By Johan Laubscher
The action continued at Fuji as the second free practice session got
underway during the afternoon in Japan. Both Audi R18 e-tron quattro cars were
circulating during the second session.
Toyota had originally lead the way earlier this morning when the #8 Toyota TS030 Hybrid topped the time sheets, ahead of Audi #1 and Audi #2. The final classification was amended and the fastest time for Toyota #8 was omitted after a pitlane speeding violation, thus promoting the Audis to a 1-2 at the top of the times, as the #8 Toyota dropped to third.
The third placed Audi suffered a crash during the first session, with Loic Duval behind the wheel, after contact with an Aston Martin
GTE car. There was substantial damage to the rear of the car and the team
replaced the damaged gearbox, as well as the engine as a precautionary measure.
The #2 Audi was repaired and ready in time for the start of the second session.
The second free practice session, which started
at 15:30 local time, concluded with another Audi 1-2. The #2 Audi of Allan McNish, Loic Duval and Tom Kristensen was fastest ahead of the sister #1 Audi of André
Lotterer, Benoit Tréluyer and Marcel Fassler, with
a gap of 0.532 seconds. They were ahead of the two Toyotas, #8 ahead of #7,
with the top four being split by only 0.648 seconds. The
final LMP1 entrant was fifth, the #12 Lola B12/60 Coupé - Toyota from Rebellion
Racing.
The second free practice session concluded
Friday’s track running, as free practice three and qualifying will be taking
place on Saturday.
Photo credit: Audi Sport Communication / Media
