By Tarek Ramchani
Action has started at Fuji Speedway in FIA WIorld Endurance Championship. The first free practice session already done with Toyota leading ahead of the two Audi R18 e-tron quattro cars.
Best of the Audis was the #1 R18 e-tron quattro in second place. The car shared by André Lotterer, Benoit Tréluyer and Marcel Fassler only 0.113s behind the leading Toyota. The three drivers did 39 laps with a fastest time of 1:28.438. Anthony Davidson, Sebastien Buemi and Stephane Sarrazin were the fastest driving the factory #8 Toyota TS030 Hybrid.
Bad luck hit the sister #2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro. The car driven by Allan McNish, Loic Duval and Tom Kristensen had an unfortunate contact with an Aston Martin Vantage GTE and hit a barrier. As a result the #2 Audi crew changed the damaged gearbox and the engine as a precaution as well. The car covered only five laps but managed to take third place with a fastest time of 1:28.676.
Update on car #2: Replacement of gearbox which was damaged after impact with barrier. Also engine change as a precaution @FIAWEC #R18
— Audi Sport (@Audi__Sport) October 18, 2013
The #7 Toyota TS030 Hybrid of Kazuki Nakajima, Alexander Wurz and Nicolas Lapierre was fourth. The #12 Lola B12/60 Coupé - Toyota from Rebellion Racing was fifth driven by Mathias Beche and Andrea Belicchi.
The second free practice session is coming next, 15:30 local time.
Update: The first free practice results were amended following the conclusion of the session. The fastest time for Toyota #8 was omitted in the final classification after a pitlane speeding violation, thus dropping them to third place, behind Audi #1 and Audi #2.
Photo credit: Audi Media
