Alpine ended Friday at the 6 Hours of Fuji on top, with Victor Martins setting a 1m29.304sec in the #36 Alpine A424 to lead Free Practice 2. Toyota had set the pace in the opening morning of its FIA World Endurance Championship home round through Ryō Hirakawa’s 1m29.694sec in the #8 Toyota TR010 Hybrid, while Ben Tuck lowered the LMGT3 circuit best to 1m39.828sec in the #77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3 in the afternoon.
With rain forecast for the weekend, GT REPORT spoke to Hypercar and LMGT3 drivers and team figures after practice about what the weather could mean as the WEC season reaches its final stretch.
Antonio Giovinazzi: “Some surprise may happen”
As the defending series champions, the Ferrari Hypercar team entered the last race at the Circuit of the Americas still winless in 2026. But the #51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P that Antonio Giovinazzi shares with Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado took pole, and the sister #50 car, helped by a late lucky break when the race-leading Toyota retired and some strong strategy calls, snatched the win late on and launched Ferrari back into potential championship contention.
The team now sits just 26 points behind the manufacturers’ championship leaders Toyota entering Fuji.
Friday was quieter for the #51, which was 10th in Free Practice 1 and 16th in Free Practice 2, with Giovinazzi’s own best a 1m30.334sec in the afternoon. Despite the strong performance last weekend, he doesn’t think the track suits the Ferrari 499P, which has never stood on the podium here since its debut in 2023. However, with the track conditions improving with each practice session, plus the potential rain on race day, “some surprise may happen”, said the Italian. At the same time, he “didn’t know what to expect” from the weather, or whether dry or wet conditions would help most in their hunt for BMW and Toyota. For such a key race in the championship, Giovinazzi said “it will be difficult to gain points on Toyota, but if they put it all together and try to gain points they could.”
Paul di Resta: “The whole field has improved”
The 6 Hours of Fuji last year gave Peugeot its best finish to date in the Hypercar class with a runner-up trophy. Their strong run of results at the end of last season, however, hasn’t carried over into 2026, which has felt like a disappointing reset for the French marque. Paul di Resta, who shares the #93 Peugeot TotalEnergies Peugeot 9X8 with Stoffel Vandoorne and Nick Cassidy, said this season has been “a tough one” and it’s “definitely not good enough and not as good as they expected.” With the competition improving, they’ll need to keep their heads down and focus, and Fuji looks set to continue their woes after another tough start to the weekend. The #93 was 14th in Free Practice 1, where Di Resta’s quickest lap was a 1m31.572sec, as the team found the 9X8 has a narrow operating window. Cassidy’s 1m29.884sec then lifted the car to 9th in Free Practice 2.
The rain may just be the opportunity they need, however, and the Scotsman insisted that the team will “try to do what we can.”
Victor Martins: “More driving time is good for a rookie, but it’s also more responsibility”
Fuji marks Alpine rookie Victor Martins’ first visit to Japan, a place he described as “nice”, and he shares the same sentiment about the Speedway itself, singling out sectors 1 and 2 in particular. He thinks the Alpine team looks good, as this is another chance to show the A424 can fight for poles and podiums on a track where the car took its maiden win last year.
Despite the last-minute change in driver line-up, which leaves Martins sharing the #36 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424 with Jules Gounon as a pair, he is up for the challenge. He is getting to grips with the championship, which he says feels nice, and the additional driving time has both upsides and downsides. On the one hand, there will be “more responsibility with the track limits”, said the Frenchman. On the other hand, on top of the experience itself, the extra track time allows the team to try different changes to the car and tyre compounds, which wouldn’t have been possible previously, and he’ll “just have to enjoy” the weekend.
His pace in Free Practice 2 seems to back up this optimism. After Gounon set the car’s best time for 5th in the morning, Martins’ 1m29.304sec put the #36 Alpine on top at the end of the day.
Paul-Loup Chatin: “Looks like we can fight for something”
Race winner with Alpine last year, Paul-Loup Chatin made the switch to newcomers Genesis Magma Racing this season, and the GMR-001 Hypercar has looked competitive right out of the gate, with standout performances at Spa, Le Mans and COTA for the sister #17 car. On Friday, it was Chatin’s #19 that proved the quicker of the two Genesis entries in both sessions, 6th in Free Practice 1 and 4th in Free Practice 2, with Mathieu Jaminet’s 1m29.492sec in the afternoon the car’s best of the day. Chatin believes there is still a lot to learn for the whole team to build on this foundation, and “every lap gave the team data to improve operations.”
