Fuji Saturday Notebook

***Kamui Kobayashi was a “bit shocked” when he saw his 1:27.794 lap time that took the No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid to pole for Sunday’s 6 Hours of Fuji. “I was not expecting such a lap time,” Kobayashi said after taking his third pole of the season.

***The Japanese driver, who doubles as Toyota Gazoo Racing’s FIA World Endurance Championship team principal, predicts a less straightforward race. “I think we could have a surprise tomorrow,” Kobayashi said. “We need to have some luck with the car fit into the temperature and we’ll see which tire we need to fit it. With high temperature, this will be key. Hopefully we figure it out during the race.”

***Toyota technical director Pascal Vasselon put the 0.624-second difference between Kobayashi and Brendon Hartley down to a “special ‘Kamui effect’ here in Fuji.” He added that Brendon Hartley wasn’t totally happy with the balance of the No. 8 machine.

***Mike Conway will start the No. 7 Toyota on Sunday and Sebastien Buemi will take the opening stint in the No. 8.

***Phil Hanson scored his first career FIA World Endurance Championship pole as a solo driver. Hanson, who converted his first European Le Mans Series pole into a win two weeks ago at Motorland Aragon, last won a WEC pole in Bahrain 2020 when it was run under a two-driver average format.

***Porsche Penske Motorsport managing director Jonathan Diuguid was upbeat after the factory team qualified third and fourth, beating fellow LMDh manufacturer Cadillac and both Ferrari 499Ps. “Early on in the week we were dealing with mixed conditions and we have been strong in all those conditions, and it was good to show that in qualifying today,” he told Sportscar365.

***Diuguid added that Porsche Penske has been “quite surprised” at how early the crossover is between the wet tire and the medium slick, which is the softest slick option available at Fuji.

***He said: “We’ve been changing to slicks when it’s still damp or wet on track. The good thing is we’ve had a few opportunities to see where that crossover in lap time is, so hopefully we’ll get it right within a lap or two during the race if we have to deal with that.”

***The No. 5 Porsche had its hybrid system components changed after Friday’s second Free Practice session before Frederic Makowiecki put it third on the grid.

***Floyd Vanwall Racing Team was the only Hypercar outfit not to use medium tires on all four corners of its car. According to Michelin, Tristan Vautier ran with hards on the rear of the Vanwall Vandervell 680 Gibson. He qualified 12th on a time of 1:32.199.

***A few cars including the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R, the No. 50 Ferrari 499P and the No. 7 Toyota are understood to have sampled the hard specification during Free Practice, both on their own and in combination with mediums.

***Spectators took to Fuji Speedway in buses for the circuit safari (pictured above) which took place in damp conditions before the start of FP3. Teams were only required to send out one car each, but those that were able elected to run multiple, except for Alpine.

***Vector Sport driver Ryan Cullen said: “The circuit safari is an amazing experience and sort of sums up racing here in Japan. It’s kind of crazy but really fun at the same time.”

***Kamui Kobayashi opened his own coffee pop-up in the Fuji paddock on Saturday. The trailer in which the shop is located gets its electricity from a hydrogen-powered FCEV Tundra pickup truck.

***The stewards reprimanded Peugeot driver Loic Duval for weaving on the main straight in close proximity to both Ferrari 499Ps at the start of qualifying. An official report stated: “The Stewards consider that this behavior, not intentional and not impeding, is nevertheless not acceptable and that in this particular case, the penalty of reprimand is sufficient.”

***Inter Europol Competition LMP2 driver Fabio Scherer was given a drive-through penalty, suspended until the end of the season, for causing a collision with the AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of Francesco Castellacci at Turn 1 during FP3.

***Both drivers were summoned to race control after the session for a hearing. A stewards’ report stated that Scherer “accepted that it was his mistake and he explained that it was his first lap after coming out from the pits and his tires were still cold. Due to this fact he misjudged his braking point.”

***The LMP2 title-contending Inter Europol Oreca 07 Gibson was also involved in an incident with the Vanwall Vandervell 680 Gibson of Tristan Vautier, who was given a suspended drive-through for spinning the Polish team’s car around at Turn 6.

***Nicklas Nielsen was unable to do a qualifying simulation run during FP3 because his No. 50 Ferrari 499P lost time due to a “small mechanical failure on the wheel hub bearing,” according to the manufacturer’s performance, simulations and technical regulations manager Mauro Barbieri.

***Nielsen’s Ferrari teammate James Calado also didn’t complete a qualifying simulation in practice. They went on to qualify sixth and seventh.”Qualifying is mainly related to small details, putting together the lap and preparing it properly,” said Barbieri. “Not all the time all these details get together in the right direction. It’s something we can learn from and improve as one team.”

***Ferrari completed an intense simulator test over a two-week to prepare for Fuji, which is a new circuit for the 499P. It also visited Barcelona between the previous round at Monza and this weekend. Ferrari is then set to test at Bahrain International Circuit before the 30-day cut-off to run at a circuit before it hosts a WEC round.

***Roger Penske is on-site at Fuji, opting to miss the NTT IndyCar Series season finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

***Yorikatsu Tsujiko, who drove for Kessel Racing at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, is racing in the Formula Regional Japan Championship which is the WEC’s only support series this weekend.

***Hiroshi Koizumi is making his WEC debut in the No. 21 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo. The Japanese Bronze-rated driver currently races with AF Corse in the Michelin Le Mans Cup GT3 class and raced a McLaren 720S GT3 in Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS last year.

***AF Corse has enlisted around ten Japanese crew members to assist in the running of its GTE program at Fuji.

***Former Benetton Formula 1 team principal Peter Collins has been working with Floyd Vanwall Racing Team since the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. Collins works as a brand ambassador for Colin Kolles’ revival project of the former F1 constructor, which ironically hired another Peter Collins to drive its Grand Prix cars in 1954.

***The 6 Hours of Fuji gets underway on Sunday at 11 a.m. local time (Saturday, 10 p.m. EDT).

John Dagys contributed to this report