Hirakawa Quickest in Red-Flagged Fuji FP3

Photo: James Moy/Toyota

Toyota Gazoo Racing topped the time charts for the first time of the weekend at Fuji Speedway, with Ryo Hirakawa going quickest in a red-flagged final Free Practice session prior to qualifying and Hyperpole for Sunday’s FIA World Endurance Championship round.

Hirakawa laid down a 1:29.621 lap time in the No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid early in the 60-minute session, edging out the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R of Alex Lynn by 0.086 seconds.

A flurry of Hypercar teams took to the track in the opening moments of the session for qualifying simulation runs, which saw the No. 50 AF Corse Ferrari 499P of Antonio Fuoco end up third quickest.

Charles Milesi and Kamui Kobayashi completed the top-five for Alpine Endurance Team and Toyota, respectively.

The Ferrari 499Ps of Antonio Giovinazzi and Robert Kubica were next quickest, followed by Oliver Rasumussen’s No. 38 Hertz Team JOTA entry in eighth, which was the quickest of the Porsche 963s.

Proton Competition’s Porsche and the No. 63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini SC63 completed the top-ten.

The factory Porsche Penske Motorsport cars, meanwhile, finished the session 14th and 16th.

LMGT3 was led by the No. 55 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 of Francois Heriau, thanks to a 1:41.206 lap time.

Heriau’s time was more than one-tenth ahead of Davide Rigon’s sister No. 56 Ferrari, which was set later in the session.

Arnold Robin, in the No. 78 Akkodis-ASP Lexus RC F GT3, completed the top-three in class.

The session was red-flagged with just over 20 minutes to go due to an issue with the Turn 1 curbing, with the session not resuming.

It was preceded by a Full Course Yellow, for debris in Turn 16, early in the running.

FP3 came after a 12-minute ‘Circuit Safari’ session that saw coach buses with paid spectators take to the track alongside WEC machinery, in what’s become an annual tradition at Fuji Speedway.

Robin Frijns posted the quickest time in that session, a 1:30.605 in the No. 20 Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8.

Qualifying gets underway at 2:20 p.m. local time (1:20 a.m. EDT).

RESULTS: Free Practice 3

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