Following a completely dry day on Friday – enabling teams to rack up the laps in preparation for Sunday’s sixth round of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship campaign – Saturday dawned wet, and only got wetter.
With the conditions and visibility deteriorating and standing water a concern, the decision was taken to cancel all of Saturday’s remaining FIA WEC running shortly into LMGT3 qualifying, meaning grid positions would be based upon each car’s individual fastest lap from the three free practice sessions.
The quickest times were all set in FP2, and the absolute best belonged to Victor Martins in the #36 Alpine A424, after the rising star – an endurance racing rookie this year – topped the timesheets on Friday afternoon. The result represents the French prototype’s first pole in the series’ headlining Hypercar category – and to complete Les Bleus’ joy, the sister #35 car will line up alongside courtesy of last year’s Fuji winner, Charles Milesi, just under a tenth-of-a-second adrift.
Aston Martin THOR Team missed out on a maiden front row start following a penalty for the #007 Valkyrie, due to an accident between Harry Tincknell and Ian James in the #27 Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 during FP3. The two-place drop relegated the striking British Racing Green machine to fourth and elevated the #19 Genesis GMR-001 to third.
The Korean marque – a complete motor racing newcomer this year – celebrated its best-ever grid slots with the #17 Genesis rounding out the top five, ahead of the second Aston Martin Valkyrie (#009) in sixth.
Cadillac – pole-sitter in Japan in each of the past two seasons – will begin tomorrow’s bout from just seventh (#38) and tenth (#12), while the leading three title protagonists will all have work to do from further down the order.
On home soil, Toyota – nine times a winner of the 6 Hours of Fuji – will take the start from just eighth and 13th, with BMW even further back in 14th and 17th and defending world champion Ferrari’s two factory 499Ps 11th and 16th, setting the scene for an intriguing battle on race day.
In LMGT3, it will be Proton Competition’s #77 Ford Mustang on pole for the first time, ahead of the #79 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG, #78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus and #58 Garage 59 McLaren.
The 6 Hours of Fuji will get underway at 11:00 local time (GMT+9) tomorrow (Sunday, 27 September).
