Sebastien Buemi led the way in the 90-minute FP1 session with a 1m31.171s aboard the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, which gave him a margin of two tenths over Mike Conway’s 1m31.418s in the second of the Japanese manufacturer’s Le Mans Hypercars.
The best of the Peugeot 9X8 LMHs ended up only a couple of hundredths behind the #7 Toyota, James Rossiter setting a 1m31.439s to take third position in the times.
The fastest times in the Hypercar class were set at the start of the session, while Paul di Resta in fourth place aboard the second Peugeot posted the car’s best lap of 1m31.738s after taking over from Mikkel Jensen.
The Alpine A480, which won last time out at Monza in July, brought up the rear of a class that numbers just five cars in the absence of Glickenhaus.
Nicolas Lapierre’s 1m32.556s in the grandfathered LMP1 car left it more than a second off the pace after pre-event Balance of Performance changes, which have reduced the power of the Alpine and lowered the minimum weights of the LMH cars.
The LMP2 field was led by the Pro/Am-entered AF Corse Oreca 07 in which Nicklas Nielsen set a 1m32.624s at the start of the session.
That gave him a margin of a shade more than a tenth over the two United Autosports Orecas, which set identical times in the hands of Alex Lynn and Filipe Albuquerque. Lynn posted his 1m32.866s lap first, so was classified second in class.
JOTA claimed fourth in P2 courtesy of a 1m33.165s from Ed Jones in its #28 car.
Ferrari was on top in the opening practice session in GTE Pro, James Calado leading the way in the best of the two AF Corse-run 488 GTE Evos.
His 1m37.723s put him just over a tenth up on the best of the factory Porsche 911 RSR-19s in which Michael Christensen ended up on 1m37.892s.
Richard Lietz was close behind in the second of the Manthey-run Porsches on 1m37.962s, while Antonio Fuoco was within four tenths of the pace in fourth position with a 1m38.121s in the second AF Ferrari.
The solo Corvette C8.R ended up more than a second off the pace after being hit with a 10kg increase in minimum weight under the BoP for Fuji. A 1m38.829s from Nick Tandy stood as the best time from the American car.
Matteo Cairoli took the top spot in GTE Am by just three thousandths of a second aboard the fastest of the two Project 1 Porsches.
His 1m39.064s compared with Tomonobu Fujii’s 1m39.067s in the TF Sport-run D’station Racing Aston Martin Vantage GTE.
WEC 6 Hours of Fuji - first practice results:
| Cla | # | Drivers | Car | Class | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 |
 Sébastien Buemi  Brendon Hartley  Ryo Hirakawa |
Toyota GR010 - Hybrid | HYPERCAR | 1'31.171 | |
| 2 | 7 |
 Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi  Jose Maria Lopez |
Toyota GR010 - Hybrid | HYPERCAR | 1'31.418 | 0.247 |
| 3 | 94 |
 Loic Duval  Gustavo Menezes James Rossiter |
Peugeot 9X8 | HYPERCAR | 1'31.439 | 0.268 |
| 4 | 93 |
Paul di Resta  Mikkel Jensen Jean-Eric Vergne |
Peugeot 9X8 | HYPERCAR | 1'31.738 | 0.567 |
| 5 | 36 |
 Andre Negrao Nicolas Lapierre Matthieu Vaxiviere |
Alpine A480 | HYPERCAR | 1'32.556 | 1.385 |
| 6 | 83 |
François Perrodo Nicklas Nielsen  Alessio Rovera |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'32.624 | 1.453 |
| 7 | 23 |
Alex Lynn Oliver Jarvis Josh Pierson |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'32.866 | 1.695 |
| 8 | 22 |
Philip Hanson  Filipe Albuquerque Will Owen |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'32.866 | 1.695 |
| 9 | 28 |
Oliver Rasmussen  Ed Jones  Jonathan Aberdein |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'33.165 | 1.994 |
| 10 | 31 |
 Sean Gelael  Robin Frijns  Dries Vanthoor |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'33.258 | 2.087 |
| 11 | 10 |
Renger van der Zande  Ryan Cullen Sébastien Bourdais |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'33.271 | 2.100 |
| 12 | 1 |
Lilou Wadoux Paul-Loup Chatin Charles Milesi |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'33.403 | 2.232 |
| 13 | 9 |
 Robert Kubica Louis Deletraz Lorenzo Colombo |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'33.715 | 2.544 |
| 14 | 41 |
Rui Andrade  Ferdinand Habsburg Norman Nato |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'33.855 | 2.684 |
| 15 | 45 |
Steven Thomas  James Allen Rene Binder |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'34.054 | 2.883 |
| 16 | 38 |
 Roberto Gonzalez Antonio Felix da Costa Will Stevens |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'34.198 | 3.027 |
| 17 | 34 |
Jakub Smiechowski Alex Brundle Esteban Gutierrez |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'34.421 | 3.250 |
| 18 | 35 |
Jean Baptiste Lahaye Matthieu Lahaye François Heriau |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'34.617 | 3.446 |
| 19 | 51 |
Alessandro Pier Guidi James Calado |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE PRO | 1'37.723 | 6.552 |
| 20 | 92 |
Michael Christensen Kevin Estre |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE PRO | 1'37.892 | 6.721 |
| 21 | 91 |
Gianmaria Bruni Richard Lietz |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE PRO | 1'37.962 | 6.791 |
| 22 | 52 |
 Miguel Molina Antonio Fuoco |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE PRO | 1'38.121 | 6.950 |
| 23 | 64 |
Tommy Milner Nick Tandy |
Chevrolet Corvette C8.R | LMGTE PRO | 1'38.829 | 7.658 |
| 24 | 46 |
Matteo Cairoli Mikkel Pedersen Nicolas Leutwiler |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE AM | 1'39.064 | 7.893 |
| 25 | 777 |
Satoshi Hoshino Tomonobu Fujii Charlie Fagg |
Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 1'39.067 | 7.896 |
| 26 | 98 |
 Paul Dalla Lana David Pittard Nicki Thiim |
Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 1'39.313 | 8.142 |
| 27 | 60 |
Claudio Schiavoni Matteo Cressoni Giancarlo Fisichella |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 1'39.337 | 8.166 |
| 28 | 71 |
Franck Dezoteux Pierre Ragues Gabriel Aubry |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 1'39.405 | 8.234 |
| 29 | 86 |
Michael Wainwright Riccardo Pera Benjamin Barker |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE AM | 1'39.443 | 8.272 |
| 30 | 54 |
Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Davide Rigon |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 1'39.489 | 8.318 |
| 31 | 56 |
Takeshi Kimura Ollie Millroy Ben Barnicoat |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE AM | 1'39.622 | 8.451 |
| 32 | 85 |
Rahel Frey Michelle Gatting Sarah Bovy |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 1'39.709 | 8.538 |
| 33 | 33 |
Ben Keating Henrique Chaves Jr. Marco Sorensen |
Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 1'39.768 | 8.597 |
| 34 | 77 |
 Christian Ried Sebastian Priaulx Harry Tincknell |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE AM | 1'39.959 | 8.788 |
| 35 | 21 |
Simon Mann Christoph Ulrich  Toni Vilander |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 1'40.287 | 9.116 |
| 36 | 88 |
Fred Poordad Patrick Lindsey Jan Heylen |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE AM | 1'40.299 | 9.128 |
| View full results | ||||||
