Mark Webber sets fastest lap of the day with the Porsche

Mark Webber

On the first day of practice for the seventh out of nine rounds of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) Mark Webber set the fastest lap of the day with the Porsche 919 Hybrid. The Australian lapped the 4.549 kilometer long Fuji International Speedway during a qualifying simulation on Friday afternoon in 1:24.074 minutes. In constantly dry conditions and with ambient temperatures around 20 degrees Celsius, he and his teammates Brendon Hartley (NZ) and Timo Bernhard (DE) covered 95 laps in total today. In the first session the reigning world champions were sixth (1:26.097 minutes).

It came after an accident by the No. 7 Audi of Andre Lotterer, who spun while overtaking traffic and slammed into the wall to bring out a red flag early in the running.

The repaired Audi returned to action to end the session third, completing 32 laps.

The trio of Romain Dumas (FR), Neel Jani (CH) and Marc Lieb (DE) lost nearly an hour of track time for repairs during the first of two 90-minute practice sessions, and clocked up 64 laps. On the installation lap in the morning an oil leak occurred and the gearbox for the front axle's electro motor needed to be changed. The championship leaders came fourth in both sessions (1:25.962/1:25.078 minutes).

There was drama in the closing minutes for Toyota Gazoo Racing, with the No. 6 Toyota TS050 Hybrid of Kamui Kobayshi grinding to a halt on track with a hybrid system issue.

Team Principal Andreas Seidl said: "Thanks to the mechanics for the extremely quick gearbox change in the morning. We were still able to almost complete our planned program in the two free practice sessions. Aside from the baseline set-up, the focus was on long runs for tire evaluation and testing aerodynamic configurations. We have managed to constantly improve both 919 Hybrids. As expected, all six LMP1 cars are very close together, so we look forward to another exciting race weekend. Now we'll analyze our data and hope to make the next step tomorrow."

LMP1 qualifying will be held on Saturday from 14:30-14:50 hrs local time. The six-hour race starts on Sunday at 11:00 hrs (04:00 hrs in central Europe).

LMP2 was led by the No. 42 RGR Sport Ligier JS P2 Nissan of Filipe Albuquerque, who recorded a 1:31.909 lap time, which was more than one-second quicker than FP1 pace-setter Alex Brundle.

Brundle’s G-Drive Racing Oreca 05 Nissan ended up second on the time sheets, followed by the No. 44 Manor Oreca Nissan.

Ford Chip Ganassi Racing led the way in GTE-Pro again, with the No. 66 Ford GT of Stefan Muecke quickest with a 1:38.743 lap, while Pedro Lamy’s No. 95 Aston Martin Vantage GTE was quickest in GTE-Am.

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]Quotes after Free Practice:

Drivers Porsche 919 Hybrid number 1
Timo Bernhard (35, Germany): "For us everything went smoothly today. I didn't do much mileage, but nevertheless I always enjoy driving here on the Speedway because as it is a nice and technical circuit."

Brendon Hartley (26, New Zealand): "Mark did a great job in his qualifying simulation to top the time sheets. I did a full stint and more actually, so we put a lot of laps on one set of tires. Our performance looked competitive and I think it was a positive day for us."

Mark Webber (40, Australia): "Today there were beautiful dry conditions for all of us. The competition looks really tight with Toyota and Audi. In the afternoon I did a qualifying simulation and it went okay for me. It was a pretty competitive lap time, but on the long runs it also looks really tight. We expect more homework for tomorrow and a brilliant fight for qualifying."

Drivers Porsche 919 Hybrid number 2
Romain Dumas (38, France): "I had my first run in the afternoon and the car was good right from the beginning. My first lap was already a one minute 26 seconds. Afterwards we kept the used tires for a long run. It doesn't look too bad for day one."

Neel Jani (32, Switzerland): "Of course we are lacking the track time we missed in the morning. We could not entirely complete our program as planned, but we will try to catch up. I think tomorrow we will be sorted."

