Toyota’s Timo Glock upstaged the bigger names to claim the fastest time in practice yesterday ahead of tomorrow’s Japan Formula One Grand Prix.
On the track owned by his team’s parent company, Glock set a time of 1 minute, 18.383 seconds, putting him ahead of Singapore GP winner Fernando Alonso of Renault and title rivals Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa.
Alonso was just .043 slower than Germany’s Glock.
PHOTO: EPA
McLaren’s Hamilton, who set the fastest time in the opening session yesterday, was third best in the afternoon and importantly ahead of the Ferraris, boosting hopes of back-to-back wins for the Briton at Fuji Speedway.
Hamilton leads Massa of Brazil by seven points in the drivers’ championship with three races to go.
“We were immediately on the pace and found a very good balance straight away,” Hamilton said. “In the afternoon, I did a promising longer run with no major problems and I feel confident about our pace for the rest of the weekend.”
Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, whose chances of defending his world title are mathematical rather than realistic, was fifth quickest in the afternoon, ahead of Red Bull’s Mark Webber, home crowd favorite Kazuki Nakajima of Williams and Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel.
The Ferrari drivers had split opinions on whether the medium or soft tire was the better around Fuji, with Massa thriving on the soft Bridgestone compound.
“The times are very close and maybe I could have been a bit further up the order in the afternoon session if I had not encountered traffic on my last run on the soft tires,” Massa said.
Toyota considers the Japan GP on its own track to be its most important of the year, and duly changed Glock’s engine ahead of the race weekend, using up his one chance to do so without incurring a grid penalty.
Glock’s best qualifying performance this year is fifth in Hungary, and his best race finish was second at the same venue. He thrived in his first ever day at Fuji.
“I had a nice lap near the beginning of the session and it’s great for the team to end up quickest on Friday here in Japan,” Glock said.
“So far I’m happy and it would be nice to keep the position like this for the whole weekend. That will obviously be difficult, but hopefully the local fans will give us an extra boost,” he said.
Fine conditions prevailed throughout the sessions, in contrast to the downpour that blighted last year’s race — the first since the Japan GP returned to Fuji from the Suzuka circuit.
The Fuji track provides a set-up challenge for all teams. It includes the longest straight in F1 at just under 1.5km, but also has a tight, twisting section just before entry to the main straight.
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