Fuoco Leads Ferrari 1-2 on Drying Track in Fuji FP1

Photo: WEC

Antonio Fuoco led a Ferrari AF Corse 1-2 in the opening Free Practice for the 6 Hours of Fuji FIA World Endurance Championship round.

Fuoco laid down a best lap of 1:35.649 in his No. 50 Ferrari 499P in the closing moments of the 90-minute session, which saw times tumble on a drying track.

He ended up 2.6 seconds clear of the sister No. 51 Ferrari driven by Antonio Giovinazzi, with the No. 94 Peugeot 9X8 of Gustavo Menezes making it three LMH cars in the top three, thanks to a 1:38.693 on the American’s final flying lap.

The pair of Penske Porsche 963s completed the top five, led by Laurens Vanthoor’s No. 6 car ahead of the No. 5 entry driven by Michael Christensen, as the quickest LMDh cars.

Toyota Gazoo Racing’s two LMH entries were sixth and seventh, followed by the No. 93 Peugeot in eighth, the No. 2 Chip Ganassi Racing-run Cadillac V-Series.R and the No. 99 Proton Competition Porsche, which completed the top-ten overall.

The session, which started in full wet conditions, gradually dried out, although there were intermittent showers from the remnants of Typhoon Yun-yeung, which was downgraded to a tropical storm late Thursday.

LMP2 was led by the No. 28 JOTA Oreca 07 Gibson of Oliver Rasmussen, who outpaced both the sister Hertz Team JOTA Porsche and the Vanwall Hypercar class entries to end up 11th quickest overall.

Rasmussen was more than one second clear of the No. 9 Prema and No. 23 United Autosports Orecas that slotted in second and third in class.

The No. 77 Dempsey Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Mikkel Pedersen, meanwhile, was quickest in GTE-Am, ahead of the No. 54 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo and No. 56 Project 1 – AO Porsche, which is sporting the ‘Rexy’ dinosaur livery this weekend.

Despite the challenging conditions early, there were no major incidents reported during the session, with a Full Course Yellow deployed for procedural reasons late.

Free Practice 2 is scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. local time start.

RESULTS: Free Practice 1

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John