Marc Lieb (36, Ludwigsburg): "It wasn't too easy today, because of the lost time in the first session. In the second session we tried something and it is leading in the right direction. Our car is strong in the last sector, and the cornering speeds are alright. On the very long straight we are not quite as fast as we would like to be, and we want to improve the car's balance. A variety of radiuses require some sensible work."

PRODUCTIVE HOME START FOR TOYOTA GAZOO RACING

No 5 Toyota in pits

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing began its home event with a busy and constructive day of practice for the 6 Hours of Fuji, the seventh round of the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).

On a day when the priority was race preparation rather than one-lap pace, the #6 TS050 HYBRID of Stephane Sarrazin, Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi set the fifth fastest time from today's two 90-minute practice sessions.

Anthony Davidson, Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima in the #5 were sixth quickest, but more importantly both cars made encouraging progress as TOYOTA challenges for a fifth podium, and first win, of the season.

Fuji Speedway combines a unique 1,475m straight with an increasingly twisty back section, requiring a delicate balance between top speed and cornering grip.

Before arriving in Japan, the team already prepared various set-up options based on past data and simulations but today's practice sessions were the first time to put that theory into practice.

The morning session began in fine weather with air temperatures of 16°C; significantly lower than experienced at the previous race in Austin. Those different conditions change the behavior of the Michelin tires, so a comprehensive evaluation of performance and degradation formed a large part of today's activities.

In addition, both cars worked hard to optimize aerodynamic and mechanical set-ups, as well as the settings of the hybrid powertrain, which is designed and built just a few kilometers away at Higashi-Fuji Technical Centre.

For the team's Europe-based drivers, today saw their first laps at Fuji Speedway since last year's race, while Kazuki and Kamui raced here in July in Super Formula. On that occasion, Kazuki set fastest lap on his way to second place with Kamui finishing 10th.

When the checkered flag flew in practice two, the two TS050 HYBRIDs had completed a combined total of 157 laps, 716 kilometers, gathering important data which will be used overnight to fine-tune the car prior to Saturday's final practice session.

With the support of TOYOTA colleagues and enthusiastic Japanese fans, the team, winner of this race in three of the last four seasons, is aiming for a strong performance in Sunday's race, which begins at 11am local time.

TS050 HYBRID #5 (Anthony Davidson, Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima)

Free practice 1: 4th (1min 25.885secs), 39 laps

Free practice 2: 5th (1min 25.657secs), 43 laps

Anthony Davidson: "It's great to be back here in Fuji as it is a track I really enjoy. We focused on mechanical set-up and made big improvements; we ended up in good shape with a nice balance. There are still improvements to make but in terms of race condition we are almost there so generally I am fairly pleased."

Sebastien Buemi: "It was quite a good day of practice. We did a lot of laps with no issues on the car so I am happy. Now it's time to work through all the data to find improvements and be ready for the race. We will see what we can do in qualifying but the main objective is to optimize the car as much as possible for the race."

Kazuki Nakajima: "It's nice to be back here at Fuji which is one of my favorite circuits. We worked a lot on the set-up today and made good progress. Mainly we focused on long runs and I was quite happy with how the car felt. Qualifying probably won't be our strong point but I feel we can have a good race pace."

TS050 HYBRID #6 (Stephane Sarrazin, Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi)

Free practice 1: 2nd (1min 25.556secs), 35 laps

Free practice 2: 6th (1min 25.702secs), 40 laps

Stephane Sarrazin: "It was not so easy at the beginning of first practice due to some understeer but we made a good step with the set-up. As usual we don't put any focus on qualifying; the race is the priority. We had a positive day so I am content with everything so far. Now we will work on getting even more from the car."

Mike Conway: "We looked pretty competitive right from the start which was nice and the car feels good. We have to go into the data and find areas to improve. In terms of car balance it feels quite good; now we just try to find more lap time. Fuji has been kind to us in the past so we are pushing for another good result."

Kamui Kobayashi: "I am happy to be back at Fuji and racing in front of TOYOTA's home fans. We did a lot of laps today and made some good progress with the car. There is still work to do to be in the best shape for the race but we will be pushing hard to be ready for Sunday."

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