Antonio Fuoco set the fastest lap time in a rain-struck opening free practice session in the #50 Ferrari 499P at Fuji, with a 1:53.649 over the 36-car World Endurance Championship field.
The first free practice session at Fuji Speedway began in wet conditions, and later in the 1-hour and 30-minute session, the track dried up as the surface became quicker to drive on.
Despite Typhoon Yun-yeung posing a potential threat to the running of the session, proceedings started on time and the running took place without drama nor any notable incidents.
A full-course yellow was deployed at the 1-hour point, which was purely procedural as opposed to the result of any incident.
As the track surface dried late into the session, several Hypercars traded the top spot on the time sheets, as they made the switch from wet to slick tyres.
Behind Antonio Fuoco, who has claimed two pole positions for Ferrari AF Corse’s first Hypercar season, was their sibling #51 Ferrari 499P which was over 2.6 seconds behind with a 1:38.258 by Antonio Giovinazzi.
Peugeot’s #94 9X8 was third in Hypercar, after Gustavo Menezes drove a fastest lap time of 1:38.693.
In fourth and fifth spots are the two Porsche Penske Motorsport entries, the #6 Porsche 963 with Laurens Vanthoor behind the wheel putting a 1:38.729 over the #6 963 in which Michael Christensen had been fastest.
Sixth and seventh spots were taken by the two Toyota GAZOO Racing home-favourites, with Mike Conway in the #7 GR010 Hybrid, ahead of the #8 with Brendon Hartley four-hundredths of a second behind on a 1:39.291.
Paul di Resta put the #93 Peugeot eighth-fastest with a time of 1:39.309, in the car which claimed the manufacturer’s maiden WEC podium last time out at Monza.
Rounding off the top-10 in Hypercar is the #2 Cadillac Racing machine in the hands of Alex Lynn, and the #99 Proton Competition Porsche 963 who made their Hypercar debut at the 6 Hours of Monza.
JOTA were fastest in the LMP2 category, after Oliver Rasmussen put in a late lap of 1:40.781 to go faster than the team’s Hypercar entry, and nearly two seconds ahead of the second-placed #9 Prema Racing Oreca 07-Gibson, where Filip Ugran set their fastest time.
Ben Hanley, who is taking place for Tom Blomqvist this weekend, put the #23 United Autosports entry third in LMP2 with a 1:42.924.
Fourth and fifth in the class were claimed by the #10 Vector Sport of Gabriel Aubry, and the #34 Inter Europol Competition of Albert Costa.
The largest lead difference was in the GTE-Am category, as Mikkel Pedersen lead the way in the #77 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR-19, with a 1:43.538.
Almost four seconds behind this time, Davide Rigon landed second place in GTE-Am in his #54 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, running a fastest time of 1:47.198.
Third spot in the GTE-Am category was claimed by Alessio Rovera in the #83 Richard Mille AF Corse Ferrari, after setting a 1:47.250.
Behind him were D’station Racing in their #777 Aston Martin Vantage AMR, which set a 1:47.493 in the hands of Casper Stevenson, at the beginning of their home race weekend.
Rounding off the top-five in GTE-Am were Northwest AMR, who completed a fastest time of 1:47.752 with thanks to Daniel Mancinelli.
The second free practice session will take place today at 7.30 am UK time, with more rain forecast and thus casting doubt into its planned running.
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