In his first Hypercar qualifying, Ryo Hirakawa’s blistering lap of 1min 28.942secs earned a front-row start in the #8 GR010 HYBRID he shares with Sébastien Buemi and Brendon Hartley, and missed pole position by just 0.041secs in front of the team’s enthusiastic home fans.

Kamui Kobayashi, pole position winner at Fuji Speedway for the last two years, came within 0.164secs of taking a hat-trick. The #7 GR010 HYBRID, which Kamui drives alongside Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries, will start round seven of the season from fourth on the grid.

The team achieved its positive qualifying performance by exploiting its extensive knowledge of Fuji Speedway, including Kamui and Ryo’s long experience of Japanese domestic competition at the track. Drivers, engineers and mechanics now aim to execute a perfect race on Sunday, based on effective strategy and optimum pitstops.

Qualifying day began in bright sunshine with a popular tradition at Fuji Speedway, one of several initiatives which bring Japanese fans closer to the action. The Circuit Safari gave selected spectators a unique opportunity to share the track with Hypercars and LMGT3 machines on board buses just before third practice.

That final hour of practice allowed the team to validate set-up adjustments made overnight and prepare for qualifying. Ryo demonstrated why he was selected for qualifying duties in his 20th race for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing by setting the fastest time in a session that was stopped early due to kerb damage.

Four hours later, the 12-minute qualifying session began in mid-afternoon sunshine. Kamui and Ryo were the first cars on track in front of the flag-waving TOYOTA GAZOO Racing fans. On new medium compound Michelin tyres, both drivers set their fastest times on the first of two flying laps to progress to Hyperpole from fifth and eighth respectively.

The two GR010 HYBRIDs then set the pace from the beginning of Hyperpole. Kamui initially took top spot with his first flying lap but was soon deposed by Ryo on his first attempt, and he headed a provisional TOYOTA GAZOO Racing one-two going into the final moments.

But Ryo was denied pole by just 0.041secs by the #2 Cadillac, while moments later the #15 BMW pushed Kamui down to fourth by another tiny margin, 0.006secs. Despite narrowly missing the extra point for pole, the team is determined to strengthen its challenge for both World Championships in the 6 Hours of Fuji, which begins on Sunday at 11am (4am CEST).

Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car #7):

“Starting second and fourth is pretty good for the race, so it was a positive qualifying result. Fuji is our home race, and we are normally strong here, but we had to work very hard to achieve this result. Now we need to focus on the race to get the maximum out of our car. Hopefully it will be another successful race in front of a lot of fans. There will be 5,000 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing fans in a dedicated grandstand so I’m looking forward to seeing a lot of flags and support. I am sure they will cheer us on to a strong race.”

Ryo Hirakawa (Driver, car #8):

“I am happy to be on the front row from my first-ever qualifying in WEC. I was a bit nervous before the session, but I am pleased with my lap in Hyperpole, which I think extracted as much performance as possible from the GR010 HYBRID. Now we have a good basis and hopefully we can get through turn one in a strong position. It will not be easy in the race because the leading Hypercars were all very close today, but we will keep pushing. We want to win and strengthen our chances in the World Championship.”