FIA WEC, 6 Hours of Fuji - Qualifying Report
Nakajima Takes Pole For Toyota

Greetings from a very sunny Fuji Speedway, where the 20 minute qualifying session for LMGTE-Pro and LMGTE-Am is due to begin in 20 minutes at 13:30 local time.

The fastest Pro time in practice was set this morning by Marc Lieb in the #77 Felbermayr Porsche - 1:40.684 - while the fastest Am time belongs to Julien Canal, who set a 1:41.604 in the #50 Larbre Corvette, also this morning.

The air temperature is currently 22°C and the track temperature 20° C.  Wind is negligible and humidity is 43%.

All nine GT cars are expected to take part in the session.

The timing screens confirm that the qualifying session is due to start on time.

Pitlane is open and the clock is ticking. No-one seems in too much of a hurry to go out though.

Remaining: 18m
 
LMGTE-Am The #70 Corvette is first out and so far has the track to itself.

Remaining: 16m
 
LMGTE-Am Jean Philippe Belloc appears to be in the #70 and his first flier is a 1:42.765.

Remaining: 14m
 
LMGTE-Am Belloc improves to a 1:41.716 on his next lap and still has the track to himself.

Remaining: 12m
 
LMGTE-Am Joel Camathias joins in in the #55 JWA Porsche. Meanwhile, Belloc improves to 1:41.386.

Remaining: 11m
 
LMGTE-Am The first Pro car is on track - Andrea Bertolini in the #71 AF Corse Ferrari.

Remaining: 10m
 
LMGTE-Am Camathias sets a 1:43.666 on his first flier.

Remaining: 9m
 
LMGTE-Pro Bertolini sets the first Pro flying lap - 1:41.991. Meanwhile the #77 Porsche is on track and about to complete its first flier.

Remaining: 7m
 
LMGTE-Pro Marc Lieb goes top in the #77 Porsche - 1:41.151. Bertolini is second in pro, but only fifth overall.

Remaining: 6m
 
LMGTE-Pro Mücke goes second in the Vantage V8, but Lieb improves to 1:40.289. Bertolini goes third with 1:41.202.

Remaining: 5m
 
LMGTE-Am Belloc still leads Am and has pitted. Michele Rugolo is second in the #57 Krohn Ferrari with 1:41.701.

Remaining: 3m
 
LMGTE-Pro Gimmi Bruni goes second in the #51 Ferrari on 1:40.586. Mücke is third on 1:40.788.

Remaining: 1m
 
LMGTE-Am Paolo Ruberti is a hundredth of a second behind Rugolo in the #88 Felbermayr Porsche.

Remaining: 1m
 
LMGTE-Pro Mücke's fastest lap is under investigation for cutting the apex at T10.

The chequered flag is out and no improvements are noted.

LMGTE-Pro The final order is 77, 51, 97 and 71 in GTE-Pro. 0.913s separates Lieb on pole from Bertolini in fourth.

LMGTE-Am The GTE-Am order is 70, 57, 88, 50 and 55. The spread here is just over 1.5s.

Next up is LMP1 & LMP2 qualifying, which is again due to start on time at 14:00.

This time cars are ready to go at the end of the pitlane ahead of the green flag.

Remaining: 20m
 
LMP1 The two Audis are straight out - TK in #2 and Benoit Tréluyer in #1.

Also out are Fabien Giroix in the #29 Gulf Lola and Kazuki Nakajima in the #7 Toyota TS030.

Remaining: 17m
 
LMP1 Tréluyer sets the first flier - 1:27.813. TK manages a 1:28.466 on his first lap.

Remaining: 16m
 
LMP1 Nakajima hits traffic and can only manage a 1:28.477 - third quickest. Tréluyer improves to 1:27.839.

Remaining: 15m
 
LMP2 Olivier Pla goes quickest in P2 - 1:33.219 in the #24 OAK Morgan.

Remaining: 13m
 
LMP1 Nakajima goes onto provisional pole with a 1:27.489 on his third lap, 0.140 ahead of Tréluyer.

Remaining: 12m

Only six cars have taken part so far as the #1 Audi pits.

Remaining: 10m
 
LMP1 The #13 rebellion Lola becomes the first privateer P1 to join in. Andrea Belicchi is at the wheel.

Remaining: 9m
 
LMP1 Baguette, Watts and Brabham all follow Belicchi out of the pitlane as the Toyota pits.

Remaining: 8m
 
LMP1 Belicchi is straight back in as Neel Jani takes out the #12 Rebellion Lola.

Remaining: 7m
 
LMP2 Stephane Sarrazin goes top of P2 in the #44 Starworks HPD with a 1:32.55 on his first flier - half a second ahead of Pla.

Remaining: 5m
 
LMP1 Jani goes fourth with a 1:30.051, but Danny Watts is very close in the #21 Strakka HPD.

Remaining: 4m
 
LMP1 Watts then goes quicker to take privateer ‘pole'. David Brabham is fifth in the #22 JRM HPD.

Remaining: 3m
 
LMP2 P2 is hotting up with John Martin going second in the #25 ADR Oreca on 1:32.548. Vitantonio Liuzzi is third in the #32 Lotus.

Remaining: 2m
 
LMP2 Sarrazin improves his time to 1:32.367 as Martin pits.

LMP1 Jani goes fourth quickest - 1:29.871 - just as the flag comes out. Toyota engines on pole overall and among the privateers.

LMP2 The top three in P2 remain unchanged. Nelson Panciatici is fourth in the #26 Signatech Nissan.

LMP1 The final order is 7, 1, 2, 12, 21, 22, 13 and 15.

LMP2 The P2 order is 44, 25, 32, 26, 49, 24, 23, 31, 29 and 41.

Quotes:

Kazuki Nakajima (believed to be the first Japanese pole-sitter in a World Championship event for 25 years): “I am really happy to get this pole position at Fuji Speedway; it means a lot to me and the team. It was cool to see the reaction of everyone in the garage at the end of the session because we had big support and also big expectations as this is our home country, our home track. We saw this morning that the car was quick enough to fight for pole position and, even though I had a bit of traffic at the start of qualifying, I managed to get a clean lap. It is a good achievement but it is still Saturday; the race means a lot more than qualifying. It will be a tricky race, particularly because it is difficult to cope with traffic in the last sector. So we will have to be careful and make no mistakes. Our aim is to win the race; we will push hard.”

Neel Jani: “Being fastest privateer means a lot to us and to the Toyota guys working in the team. Racing against Honda means it’s a big Japanese game. To  be honest, I wasn’t expecting to be in front so I’m happy to take pole.”

Stephane Sarrazin: “We’ve had a very good car since we got here; it’s improved through practice and meant we could push in qualifying. I’m happy to get pole and the important championship point that comes with it. We are fighting for the championship and need to push hard all the way round in the race and not make any mistakes.”

Marc Lieb: “I think we have a good chance tomorrow. This is probably our best weekend of the year so far – the car is working well and we’re getting good traction out of the corners. The race will probably be a different story, but we are confident that the weekend will be okay for us.”

Jean-Philippe Belloc: “This is a good result for us; we have had two podium finishes so far this year and we’ll be doing our best to make that three tomorrow. We did well in practice and qualifying, but we know that we are starting from zero again in the race. It will be tough, but we are confident that we can get a podium; and perhaps with a bit of luck it will be better.”

MH