With the team exceeding expectations, Chatin said that as competitors, “when we see the potential to do better, we want to”, but “it’s tougher and tougher to improve as you get closer to the top.” The team has never practised in heavy rain, but it looks like “they can fight for something” around Fuji. The #19 trio of Chatin, Jaminet and Dani Juncadella now has its sights set on improving on the sister car’s 7th-place finish at COTA, and ideally “a top 5 will be a huge result for the team.”
Andreas Roos: “Approach every race like we want to win”
Andreas Roos, head of BMW M Motorsport, spoke to GT REPORT after Free Practice 2. Roos said they are happy to be in Japan and, despite having expected more from the last race in Texas, arriving as championship leaders is a good feeling. Their #20 car, run by WRT, is level on points with the #7 Toyota in the Hypercar teams’ standings. A good result on Sunday will be a “good step in the championship come the end of the year”, Roos said, but the key is to focus on themselves and not be concerned with how the other teams approach the final races of the season.
BMW M Team WRT concentrated its Free Practice running solely on race trim for both the #15 and #20 BMW M Hybrid V8, sticking with the approach of the past few races and building a good understanding of the tyres and balance. That showed on the timesheets, with the #15 of Kevin Magnussen, Raffaele Marciello and Dries Vanthoor 13th and 14th in the two sessions, and the #20 of Robin Frijns, René Rast and Sheldon van der Linde 12th and 17th. The team sees the rain expected on Saturday and Sunday as an opportunity. Despite considering this a very successful season for BMW, they will “approach every race like we want to win.”
“We are humble enough to know that you can’t win every race because the competition is so high and the championship is so tight between all the manufacturers and the teams and their top drivers, top cars and top manufacturers. And you have to get everything together.”
Ian James: “Mixed fortunes” for Aston Martin
Aston Martin THOR’s Ian James described the outfit’s day as one of “mixed fortunes”. The Vantage struggled a little, with the #27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 he shares with Zacharie Robichon and Mattia Drudi 18th in LMGT3 in Free Practice 1 and 13th in class in Free Practice 2, where James’ own best was a 1m40.693sec. The Valkyrie, meanwhile, had “really strong” sessions, with Harry Tincknell’s 1m29.343sec putting the #007 he shares with Tom Gamble 2nd overall in Free Practice 2. James remains confident the team can continue its strong season, with the GT team coming off a 3rd-place finish at Lone Star Le Mans and the Hypercar just missing out on the podium in 4th.
“There are some traction issues for the GT car that needed to be sorted out, but typically the car is pretty good in the wet, so [we’re] looking forward to that.”
Antares Au: “Weather is an unknown factor”
Antares Au last raced at Fuji nine years ago in a Porsche Carrera Cup car. He credits the simulator for getting him “80% prepared” for the weekend after the long hiatus, and he was “instantly getting on good terms with the car” once on track, with the Garage 59 team sitting in the top quartile of lap times. The #10 McLaren 720S GT3 he shares with Tom Fleming and Marvin Kirchhöfer was 2nd in LMGT3 in Free Practice 1, behind the sister #58, before dropping to 16th in class in the afternoon, when Au set his best of the day with a 1m41.099sec.
Tomorrow will be a different story, however, as the sim doesn’t prepare you for the weather, Au said. “They are only good at showing you where the problems may be. And you can try different things in the sim, but the subtle track condition changes can only be felt on track, once the rain does hit.” He is not very optimistic, as the weather will likely bring constant drizzle tomorrow, and there are “11 guys saying 15 different things” on whether the rain will benefit the 720S or not.
“I don’t have a lot of expectations, but I think our platform can work in some defined, narrow conditions. But can we put the car into that condition? We don’t know.”
Looking ahead to Saturday
Saturday 26 September opens with Free Practice 3 from 09:30 to 10:30 local time (02:30 to 03:30 CEST), before qualifying runs from 14:00 to 15:10 (07:00 to 08:10 CEST). The 6 Hours of Fuji then starts on Sunday 27 September at 11:00 (04:00 CEST), with the chequered flag due at 17:00 (10:00 CEST).
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