Rain wipes out Fuji qualifying: Alpine on pole, both title contenders in the second half of the grid

There was no qualifying at the 6 Hours of Fuji. Heavy rain and fog on Saturday afternoon made the track undriveable, and the FIA WEC called off both qualifying and Hyperpole for both classes. Under the sporting regulations the grid was then set by each car’s fastest lap in practice, which put the number 36 Alpine of Jules Gounon and Victor Martins on pole with the 1:29.304 Martins set on Friday afternoon.

The number 77 Proton Ford Mustang of Eric Powell, Ben Tuck and Sebastian Priaulx starts first in LMGT3. The full grids for both classes are below.

One minute of running, then a Ferrari in the barrier

LMGT3 qualifying did get under way, but only for about a minute. François Hériau aquaplaned in the number 21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari and hit the barrier at Turn 2, and the red flag came out straight away. The session never restarted. The championship then confirmed on X that qualifying had been “cancelled due to severe weather conditions”.

Because the Saturday sessions were wet, almost every grid slot comes from Friday. Most cars set their best lap in second practice, which is covered in our Fuji practice results. A handful, including the number 8 Toyota and both Garage 59 McLarens, were quicker in the first session.

The Valkyrie loses second place for hitting a fellow Aston Martin

On practice times alone, the number 007 Aston Martin Valkyrie of Harry Tincknell and Tom Gamble would have started second, 0.039 seconds behind the Alpine. It starts fourth instead. In the wet third practice on Saturday morning Tincknell missed the Turn 10 hairpin and hit the number 27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage of Ian James, which brought out the red flag. The stewards gave the 007 a two-place grid penalty. That moves the second Alpine, the number 35 of Charles Milesi and Ferdinand Habsburg, up to second and the number 19 Genesis to third.

Both title contenders start in the second half of the grid

The drivers’ championship arrived at Fuji tied on 75 points after a hydraulic failure cost Toyota victory at COTA. On one side are Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries in the number 7 Toyota, on the other Robin Frijns and René Rast in the number 20 BMW.

Neither crew had a fast Friday, and with no qualifying to fix it, that is now their grid slot. The number 7 Toyota starts 13th of the 17 Hypercars. The number 20 BMW, which Frijns and Rast share with Sheldon van der Linde, starts last in class. Its sister car, the number 15, starts 14th.

There is more Dutch interest in LMGT3. Lin Hodenius shares the number 79 Iron Lynx Mercedes with Johannes Zelger and Matteo Cressoni, which starts second in class, 0.045 seconds off pole. Nicky Catsburg’s number 33 TF Sport Corvette starts tenth in class.

Martins was also fastest in the wet

Third practice on Saturday morning ran in soaking conditions, with lap times more than eleven seconds slower than on Friday. Martins topped it again in the number 36 Alpine with a 1:40.594, ahead of the two Aston Martins: the 007 was 0.065 seconds slower and the 009 of Alex Riberas and Marco Sørensen third. There was a full-course yellow after the number 20 BMW and the number 51 Ferrari made contact at Turn 7. The number 7 Toyota was eighth and the number 20 BMW twelfth.

In LMGT3 the number 34 Racing Team Turkey Corvette was fastest, with Charlie Eastwood setting a 1:51.232. Third practice did not change the grid, because every car had already gone faster on the dry Friday.

Starting grid: Hypercar

* The number 007 Aston Martin set the second-fastest time and starts fourth after a two-place grid penalty for the collision in third practice.

Starting grid: LMGT3

Grid order based on each car’s fastest lap in the practice sessions, from the official FIA WEC classifications. The official starting grid published by the FIA WEC confirms this order and the two-place penalty for the number 007.

Our view: the start of the race decides more than the grid does

Starting 13th and 17th sounds bad for the title contenders, but a six-hour race is long, and at Fuji the whole Hypercar field was covered by 1.058 seconds on Friday. If the rain stays, the first stint turns into a lottery of spray and safety cars, and a car at the back loses little by being careful. We think the bigger risk for Toyota and BMW is not their grid slot but a mistake in the first laps in traffic. That is our reading, not something either team has said.

Who do you think leaves Fuji leading the championship, Toyota or BMW? Tell us in the comments.

When the race starts

The 6 Hours of Fuji starts on Sunday at 11:00 local time, 04:00 CEST, and finishes at 10:00 CEST. Follow the weekend on our live blog. The Valkyrie is still looking for its first podium, with Fernando Alonso linked with the programme for 2027. New to the rules? Our explainer covers how the Hypercar class works.