Hirakawa puts Toyota on top in first Fuji WEC practice

Toyota Racing's No. 8 TR010 HYBRID got off to a fast start in this morning's Free Practice 1 session for the FIA WEC runners at the Fuji Speedway.

Ryo Hirakawa reeled off a 1:29.694 out of the gate on a set of Michelin soft tires to place the car atop the timing screens. He was the only driver to dip into the 1:29s, and finished the session, which was held in the dry, three tenths up on the other drivers in Hypercar.

The No. 12 Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac slotted in second, following a 1:30.037 set by Will Stevens. The Briton set the time in the opening minutes of the session on medium compound tires.

The No. 50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P, which won last time out at COTA, was third, half a second off and two tenths faster than the No. 38 JOTA Cadillac in fourth. The No. 36 Alpine A424 completed the top five.

It was an encouraging start to the weekend for Genesis Magma Racing. Its No. 19 GMR-001 completed 51 laps and ended up sixth, impressive considering it is the only team in the class with no setup data from previous years to build on.

The top 10 cars in Hypercar all set laps within a second of Hirakawa's best. There was a fair bit of experimentation across the field in tire usage, with the two Toyotas sampling a full set of softs, and the BMW M Hybrid V8s spending the session running with three mediums and a right-front soft.

In LMGT3, Garage 59's McLaren GT3 Evos came to the fore late in the session. The No. 34 Racing Team Turkey Corvette had the fastest time for over an hour following a 1:40.396 from Charlie Eastwood, before Benjamin Goethe and Tom Fleming made late improvements.

Goethe's best was a 1:40.214 to place the No. 58 at the top of the pile, minutes before Fleming posted a 1:40.259 with just a handful of minutes on the clock to go second in the #59.

The Team Turkey Z06 LMGT3.R ended up third, with the two Proton Competition Ford Mustangs pushed to fourth and fifth.

There were no significant incidents in the 90-minute session, aside from a handful of cars being brought in for stop-and-go penalties for track limit violations and a brief Full-Course Yellow for debris at Turn 2.

Free Practice 2 is set to get underway at 14:30 local time.

RESULTS