Jaminet Tops Free Practice 1 in Suzuka

Photo: Porsche

Mathieu Jaminet led the way in the first official Free Practice for Sunday’s Suzuka 10 Hours, topping the time charts for Craft Bamboo Racing and Porsche.

The Frenchman laid down a 2:03.444 lap time early in the two-hour session in his 2017-spec Porsche 911 GT3 R, edging out the Raffaele Marciello-driven GruppeM Mercedes-AMG GT3 by 0.301 seconds.

Audi Team Hitosuyama, one of several local Japanese teams taking part in this weekend’s Intercontinental GT Challenge round, was third on the time charts, ahead of the No. 27 HubAuto Ferrari 488 GT3 in fourth.

Audi Sport Team WRT made it two Audi R8 LMS cars in the top-five, while SunEnergy1 Racing led the way in Pro-Am with the sixth quickest time.

The session was halted twice, first for an accident for the No. 7 D’station Porsche of Tomonobu Fujii in Turn 4, followed by another brief stoppage for track cleanup.

Free Practice 2 gets underway at 6:30 p.m. local time and runs until 8 p.m.

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