Toyota tops final 6H Fuji practice

After the No. 7 Toyota set the fastest Free Practice 2 time on Friday, Sebastien Buemi set the quickest time in the final Free Practice session of the WEC weekend at Fuji Speedway, setting a 1m35.414s in the mist and rain to put Toyota Gazoo Racing on top again. The Frenchman's time in the No. 8 Toyota TS050 HYBRID was the fastest time so far this weekend.

Behind, the No. 2 Porsche LMP Team 919 of Earl Bamber slotted in second, with a 1m26.264s, ahead of the sister car which slotted in third, a further five tenths adrift.

In LMP2, Jackie Chan DC Racing book-ended its weekend of class-topping times, with a 1m43.745s by FP1 pace-setter Alex Brundle in the team's No. 37 ORECA. His time was just 0.002 quicker than Nelson Piquet in the No. 13 Vaillante Rebellion ORECA, who ended in second. Bruno Senna put Rebellion's No. 31 07 Gibson third in the class.

The second Jackie Chan DC ORECA ended up fourth, with the No. 36 Alpine A470 and the No. 25 Manor ORECA – which was fully repaired after its off in Free Practice 2 – completing the top six.

Once again in GTE Pro, Fords and Porsches made up the top three, Richard Lietz the quickest of the bunch with a 1m47.724s in the No. 91 911 RSR.

The No. 92 made it a Porsche 1-2, its best time half a second off after a 1m48.358s by Michael Christensen, with the first of the Chip Ganassi GTs – the No. 67 – third.

Best of the rest were the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 and the No. 95 Aston Martin Vantage – which has struggled for outright pace thus far – in fourth and fifth.

In the GTE Am ranks, after Clearwater and Spirit of Race traded fastest times in FP1 and 2, it was all change in the third practice session.

The championship-challenging Dempsey Proton Porsche, which is running a pink livery to raise awareness for Patrick Dempsey's breast cancer campaign, set the pace. Fastest aboard the 911 was Matteo Cairoli, who set a 1m49.387s to throw down the gauntlet before qualifying. The Clearwater 488 was second, with the Spirit of Race Ferrari rounding out the top three in the Pro/Am class.

UP NEXT: Due to the poor weather, the start of today's qualifying session has been moved forward, from 2:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. local time in Japan.