The final free practice session at Fuji Speedway delivered pure, slippery drama under full wet conditions right before qualifying and Hyperpole.
Victor Martins set the pace once again in the #36 Alpine A424 Hypercar, peaking on a best lap of 1m40.594s to command the timing sheets.
Conditions caught drivers out across the 60-minute session, bringing out a red flag after twenty minutes of running for debris collection following a collision between the #007 Aston Martin and the #27 Heart of Racing Aston Martin LMGT3 car. The #007 Valkyrie, driven by Harry Tincknell, suffered damage to the sidepod but bounced back to rejoin the action and end the session in second position after setting a late time of 1m40.669s to get within 0.075s of Martins' effort. Meanwhile, the #009 Aston Martin Valkyrie driven by Marco Soresen and Alex Riberas claimed third position as Aston proved their pace in the treacherous conditions.
Peugeot TotalEnergies took fourth as the #94 9X8 Hypercar of Theo Pourcahire, Loic Duval and Malthe Jakobsen gave 'The Lions' some cheer ahead of qualifying. Genesis Magma Racing continued to be well placed as the #19 entry of Paul-Loup Chatin, Daniel Juncadella and Mathieu Jaminet placed fifth just ahead of the #35 Alpine Hypercar of Ferdinand Habsburg and Charles Milesi. The second of the Genesis Magma GMR01 cars was seventh in another strong showing from the Korean manufacturer. Rounding out the top ten positions was the #7 Toyota, #15 BMW and the #50 Ferrari. The #38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA entry driven by Sebastien Bourdais was one of several to suffer a spin but was able to rejoin the session undamaged, though he did have a collision with the #58 Garage 59 McLaren driven by Finn Gehrsitz.
In the LMGT3 category, Charlie Eastwood posted the fastest time on the final laps of the session with the Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette ace setting a best of 1m51.232s. That eclipsed the #69 Team WRT lap of 1m51.564s set by Parker Thompson earlier in the session. Proton Competition Ford Mustang took third place with the #88 car of Giammarco Levorato, Stefano Gattuso and Logan Sargeant. The #54 VISTA AF Corse Ferrari entry of Thomas Flohr, Davide Rigon and Francesco Castellacci ended the session fourth quickest at the track where they have tasted so much prior success, while the championship leading #33 TF Sport Corvette of Ben Keating, Nicky Catsburg and Jonny Edgar took fifth spot ahead of the #77 Proton Ford Mustang.
