Kamui Kobayashi took pole for the 6 Hours of Fuji in the #7 Toyota GR010 hypercar with a 1:29.234.
This was 0.020 faster than his teammate Brendon Hartley in the sister #7 Toyota GR010. In third was the #36 Alpine A480, fresh off its win last time out in Monza — but Mathieu Vaxiviere couldn’t beat the Toyotas this time, 0.212 off.
Fourth and fifth were the still-new Peugeot 9X8s, only competing in their second ever qualifying session. Jean-Eroc Vergne took fourth for the French manufacturer in the #93 Peugeot 9X8, 0.766 off, while Loic Duval was 0.918 off in the sister #94 9X8.
In LMP2, Antonio Felix da Costa in the #38 Jota Oreca 07-Gibson was quickest, taking pole with a 1:31.649. Nicklas Nielsen was second fastest in the #83 AF Corse Oreca 07-Gibson, just under three tenths off da Costa.
Third in class was Ferdinand Habsburg, behind the wheel of the #41 RealTeam by WRT Oreca 07-Gibson, some half a second off da Costa.
Michael Christiansen was quickest for Porsche’s GT team in the #92 Porsche 911 RSR-19, setting a 1:36.371 to take GTE-Pro class pole. The #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE EVO of James Calado took second, with the Briton almost two tenths off Christiansen.
In third was Giamaria Bruni in the sister #91 Porsche 911 RSR-19, almost half a second off his teammate.
Finally, in GTE-Am, Ben Keating took class pole in the #3 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage AMR, a 1:39.309 quicker than anyone else in the class. Sarah Bovy was second quickest in the #85 Iron Dames Ferrari 488 GTE EVO, just 0.062 slower. Third quickest was Franck Dezoteux in the #71 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GTE EVO, a further 0.090 off Bovy and one and half tenths off Keating on pole.
The race starts tomorrow morning 11am local time in Japan, 3am BST in the UK, or 2am UTC.
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