> Result: Free Practice 2
Laurin Heinrich set a blistering time in second practice at Suzuka to give Origine Motorsport a boost ahead of qualifying and Race 1 tomorrow.
The Porsche factory driver unleashed a 2m01.420s halfway through the hour-long session to obliterate FP1’s benchmark and beat nearest rival Mikael Grenier by 0.4s.
Origine’s #4 911 endured a tough outing at Fuji where Lu Wei slipped from first to third in the overall standings. But the Chinese driver appears well placed to make up ground following Friday’s two practice sessions.
The Porsche was a front runner in both but made its intentions blatantly clear this afternoon when Heinrich became one of just two drivers to post a sub-2m02s lap time.
The other, Grenier, once again put Triple Eight JMR’s Mercedes-AMG in the mix by finishing almost three tenths of clear of Origine’s other title contending Porsche driven by Leo Ye Hongli, while Tomonobu Fujii set a near identical lap time to the one that handed D’station’s Aston Martin bragging rights this morning.
Phantom Global’s Porsche and Audi finished fifth and sixth – the AAS-backed 911 pipped the FAW-bannered R8 by just 0.023s – while Climax Racing’s factory crewed Mercedes-AMGs completed the top eight.