BMW Surprise, TF Sport on top in LMGT3 at Fuji

BMW M Team WRT take surprise but welcome fastest time in the second free practice session at Fuji Speedway. 1m29.577s lap from Dries Vanthoor narrowly shades the No.5 Porsche Penske 963 Hypercar by a tiny 0.009s margin.

Setting the time in the Porsche is Matt Campbell who continues strong 2024 form.

Making it three different Hypercar manufacturers in the top three is the No.2 Cadillac Racing entry, as Alex Lynn laps in 1m29.592s, meaning that the top three are covered by an astounding 0.015s. COTA victors AF Corse Ferrari place fourth as Robert Kubica laps in 1m29.904s as the yellow 499P Hypercar is quickest Prancing Horse on the circuit.

Quickest Toyota is the No.8 GR010 Hybrid Hypercar with Ryo Hirakawa shrugging off illness to place fifth ahead of the second of the BMW’s driven by Robin Frijns. The best of the factory Ferrari AF Corse entries is seventh as COTA pole sitter Antonio Giovinazzi sets the best time. Hertz Team Jota take eighth with their No.38 Porsche 963 Hypercar. No.7 Toyota is ninth with Kamui Kobayashi setting the time on his 38th birthday.

Kobayashi’s best is just quicker than the No.6 Porsche Penske 963 Hypercar of Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor (set the time) and Andre Lotterer. Trouble strikes for the No.93 Peugeot 9X8 Hypercar as they are penalised 5 minutes for a yellow flag infringement. Issues also strike for the No.50 Ferrari AF Corse entry as it spends late stages of the session in its pit box being worked upon.

Alessio Rovera in the No.55 Vista AF Corse sets the pace in the LMGT3 category with a best lap of 1m40.682s. TF Sport had earlier headed the times in the 90-minute FP2 session as Hiroshi Koizumi set the early pace in the No.82 Corvette on a 1m40.851s best, which was ultimately good enough for second.

The local ace used all his knowledge of his home circuit to head the No.54 VISTA AF Corse Ferrari, which got to within 0.073s of the Japanese driver’s best effort with Thomas Flohr behind the wheel. But Franck Perera put in late time to grab third place in the No.60 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan. The gap between second to fourth being just 0.027s. Completing the top six were the No.87 Akkodis ASP Lexus (Lopez) and the No.95 United Autosports McLaren (Caygill).

Championship chasing Manthey EMA Porsche is forced to sit out 5-minutes of session after being penalised for crossing pit entry line.

Results are HERE