Saturday, September 26, 2026

The World Endurance Championship has cancelled qualifying for the Fuji 6 Hours after heavy rainfall struck the track on Saturday afternoon.

While the final practice session of the weekend proceeded in wet conditions without incident, a sudden spell of rain just before qualifying significantly reduced visibility around the circuit.

The opening session for LMGT3 began as scheduled at 3pm local time but was red-flagged within a minute after bronze-rated driver Francois Heriau crashed the #21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 at Turn 2.

Shortly after all cars returned to the pitlane, race control announced the cancellation of qualifying for both LMGT3 and Hypercar classes.

According to sporting regulations, the starting grid for Sunday’s race will be determined by combined times from the three practice sessions.

The majority of the grid recorded their fastest lap times during FP2 on Friday afternoon, before the track became too wet for slick tyres on Saturday.

Alpine secured pole position for the WEC’s Japan round following Victor Martins’ best time of 1m29.304s in the #36 A424 during FP2.

Harry Tincknell finished second-fastest in the 90-minute session, but the #007 Aston Martin Valkyrie will drop to fourth on the grid after receiving a two-place penalty for an incident with the #27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 in FP3 earlier on Saturday.

This advancement moves the #35 Alpine of Charles Milesi and Ferdinand Habsburg to second place, marking one year since the French manufacturer’s first victory with the A424 LMDh at the same venue.

The #19 Genesis GMR-001 shared by Paul-Loup Chatin, Daniel Juncadella and Mathieu Jaminet climbs to third position, representing the best grid slot for the Hyundai-powered Genesis team.

Genesis’ sister car, with its best practice time set by Mathys Jaubert, will start in fifth place behind the penalised #007 Aston Martin pairing of Tincknell and Tom Gamble. The British manufacturer benefits from having both cars positioned high on the grid after the #009 Valkyrie posted the sixth-best time in practice.

The #38 Jota Cadillac V-Series.R takes seventh position, followed by the #8 Toyota TR010. The top 10 is completed by the #93 Peugeot 9X8 and the #12 Cadillac.

The two cars currently tied at the championship lead will start from the lower half of the Hypercar grid.

The #7 Toyota TR010 will start 13th after Kamui Kobayashi finished over seven seconds slower than the pace-setter in practice.

BMW chose not to run low-fuel sessions during dry practice on Friday, anticipating rain during Saturday’s qualifying. This conservative approach now leaves the #20 BMW M Hybrid—level on points with the #7 Toyota—in 17th and final position among Hypercar entrants.

Ferrari faces a challenging Sunday with its fastest 499P starting 11th on the grid.

In LMGT3, pole position belongs to the #77 Proton Ford Mustang GT3, with Ben Tuck setting the benchmark time during FP2.

Lin Hodenius secured second place with the #79 Iron Lynx Mercedes, while Hadrien David claimed third in the #78 Lexus.

The championship-leading #33 TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3.R will start from 10th position in class.

Results to follow

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