Second free practice for WEC at Fuji

The 488 GTE no. 51 of AF Corse concluded proceedings on Friday with the second-fastest time in the second free practice session for the 6 Hours of Fuji, the second round of the FIA WEC.

LMGTE Pro. Work on the race setups continued in session two although the car's overall balance is still among the factors to be fine-tuned ahead of Saturday's third unofficial session. Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado improved on the morning's times, to take second place with 1:38.252. They completed 49 laps, nine more than their teammates Davide Rigon and Miguel Molina. The crew of the 488 GTE no. 71 clocked 1:38.909 on their thirteenth lap.

LMGTE Am. In the shadow of the majestic Mount Fuji, the LMGTE Am class cars also bettered the morning session, in particular, the Ferrari of AF Corse with Giancarlo Fisichella, Thomas Flohr and Francesco Castellacci, the best of the 488 GTEs in this category. The trio in no. 54 stopped the clock at 1:38.953 on the tenth of their 48 laps, securing fourth place. Then six-tenths of a second behind the Aston Martin at the top of the standings, Collard, Perrodo, and Nielsen in AF Corse no. 83 finished eighth, closely followed by the Ferrari of MR Racing with Ishikawa, Cozzolino, and Beretta, in ninth. Red River Sport’s car no. 62 closed the ranking with Grimes, Mowlem, and Hollings at the wheel.

Third practice and qualifying. Work on the track will resume tomorrow at 9.20 am when the final sixty minutes of free practice will begin before the qualifying session at 2.40 pm.