Free Practice 3: Toyota leads the way
In yesterday’s second free practice session, only four thousandths of a second separated Audi and Toyota after 90 minutes of running. This morning, the TS030 Hybrid of the Japanese manufacturer, which is making its Fuji Speedway debut this week, clearly showed its intention to spice things up in tomorrow’s race, Kazuki Nakajima becoming the first driver to drop below the 1m28 mark so far this week.
With the temperature progressively rising, lap times were getting quicker and quicker although we had to wait until right at the end of the session for the three top times to be improved upon. Toyota Racing’s Japanese driver posted a lap of 1:27.567, heading the first of the two Audis, the No.1 R18 e-tron quattro of this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans winners, by more than seven tenths of a second and the second No.2 Audi of Tom Kristensen by more than a second. A bit of host country news, the top three drivers have all competed in the Japanese Super GT championship.
One HPD may hide another: following in the tracks of the No.21 Strakka Racing HPD-Honda which was quickest yesterday, it was now the turn of the No.22 JRM HPD car which showed itself to be the quickest of the LMP1 Privateers thanks to David Brabham’s lap of 1:30.432. The Australian driver, winner of the 2009 24 Hours of Le Mans, was closely matched by Neel Jani (less than a tenth) in his No.12 Rebellion Racing Lola-Toyota and the Strakka Racing HPD ARX 03a.
Stéphane Sarrazin’s Starworks Motorsports No.44 HPD-ARX 03b slightly improved on the time it set yesterday in the second free practice session with a lap of 1:32.673. In this very tightly-contested LMP2 class the first five cars are all within a second of each other. Nelson Panciatici and the No.26 Signatech-Nissan Oreca 03-Nissan and Oliver Pla’s No.24 OAK Racing Morgan-Nissan complete the top three.
The No.77 Team Felbermayr-Proton Porsche 911 RSR continued to go it alone in LMGTE Pro, the two factory drivers Marc Lieb and Richard Lietz having set the two quickest laps of the morning session. The German (Lieb) was slightly ahead of his Austrian teammate with his time of 1:40.684, while the two AF Corse Ferrari 458s of Gianmaria Bruni, in the No.51, and Andrea Bertolini, in the No.71, were both less than two tenths from the German racer. However, the Race Director has decided to investigate an incident involving the No.71, while driven by the Italian, and the No.15 OAK Racing Pescarolo-Honda.
Both the No.50 and No.70 Larbre Competition Corvettes once again monopolised the top two places in the LMGTE Am class, but they have swapped around since the second session as Julien Canal (1.41.604) finished ahead of his team mate Jean-Philippe Belloc. Michele Rugolo’s No.57 Krohn Racing Ferrari once again stole a top three placing.
Cars will be on track again at 1330 hours for the LMGTE Pro and Am classes, and at 1400 hours for the LMP1s and LMP2s, with 20 minutes of qualifying for each.
Fiona Miller
Photo: OYAMA-CHO (SHIZUOKA PREFECTURE, JAPAN), FUJI INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY, 6 HOURS OF FUJI, SATURDAY, 13TH OCTOBER 2012, FREE PRACTICE 3. The No.77 Team Felbermayr-Proton Porsche has led the LMGTE Pro class in every session so far.
