Free Practice 1: Toyota makes its mark
The clear blue skies from the start of the morning are long gone but, while clouds gathered over the Fuji circuit, temperatures remain mild and rain doesn’t seem to be on either Friday’s programme or that of the rest of the weekend.
Toyota, which owns Fuji Speedway, didn’t fail to make its mark on the field by setting the quickest time in the first 90-minute free practice session. Japanese driver Kazuki Nakajima demonstrated his knowledge of the Fuji track by posting the fastest lap of the session with a 1:28.809, quicker than anything from Wednesday’s official test day. He would be the only driver to get below the 1m29 barrier. Next up was Benoît Tréluyer, another driver familiar with Japanese circuits, who put the No.1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro in second place, but more than four tenths of a second from the No.7 Toyota TS030 Hybrid, shadowed by his team mate Allan McNish at the wheel of the second R18.
As so often, it was Danny Watts who showed himself to be the most rapid among the LMP1 Privateers thanks to a time of 1:31.038 in his No.21 Strakka Racing HPD-Honda. He is more than six tenths ahead of Neel Jani’s No.12 Rebellion Racing Lola-Toyota and the second HPD ARX 03a-Honda in the field, the No.22 JRM car in David Brabham’s hands.
The battle in the ever-competitive LMP2 class was markedly tighter, but Japanese constructors definitely had a good session. In the final outcome it was Nelson Panciatici who climbed his way to the top of the time sheets with a lap of 1:33.525 at the wheel of the No.26 Signatech-Nissan Oreca-Nissan. In fact, Nissan-engined cars filled the first three places in the class after John Martin in the No.25 ADR-Delta Oreca-Nissan took second, less than two tenths from the leader, and Olivier Pla ended up third with the No.24 OAK Racing Morgan-Nissan.
In LMGTE Pro, it was Porsche who had the upper hand with the No.77 Team Felbermayr-Proton 911. Marc Lieb, a Porsche factory driver, set the fastest lap at 1:41.378, relegating the returning Gianmaria Bruni – who missed the Bahrain round in order to boost his championship hopes in another series – to second. The No.51 Ferrari of AF Corse, the Italian team having already claimed championship honours in the Middle East, was more than three tenths further behind the Porsche with Andrea Bertolini completing the top three in class in the second, No.71 Ferrari of Amato Ferrari’s team.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, former Peugeot sport driver Pedro Lamy recorded the quickest time in the LMGTE Am category in the No.50 Corvette of Larbre Competition. With his lap of 1:42.175 the Portuguese emerged as the best ahead of Michele Rugolo’s No.57 Krohn Racing Ferrari but by only 0.058 seconds! The No.88 Team Felbermayr-Proton Porsche, currently second in the championship, was third thanks to Paolo Ruberti.
The competitors will be back on track at 1530 hours for a second 90-minute free practice session.
Fiona Miller
Photo: OYAMA-CHO (SHIZUOKA PREFECTURE, JAPAN), FUJI INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY, 6 HOURS OF FUJI, FRIDAY, 12TH OCTOBER 2012, FIRST FREE PRACTICE. The No.7 Toyota TS030 Hybrid led the way in the first free practice session for the 6 Hours of Fuji.
