> Result: FP3
Audi finished one-two in final practice for this weekend’s Suzuka 10 Hours after Christopher Haase and Dries Vanthoor jumped to the top of the times in the final 10 minutes.
The event’s first dry running produced times roughly 10s faster than those set in the wet yesterday, with Absolute Racing’s Haase quickest on a 2m02.651s. The German, who posted the time with five minutes remaining, headed a top-four covered by just 0.157s.
Audi Sport counterpart Vanthoor spent less than two minutes on top before being bumped down by Hasse, but WRT’s R8 still finished just 0.041s behind.
GruppeM Racing dominated yesterday’s running. Indeed, this was the first time in four sessions that Raffaele Marciello or Maro Engel hadn’t finished fastest. But the bright yellow Mercedes-AMG still ended up less than a tenth down on Haase’s time.
The #35 KCMG Nissan features two Japanese drivers this weekend, and it was them – Super GT legend Tsygio Matsuda – who put the GT-R fourth overall. KCMG’s other Nissan completed the top-six behind HubAuto Corsa’s Ferrari.
Mercedes-AMGs entered by Craft-Bamboo, Goodsmile and SunEnergy1 filled three of the top-10’s final four places, while M-Sport’s #107 Bentley finished ninth.
Qualifying begins at 13:00 JST (GMT +9).