom Flemming set a 1m40.257s best
- A further 0.182s back from the ultimate pace was the #34 Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette LMGT3 car driven by Peter Dempsey, Salih Yoluc and Charlie Eastwood
- Proton Competition ended the session third as the #77 Ford Mustang of Sebastien Priaulx, Ben Tuck and Eric Powell started the Fuji weekend off strongly
- The similar #88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang driven by Giammarco Levorato posted a late time of 1m40.588s to go P5
- Local favourites Lexus were sixth quickest in the Akkodis ASP run Japanese marque, as the #78 entry driven by Esteban Masson, Tom van Rompuy and Hadrien David made it four different manufacturers in as many positions
- The LMGT3 championship points leading #33 TF Sport Corvette of Ben Keating, Nicky Catsburg and Jonny Edgar ended the session back in 16th position, while the COTA winning #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage of Ian James, Zacharie Robichon and Mattia Drudi completed the 18 entries
The second 90-minute session at Fuji Speedway is scheduled to take place at 14.30 local time.
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