Francois Heriau of the #55 AF Corse Ferrari team earned his first pole position in the LMGT3 category for the FIA World Endurance Championship’s 6 Hours of Fuji.
A class of 18 LMGT3 cars across nine manufacturers took to the Fuji Speedway track for a thrilling fight to make it into the top-10 before the Hyperpole qualifying shootout.
Unsurprisingly, Iron Dames driver Sarah Bovy make her mark once again to the sharp end of the order as she chased down her third pole position of this season.
Just over one second covered the top-15 cars in the Q1 session, and 0.687 for the top-10, making it a tight challenge to get through into Hyperpole.
Championship protagonists Manthey Porsche struggled to execute a strong qualifying performance with both their #91 EMA (second in the standings) and their #92 PureRxing (first in the standings) 911 LMGT3.Rs, having taken P15 and P14.
United Autosports’ #59 McLaren 720S LMGT3 EVO made it into the top-10 along with the #95 car, as well as both AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3s plus both TF Sport Corvette Z06 LMGT3.Rs, with it being the first time for the latter team to make it through this season.
After the 12-minute Q1 session followed the 10-minute Hyperpole shootout, with temperatures at 42 degrees Celsius on the track, 29 in the air and nearly 70% humidity.
First 2024 Pole
Having taken pole for their first time, last time out at the Circuit of the Americas, Heart of Racing’s (HoR) team principal Ian James demonstrated his keenness to start at the front yet again.
Both of United Autosports McLarens were up at the sharp end of the grid together, along with TF Sport’s #81 Corvette driver Tom Van Rompuy.
In the end, it was a 1.40.983 lap time which earned Francois Heriau his first pole position of the season in the #55 AF Corse Ferrari.
Second place was taken by Van Rompuy’s #81 TF Sport Corvette after he was just 0.082 behind, with a 1:40.975.
Josh Caygill of the #95 United Autosports McLaren claimed third place with a 1:41.120 lap time ahead of #83 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 EVO2 driver Sarah Bovy (1:41.265).
The other United Autosports McLaren, the #59, of James Cottingham finished in fifth place with a 1:41.293.
Arnold Robin finished in sixth place for the #78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F LMGT3 entrant, setting a 1:41.308.
Hiroshi Koizumi of the #82 TF Sport finished in seventh place after he set a 1:41.310 lap time, followed by James’ #27 HoR Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 with a 1:41.397.
Thomas Flohr finished in ninth place for the #54 AF Corse Ferrari with his best of 1:41.608, followed by Ryan Hardwick’s #77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang LMGT3 on a 1:41.719.
The six-hour race will commence tomorrow on Sunday 15 September from 3 am BST or 11 am JST.
