Free Practice 1 | 4th – 1:26.045 |
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Free Practice 2 | 1st – 1:24.460 |
Free Practice 3 | 1st – 1:23.570 |
Qualifying | 1st – 1:22.763 (1 point) |
Race Start | 1st – 25 points |
The Porsche 919 Hybrid number 17 crew qualified on pole in Fuji but the race began behind the safety car due to adverse weather conditions. Mark lost several places once the race got under way, which was later revealed to be due to a torque issue, and had some close racing with the number 1 Toyota of Nakajima and the number 7 Audi of Fässler before pitting from third position where Brendon took over the driving seat and took on a set of intermediate slick tyres.
Conditions had slightly improved getting close to the halfway point of the race but a a spin from an LMP2 brought out a full course yellow which cost Brendon a position to the Number 7 on the restart in amongst traffic, but it didn’t take long for Brendon to be back in front of the Audi.
Timo took over after 160 laps and at this point the track had dried enough for slick tyres, he was comfortably in second until he passed the sister car on lap 209 to strengthen the number 17’s championship position. Their third consecutive win puts them a point clear in the WEC Drivers’ Championship.