6 hours of Fuji: Toyota blows away the competition, Peugeot left in the dust
The qualifications for the 6 Hours of Fuji have awarded the two Toyotas, on Saturday morning. Kamui Kobayashi, in the N°7, finished ahead of Brendon Hartley in the N°8. In LMP2, United Autosport placed the N°22 on pole position, while Corvette made a surprise appearance in GTE-Am.
The match didn’t really have an uncertain side: the pace of the Toyota GR010 (No. 7 and 8) was greatly superior to the other Hypercars on the Fuji track.
Free practice session 3 had taken place in very changing conditions, which notably allowed Peugeot to reach second place. But in qualifying, the Japanese team left everyone in agreement.
The man from the pole position, Kamui Kobayashi (No. 7), set his lap time halfway through the session (1:27.794) and simply was never caught. He was six tenths faster than Brendon Hartley (No. 8, with a time of 1:28.418), who secured the front row in the final minutes of the session.
However, the excellent surprise comes from the official Porsches. Kevin Estre, in car number 6, managed to secure 3rd place, less than a second behind the pole position (which is, in itself, a superb performance considering the weight adjustments). The Frenchman, a true Porsche GT product, demonstrated his adaptation to prototypes by clocking a 1:28.687. The other Porsche Penske, car number 5 driven by Frédéric Makowiecki, secured the 2nd row.
The big flops: Ferrari and Peugeot
However, the fight for the title could come to an end there for Ferrari, unless their race pace improves significantly. Neither Antonio Fuoco nor Niklas Nielsen were able to join the battle for pole position. About 1.2 seconds behind Kobayashi’s pole time, the #51 and #50 (6th and 7th) were far off the pace, even being surpassed by the #2 Cadillac, which will start 5th. The race is expected to be dry, but the conditions could quickly change.
Peugeot, coming off a podium finish at Monza with car No. 93, completely struggled during the qualifying session at Fuji. The 9X8s of Loïc Duval (No. 94) and Mikkel Jensen (No. 93) were two and four seconds off the pole position respectively, despite the changing track conditions that could have worked in their favor. They only managed to outpace the Vanwall No. 4 and can anticipate a challenging race ahead.
The top 3 qualifications
| Numéro | Voiture | Driver | Times | |
| 1 | 7 | Toyota GR010 | Kamui Kobayashi | 1:27.794 |
| 2 | 8 | Toyota GR010 | Brendon Hartley | 1:28.418 |
| 3 | 6 | Porsche 963 | Kevin Estre | 1:28.867 |
United at the party, Alpine lagging behind, Corvette back
The suspense remained intact in the LMP2 class and the United Autosports team had a great time at Fuji. The #22 and #23 took pole position and 3rd place, only being separated by the WRT #41, leading the LMP2 championship.
WRT’s rivals for the title, Inter Europol, will have to roll up their sleeves this Sunday (believe me, the rhyme is not forced). Albert Costa, with the No.34, secured the 5th fastest time.
On the French side, things are not looking good: the Alpine No. 36 and No. 35 were not at all competitive. Matthieu Vaxivière (No. 36) only managed to achieve the 9th fastest time, while the Caldwell/Rojas/Negrao crew will start 11th and last.
Finally, in GTE-Am, Corvette made us forget about their difficult Friday by simply taking the pole position. The first row will also be occupied by the Iron Dames (Porsche No. 85). The girls missed out by…35 milliseconds. That promises an exciting race!
The Ferrari AF Corse, on the other hand, fell into line, with the N°83 as their best representative (6th).
