Buemi Beats Kobayashi as Times Improve Further in FP2

Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Sebastien Buemi was the first driver of the event to break the 90-second barrier as conditions improved further in Free Practice 2 for the 6 Hours of Fuji.

The Swiss ace steered the No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid to a time of 1:29.523 early in the 90-minute session, moving 0.597 seconds above Kamui Kobayashi in the sister No. 7 car.

Kobayashi remained second through to the checkered flag and posted two times in the 1:30s during his first of two turns behind the wheel before handing over to co-drivers Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez.

Hertz Team JOTA ranked third in the Hypercar order courtesy of a 1:30.584 effort from Antonio Felix da Costa, with Alessandro Pier Guidi fourth in the No. 51 Ferrari 499P.

After FP1 was held on a drying track, FP2 was dry throughout and Buemi’s benchmark was six seconds quicker than Antonio Fuoco’s leading figure in the opening session.

Most cars completed at least 40 laps on Friday afternoon, with the front-running No.8 Toyota and the No. 51 Ferrari completing the most ground with 51 laps each.

The best of the factory Penske-run Porsche 963s ended up fifth in the hands of Michael Christensen, who finished ahead of Nicklas Nielsen in the No. 50 Ferrari and the No. 93 Peugeot 9X8 driven by Jean-Eric Vergne.

In LMP2, Louis Deletraz produced a late improvement to shift the No. 41 Team WRT Oreca 07 Gibson ahead of JOTA at the top of the category leaderboard.

Deletraz submitted a 1:33.131 to move around half a second clear of Pietro Fittipaldi, while Oliver Jarvis was third for United Autosports.

Ferrari 488 GTE Evos led the way in GTE-Am as AF Corse came away with a 1-2-3 to end the day’s running.

Davide Rigon produced a 1:38.329 to set the pace, beating Kei Cozzolino and Alessio Rovera respectively.

The best non-Ferrari was the No. 77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Julien Andlauer who came through six-tenths shy of the class pace.

FP2 was largely trouble-free but included a short Full Course Yellow period due to debris at pit exit.

The 60-minute Free Practice 3 session is scheduled for 10:20 a.m. local time on Saturday (Friday, 9:20 p.m. EDT).

RESULTS: Free Practice 2