Patrese Puts Harmony Ferrari On Top in Second Practice

Harmony Racing topped the timesheets in a rain-impacted second practice session for the Suzuka 1000km as Lorenzo Patrese made the best of rapidly improving conditions in the closing stages aboard the team’s No. 21 Ferrari 296 GT3.

Patrese, son of Formula 1 racer Riccardo, posted the best time of the one-hour session of 2:02.101 to go over half a second clear of the field.

Factory Ferrari driver Thomas Neubauer continued his impressive start to the weekend in second aboard the No. 555 Maezawa Racing 296 GT3, ahead of SUPER GT regular Yuya Motojima in the Team 5ZIGEN Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3.

All the best times were set in the closing minutes of a session that had started out in heavy rain conditions following a downpour that started towards the end of the previous session for the supporting SRO Japan Cup event.

At the halfway point of the session, the best times were still some 14 seconds off the pace seen in the morning’s first session, but as the rain abated a dry line quickly emerged in the warm, humid conditions, allowing teams to try slicks in the closing stages.

Laurens Vanthoor was first to make the move as he leapt to the top of the times on a 2:06.595, over five seconds clear of the the opposition at that point.

But the Porsche FIA World Endurance Championship star’s benchmark in the No. 7 Absolute Racing Porsche 911 GT3 R was quickly surpassed as more and more drivers equipped slicks and the conditions continued to improve.

Patrese went to the top of the order with a few minutes to spare on a 2:02.203 before finding an extra tenth on his final run to cement top spot for the Bronze Cup-entered No. 21 Ferrari he shares with Dustin Blattner and Dennis Marschall.

With Bronze entries once again locking out top two, and the Silver Cup-entered 5ZIGEN Nissan taking third, best of the Pro cars was the No. 77 Craft-Bamboo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo in which Ralf Aron was at the wheel late on.

Scott McLaughlin was fifth aboard the No. 2 JMR Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R, followed by another Bronze runner, the No. 10 Absolute Porsche of Richard Lietz, and the No. 888 GruppeM Mercedes-AMG of Maxime Martin.

Vanthoor found himself shuffled down to an eventual eighth ahead of Sven Mueller’s EBM Porsche and Porsche Motorsport Asia Pacific Selected Driver in another of the 911 GT3 Rs, the Pink Pig-liveried No. 23 Phantom Global car.

Quickest in the opening session, the Bingo Racing Callaway Corvette was only 31st this time as Bronze-rated Shinji Takei drove the car in the closing stages, while the K-tunes Racing Ferrari once again failed to set a lap time amid continued turbo problems.

The final session on Friday is a 90-minute night practice that is slated to begin at 5:45 p.m local time (4:45 a.m. EST).

RESULTS: Paid Practice 2