Toyota will start Sunday’s race 1-2 with Alpine third.
FUJI, Japan—Kamui Kobayashi gave his Japanese home fans a lot to cheer about Saturday as the Toyota Gazoo driver clocked a 1:29:234 fastest lap for Sunday’s Six Hours of Fuji. The performances give Kobayashi and teammates Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez an opportunity to catch the French Alpine team that has led the World Endurance Championship (WEC) since the start of the season.
Kobayashi put his Toyota Hybrid just 0.020 seconds ahead of Toyota’s sister car, driven by Brendon Hartley, Sebastian Buemi, and Rio Hirakawa, with both cars starting on the front row. Alpine will start from third, with Matthieu Vauxiviere, Andre Negrao, and Nicholas Lapierre at the controls.
The LMP 2 category was headed by the leading JOTA car, with Antonio Felix da Costa setting a time of 1:31:649. Along with partners Roberto Gonzalez and Will Stevens, the team achieved their first pole of the season in the category, despite the trio leading the WEC championship in LMP 2. Their primary challenger, WRT with Robin Frijins, fell back to fourth after being competitive throughout qualifying. That finish moved the AF Corse driven by Nicklas Nielsen and the other WRT entry, piloted by Ferdinand Habsburg, into second and third, respectively, for Sunday’s start.
LMGTE Pro category, in its final season, is going to a fantastic climax. On this day, the Porsche driven by Michael Christensen grabbed its second pole since the opening race in Sebring, Florida, clocking a 1:36:371 fastest lap. It brings the team to within one point of Ferrari and series leader and defending champion James Calado, who took second. Ferrari and Porsche will battle each other before moving to the hypercar category next season.
For the LMGTE AM category, Ben Keating took his third pole of the season, with his TF Sport Aston Martin making it by the slimmest of margins, 0.082, ahead of the impressive Sarah Bovy and the Iron Dames Ferrari. The pole gives Keating a five-point lead in the standings, ahead of fellow Aston Martin drivers Paul Dalla Lana, David Pittard, and Nicki Thiim.
