The no8 Toyota Gazoo Racing TS050-Hybrid, with Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley, was the fastest car in qualifying and will start at the head of the grid for tomorrow’s 6 Hours of Fuji, Round 2 of the 2019/20 FIA World Endurance Championship.
The average lap time was 1m25.013, 0.790 seconds ahead of their teammates Jose Maria Lopez and Kamui Kobayashi in the no7 Toyota in the red flag interrupted session.
LMP qualifying was interrupted when the no6 Team LNT Ginetta of Charlie Robertson spun and stopped on the track at Turn 15 after the car lost all the electrics, giving the Race Director no choice but to halt the session to remove the car. The session resumed with 3 minutes and 35 seconds of the session remaining.
The no1 Rebellion Racing R13 will head the second row, Gustavo Menezes and Norman Nato posting a time 1.150 seconds behind the lead Toyota and were 0.6 seconds ahead of the no5 Team LNT Ginetta of Egor Orudzhev and Ben Hanley.
LMGTE Pro
In the LMGTE qualifying session the no91 Porsche GT Team Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz secured the German manufacturers first class pole since Le Mans 2018 and the first for the brand new car. The Italian-Austrian teammates posted an average lap of 1m37.382, just 0.041 ahead of the no51 AF Corse Ferrari of James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi.
Aston Martin made it three different manufacturers in the top three when the no95 Vantage of Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen finished the session on a 1m37.466, just 0.110 behind the lead car.
LMP2
The no37 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca 07-Gibson secured the top spot in LMP2, Ho Pin Tung and Gabriel Aubry posting a 1m29.302 to head the class and also take the first WEC pole for tyre manufacturer Goodyear.
The no22 United Autosports Oreca of Phil Hanson and Filipe Albuquerque will start in second place on the LMP2 grid for the 6 Hours of Fuji after Albuquerque put in his best lap at the chequered flag to give an average of 1m29.787 and push the no38 JOTA Oreca down to third.
LMGTE Am
At the end of the qualifying session Porsche also secured the pole position in the LMGTE Am class when the no57 Team Project 1 911 RSR of Filipe Fraga and Ben Keating went quickest with an average lap of 1m38.733, 0.088 ahead of the no90 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage of Salih Yoluc and Jonny Adam.
The no83 AF Corse Ferrari of Nicklas Nielsen and Francois Perrodo was third quickest with a 1m38.850, 0.029s behind the no90 Vantage and just 0.067 ahead of the no98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage of Ross Gunn and Paul Dalla Lana.
However the times for the no57 Team Project 1 Porsche were deleted when it was found that the quick door release system was not in compliance with the homologation form (Stewards Decision no30). The fixing screw of the door was missing. The no57 Porsche will now start at the back of the grid and the no90 TF Sport will start at the head of the LMGTE Am field.