Mark Webber set the fastest time of the first day of the 6 Hours of Fuji weekend, Round 7 of the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship.  The Australian, who has just announced that he will retire from competitive racing at the end of the season, posted a 1m24.074 lap, nearly 1.6 seconds faster than Loic Duval’s official lap record of 1m25.621 but still short of Webber’s own fastest ever WEC lap at Fuji Speedway, a 1m22.639 recorded in qualifying last year.

The no1 Porsche 919 was 0.894 seconds faster than the no8 Audi R18, with Oliver Jarvis finishing the 90-minute session in 2nd place and 0.032 ahead of his teammate Andre Lotterer in the no7 Audi. 

The session was red flagged in the first few minutes when Lotterer went over the kerbs at turn 10 trying to avoid two back markers damaging the front of the no7 R18.  The red flag was shown to clear the debris left on the track while Lotterer returned to the pits for a new nose cone and then rejoined the session when it went green.

The no2 Porsche was 4th fastest with the no5 and no6 Toyotas 5th and 6th fastest.  The no6 Toyota lost power and Kamui Kobayashi was forced to stop off track at Turn 14 a few minutes before the chequered flag.

The no13 Rebellion was once again the faster of the two LMP1 Privateers, 0.8 seconds ahead of the no4 Bykolles CLM.

The LMP2 field was headed by the no43 RGR Sport Ligier with Filipe Albuquerque posting a 1m31.909 lap, 0.833s ahead of the no26 G-Drive Racing and the no44 Manor Orecas.

The Ford GT continued to be the car to beat in the LMGTE PRO class.  In the first session it was the no67 car that set the pace and in Free Practice 2 it was the no66 car of Stefan Mucke out in front with the German setting a 1m38.743, 0.5 seconds quicker than Andy Priaulx’s best time in FP1.  The two Ferraris were 2nd and 3rd quickest with the no51 488 of Gianmaria Bruni just two tenths behind the Ford and 0.077s ahead of Davide Rigon in the no71 Ferrari.

In LMGTE AM it was the n98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage at the head of the time sheets,  with Pedro Lamy setting a 1m40.112, 0.289s ahead of Ricky Taylor’s time in the no50 Larbre Competition Corvette, which was just 13 thousandths of a second ahead of the no88 Abu Dhabi Proton Racing Porsche.

Free Practice 3 will take place tomorrow morning at 10h00 (local) and will be followed by qualifying for the 6 Hours of Fuji at 14h00.

CLICK HERE for the results from Free Practice 2