Brendon Hartley set the fastest lap of the weekend so far at the start of the one-hour FP3 session aboard the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid with a qualification simulation on new tyres.
The 1m29.865s lap gave him a margin of six tenths over the second-placed #93 Peugeot 9X8 in which Jean-Eric Vergne posted a 1m30.510s.
The #94 Peugeot was third fastest courtesy of a 1m30.828s from Loic Duval, while Matthieu Vaxiviere’s 1m30.964s put the Alpine A480 fourth.
Kamui Kobayashi, who had been fastest in second practice on Friday, brought up the rear of the Hypercar class in the #7 Toyota with a 1m31.532s and is believed not to have undertaken a qualifying sim during the session.
Antonio Felix da Costa led the LMP2 division for JOTA with a 1m31.822s aboard the best of the British team’s pair of ORECA 07s.
The second-placed Vector Sport ORECA was three tenths back on a 1m32.157s from Sebastien Bourdais, while WRT’s lead entry took was just four hundredths behind on a 1m32.194s set by Robin Frijns.
Charles Milesi was a similar margin back in fourth in the Signatech-run Richard Mille Racing ORECA, while the second JOTA entry took fifth in Ed Jones’s hands.
Porsche knocked Ferrari off the top of the timesheets in GTE Pro for the first time this weekend.
Gianmaria Bruni ended up fastest aboard the #91 Porsche 911 RSR-19, his 1m36.883 giving him a two tenth margin over the best of the Ferrari 488 GTE Evos.
James Calado’s 1m37.109s gave the #51 Ferrari second spot ahead of teammate Miguel Molina, who got down to a 1m37.299s in the sister #52 car.
Corvette Racing again edged closer to the pace following the Balance of Performance hit it received ahead of this race. A 1m37.372s from Nick Tandy left the solo Corvette C8.R only six tenths off the pace.
The second Porsche brought up the rear of the GTE Pro class, Michael Christensen ending up on 1m37.697s.
The Project 1 Porsche team blocked out the top two positions in GTE Am.
Ben Barnicoat was fastest in the 911 run in conjunction with Inception Racing on a 1m38.801s, which was just six hundredths fastest than Matteo Cairoli in the sister car.
Qualifying for the penultimate round of the 2022 WEC at Fuji begins at 2.40pm local time (GMT +9).
WEC 6 Hours of Fuji - third practice results:
Cla | # | Drivers | Car | Class | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 8 |
Sébastien Buemi Brendon Hartley Ryo Hirakawa |
Toyota GR010 - Hybrid | HYPERCAR | 1'29.865 | |
2 | 93 |
Paul di Resta Mikkel Jensen Jean-Eric Vergne |
Peugeot 9X8 | HYPERCAR | 1'30.510 | 0.645 |
3 | 94 |
Loic Duval Gustavo Menezes James Rossiter |
Peugeot 9X8 | HYPERCAR | 1'30.828 | 0.963 |
4 | 36 |
Andre Negrao Nicolas Lapierre Matthieu Vaxiviere |
Alpine A480 | HYPERCAR | 1'30.964 | 1.099 |
5 | 7 |
Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi Jose Maria Lopez |
Toyota GR010 - Hybrid | HYPERCAR | 1'31.532 | 1.667 |
6 | 38 |
Roberto Gonzalez Antonio Felix da Costa Will Stevens |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'31.822 | 1.957 |
7 | 10 |
Renger van der Zande Ryan Cullen Sébastien Bourdais |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'32.157 | 2.292 |
8 | 31 |
Sean Gelael Robin Frijns Dries Vanthoor |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'32.194 | 2.329 |
9 | 1 |
Lilou Wadoux Paul-Loup Chatin Charles Milesi |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'32.226 | 2.361 |
10 | 28 |
Oliver Rasmussen Ed Jones Jonathan Aberdein |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'32.356 | 2.491 |
11 | 9 |
Robert Kubica Louis Deletraz Lorenzo Colombo |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'32.388 | 2.523 |
12 | 23 |
Alex Lynn Oliver Jarvis Josh Pierson |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'32.588 | 2.723 |
13 | 41 |
Rui Andrade Ferdinand Habsburg Norman Nato |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'32.764 | 2.899 |
14 | 22 |
Philip Hanson Filipe Albuquerque Will Owen |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'32.854 | 2.989 |
15 | 35 |
Jean Baptiste Lahaye Matthieu Lahaye François Heriau |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'33.000 | 3.135 |
16 | 83 |
François Perrodo Nicklas Nielsen Alessio Rovera |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'33.040 | 3.175 |
17 | 34 |
Jakub Smiechowski Alex Brundle Esteban Gutierrez |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'33.719 | 3.854 |
18 | 45 |
Thomas Steven James Allen Rene Binder |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 1'33.934 | 4.069 |
19 | 91 |
Gianmaria Bruni Richard Lietz |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE PRO | 1'36.883 | 7.018 |
20 | 51 |
Alessandro Pier Guidi James Calado |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE PRO | 1'37.109 | 7.244 |
21 | 52 |
Miguel Molina Antonio Fuoco |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE PRO | 1'37.299 | 7.434 |
22 | 64 |
Tommy Milner Nick Tandy |
Chevrolet Corvette C8.R | LMGTE PRO | 1'37.372 | 7.507 |
23 | 92 |
Michael Christensen Kevin Estre |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE PRO | 1'37.697 | 7.832 |
24 | 56 |
Takeshi Kimura Ollie Millroy Ben Barnicoat |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE AM | 1'38.801 | 8.936 |
25 | 46 |
Matteo Cairoli Mikkel Pedersen Nicolas Leutwiler |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE AM | 1'38.861 | 8.996 |
26 | 71 |
Franck Dezoteux Pierre Ragues Gabriel Aubry |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 1'38.886 | 9.021 |
27 | 54 |
Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Davide Rigon |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 1'39.142 | 9.277 |
28 | 21 |
Simon Mann Christoph Ulrich Toni Vilander |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 1'39.158 | 9.293 |
29 | 86 |
Michael Wainwright Riccardo Pera Benjamin Barker |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE AM | 1'39.333 | 9.468 |
30 | 33 |
Ben Keating Henrique Chaves Jr. Marco Sorensen |
Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 1'39.433 | 9.568 |
31 | 777 |
Satoshi Hoshino Tomonobu Fujii Charlie Fagg |
Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 1'39.489 | 9.624 |
32 | 98 |
Paul Dalla Lana David Pittard Nicki Thiim |
Aston Martin Vantage AMR | LMGTE AM | 1'39.570 | 9.705 |
33 | 88 |
Fred Poordad Patrick Lindsey Jan Heylen |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE AM | 1'39.572 | 9.707 |
34 | 85 |
Rahel Frey Michelle Gatting Sarah Bovy |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 1'39.582 | 9.717 |
35 | 77 |
Christian Ried Sebastian Priaulx Harry Tincknell |
Porsche 911 RSR - 19 | LMGTE AM | 1'39.644 | 9.779 |
36 | 60 |
Claudio Schiavoni Matteo Cressoni Giancarlo Fisichella |
Ferrari 488 GTE EVO | LMGTE AM | 1'39.648 | 9.783 |
View full results |