There is a Toyota in front of everyone at the end of the very short Free Practice 3 of the 6 Hours of Fuji, with the FIA World Endurance Championship drivers having in reality had little time available to complete their preparations for this seventh round of the 2024 season.
The day began with a few clouds in the sky to disturb the rays of sunshine as the cars took to the track of the Land of the Rising Sun for the traditional ‘Circuit Safari’, a short session held with the fans’ bus running at the same time as the prototypes and GTs.
After a dozen minutes, the third round of practice officially began with 60 minutes on the clock, but after just 10 minutes a Full Course Yellow came out to freeze the situation while debris was removed from Turn 16.
Once the race resumed, the final interruption with a red flag came 20 minutes from the end due to a problem with the kerb at turn 1 that was not resolved in time for the restart.
In the few laps completed, the #8 GR010 Hybrid driven by local hero Ryo Hirakawa – who will be competing in Qualifying for the first time – stopped the clock at 1’29″621, leading the HYPERCAR class by just 0″086 over the Cadillac.
Ferrari instead obtained the third time at 0″106 with the 499P #50 of Antonio Fuoco, closely followed by the Alpine #35, which together with the Toyota #7 is in the Top 5, leaving behind the Ferraris #51 and #83 of AF Corse, confirmed as the best among the private cars given that the Porsches of Jota #38 and Proton Competition #99 finished in eighth and ninth position.
Lamborghini is 0″9 from the top and completes the Top 10, outside of which remain the Peugeots, the two official Porsches and the BMWs, although it must be said that not all of them managed to put together more than 22 laps (the maximum recorded) and allow the entire crew to take the wheel.
#55 View AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3: Francois Heriau, Simon Mann, Alessio Rovera
Photo credit: JEP / Motorsport Images
In the LMGT3 class, a one-two for the AF Corse Ferraris led by the 296 #55 of François Heriau in 1’41″206 ahead of the #54 of Davide Rigon by just over a tenth.
Third was the #78 Akkodis-ASP Lexus at 0.2 seconds, followed by the #95 United Autosports McLaren and the #92 Manthey PureRxcing Porsche, finishing in the top five, ahead of the #82 TF Sport Corvette.
The #95 McLaren-United is seventh and first, more than half a second off the top, with the #88 Ford of Proton Competition eighth, followed by the #81 Corvette-TF and the #27 Aston Martin of Heart Of Racing in the top 10, with the #85 Lamborghini of the Iron Dames remaining outside of it.
Still behind are the BMWs of Team WRT, placed 15th and 18th on the grid; the #46 is still the best, on which Valentino Rossi only had time to complete two laps.
The day continues with Qualifying and the assault on the Hyperpole starting at 2.20pm local time (7.20am in Italy), starting with the LMGT3s and continuing with the HYPERCARs.
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