Audi continues to prove its undeniable pace at the FIA WEC, this time claiming pole for the 6 Hours of Fuji which starts tomorrow at 11:00hrs local time. Loic Duval and Lucas Di Grassi clinched their second pole of the season in the #8 Audi R18 e-tron quattro beating rivals Timo Bernhard and Mark Webber in the #1 Porsche 919 Hybrid.
With the front row locked by the Germans, local fans from Japan were not left to dry as Toyota locked out the second row with the TS 050 Hybrids. Kazuki Nakajima and reigning Formula E champion Sebastien Buemi will start from P3 in the #5 car alongside Stephane Sarrazin and Kamui Kobayashi in the #6 car. Benoit Treluyer and Andre Lotterer will start from fifth in the #7 Audi R18 while Neel Jani and Marc Lieb will complete the LMP1 class in sixth, driving the #2 Porsche 919 Hybrid.
LMP1 privateer pole went to Dominik Kraihamer and Alexandre Imperatori in the #13 Rebellion R-One. The #26 G-Drive Oreca-Nissan scored their fifth pole of the season in the LMP2 class thanks to Will Stevens and Roman Rusinov who edged out championship leaders Nico Lapierre and Gustavo Menezes piloting the #36 Signatech Alpine A460-Nissan.
Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK marked their first ever WEC pole in Fuji after finishing 1-2 during qualifying in the LMGTE-Pro class. The new Ford GT already proved its pace during the 24 Hours of Le Mans where Ford Chip Ganassi USA won both qualifying (in a 1-2 fashion) and the main race, during the first Le Mans outing for the new GT. Stefan Mucke and Olivier Pla will start from first in the #66 Ford GT ahead of teammates Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell in the #67 car. Davide Rigon and Formula E star Sam Bird qualified third in the #71 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE.
Aston Martin dominated the LMGTE-Am class again taking P1 in the #98 car of Pedro Lamy and Paul Dalla Lana. This was their fourth pole of the season in seven starts. P2 went to Emmanuel Collard and Francois Perrodo in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 458 GTE while local hero Yutaka Yamagishi came in third in the #50 Larbre Competition Corvette C7.R.
