> Results: Paid Practice 1 | 2 | 3
Luca Stolz set the pace across three pre-event test sessions at Fuji Speedway today, although only the first was run in fully dry conditions.
The Triple Eight JMR Mercedes-AMG’s 1m39.022s was 0.370s faster than championship leader Alessio Picariello could manage aboard AAS Motorsport by Absolute Racing’s Porsche, while Plus with BMW Team Studie’s Seiji Ara went third quickest in the best of the Fanatec Japan Cup entries.
There was a lengthy delay midway through the first session when Reid Harker’s EBM Porsche hit HUBAUTO RACING’s 911 driven by Alvaro Parente and Andrew Macpherson’s AMAC Porsche at Turn 1. All three cars incurred significant damage and failed to appear again on Thursday.
NK Racing’s 911 finished fourth ahead of Triple Eight JMR’s second Mercedes-AMG and HUBAUTO’s subsequently side-lined entry.
Light but persistent rain, mist and fog rolling in from Mount Fuji prevented any meaningful times being set in the afternoon sessions. Indeed, KCMG’s Honda and the #4 R&B Porsche – which topped Tests 2 and 3, respectively – were both 11 seconds down on Stolz’s best.
K-Tunes’ Toyota shared by Masanori Nogami and Hiromitsu Fujii topped the GT4 class.
Friday’s running comprises two official practice sessions and a Bronze-graded driver test before qualifying and the first of Fuji’s two 60-minute races take place on Saturday.