15 October 2016
Oyama, 15 October 2016 – The two Ferrari 488 GTEs of AF Corse will start from the second row in the 6 Hours of Fuji. The race sets off on Sunday at 11 am local time (4 am CET) at the famous circuit on the slopes of Japan's sacred mountain. Davide Rigon and Sam Bird, in car no. 71 were under a tenth of a second faster than their teammates Gianmaria “Gimmi” Bruni and James Calado in no. 51. In the GTE-Am class the 458 Italia no. 83 of AF Corse driven in qualifying by Emmanuel Collard and François Perrodo, will start from second place when the French drivers will be joined by Rui Aguas.
GTE-Pro. In the GTE-Pro class “Gimmi” Bruni started the session in no. 51 and Davide Rigon in no. 71. On his first flying attempt Davide stopped the clock at 1:38:446, which he cut to 1:38:088 on the second lap. “Gimmi” completed three laps with a best time of 1:38:053, which he failed to improve on his next attempt due to a small error. In no. 71 Sam Bird started his job with a time of 1:38:197, but achieved a superb 1:37:933 on the following lap to reduce the combined time to 1:38:010. Calado meanwhile stopped the clock at 1:38:233, being caught by traffic on the following lap. On his third attempt, the British driver in no. 51 notched up a best time of 1:38:154 for a combined figure of 1:38:103. This placed the car in fourth just 93 thousandths behind his teammates. Pole position went to the Ford no. 66 of Stefan Mucke and Olivier Pla in 1:37:681.
GTE-Am. The only Ferrari in the GTE-Am class, the AF Corse 458 Italia GTE of Emmanuel Collard, François Perrodo and Rui Aguas, enjoyed a very positive session. Collard and Perrodo took to the track. The highly experienced Collard recorded an initial 1:39:491, which he improved to 1:39:161 on the following lap. He then handed over to Perrodo who after securing two almost identical times (1:40:977 and 1:40:903) stopped the clock at 1:40:582, an excellent time that reduced the combined figure to 1:39:863. In the end Ferrari no. 83 was second only to the Aston Martin of Lamy-Lauda-Dalla Lana (1:39:490), but the race is long and the fight for first place wide open. The overall pole position went to the no. 7 Audi of Duval-Di Grassi-Jarvis.