6 Hours of Fuji – Syndication Server

Fuji triumphs bring WEC title sweep within Porsche’s reach

With an overall win for the No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 and a second-place finish for Manthey Pure Rxcing’s 911 LMGT3 R 992 in LMGT3 today in the 6 Hours of Fuji, the storied German brand is on the cusp of a truly remarkable feat: a clean …

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In Hypercar, Andre Lotterer, Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor dug deep, won from fifth on the grid and as a result, have opened up a 35-point lead heading into the Bahrain finale. With a maximum of just 39 points now on offer, barring a total disaster, the FIA Hypercar drivers’ world championship is theirs.

“We knew we had a chance this weekend,” said Vanthoor. “In Brazil and America, we were conservative and we didn’t take risks because we had a lead to protect. Today, though, we needed to capitalize — things felt good and we pushed with a good strategy.”

This time, it was Porsche that was perfect at Fuji. JEP/Motorsport Images

It was a near-perfect run from the No. 6, the only real blemish on the day an off at Turn 1 with the end in sight after AC liquid leaked onto the brake pedal, causing Estre’s foot to slip and miss the braking point. Aside from that, it was another flawless performance that adds to an impressive set of results in 2024 for the points leaders, including a victory in Qatar and three additional podiums.

That consistency means only one other crew remains in contention: Ferrari’s No. 50 trio of Miguel Molina, Antonio Fuoco and Nicklas Nielsen. Today’s race was a struggle for the Le Mans winners, who could only manage ninth. The 499P, once again, lacked outright pace on the Fuji circuit. The recent Evo Joker update did nothing to improve the team’s prospects on this occasion and the timing of the late-race safety car also cost it dearly.

In the middle portion of the six hours, the No. 50 did work its way to the front and led a chunk of the race. The team on the strategy desk opted to put Nielsen on a full set of fresh tires and let him loose to gain track position. He stormed to the front and for a time it looked like a masterstroke.

But race control’s decision to neutralize the field in the fifth hour to recover a stranded Lamborghini proved to be a major setback when on older tires the 499P simply didn’t have the pace to match or better the cars at the sharp end. Consequently, the No. 50 crew now has to win in Bahrain to have any shot at glory, and in the manufacturers’ battle, Ferrari needs to overcome a 27-point deficit.

Ferdinando Canizzo, the team’s head of endurance race cars, insists Ferrari hasn’t given up, but he acknowledged after the race realistically, it’s “game over.”

Hertz Team JOTA made Porsche’s day even sweeter by wrapping up the FIA WEC Hypercar World Cup for private teams. JEP/Motorsport Images

As for Toyota’s contenders in the No. 7 GR010 HYBRID — Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries — their title dreams are all but over, and on a day in which they hoped to claim a 10th win in 11 WEC races on home soil.

Instead, the No. 7 retired. Kobayashi’s overly ambitious move on the No. 5 Porsche at Turn 3 late in the race led to terminal damage, leaving himself and his full-season teammate 37 points adrift. To make matters worse, the sister car also lost out on a podium to a penalty for ignoring blue flags.

Not all is lost for Toyota, as it remains in the manufacturers’ hunt, 10 points behind Porsche. But make no mistake, this was a disastrous weekend for a brand which has become accustomed to winning major races and titles regularly. All of a sudden, it needs a standout weekend in Sakhir — and a fair share of luck — to come away with anything.

Adding to Porsche’s Hypercar successes, Hertz Team JOTA’s No. 12 963 wrapped up the Hypercar World Cup for private teams today. A fifth-place finish for Norman Nato, Will Stevens and Callum Ilott and a calamitous outing for the No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari was enough to seal it.

That of course, wasn’t the only title win for Porsche this evening, as Manthey Pure Rxcing wrapped up the LMGT3 teams’ championship and Joel Sturm, Alex Malykhin and Klaus Bachler took the drivers’ title with yet another dazzling performance.

The dream season continued for Manthey Pure Rxcing. JEP/Motorsport Images

The team’s decision to keep Malykhin in the car for over two hours early in the race and conserve tires proved to be the right one; it left Bachler with fresh rubber and a chance to attack at the end. Crucially, though, they capitalized on the dose of luck they were served in the form of a perfectly timed safety car. Despite hauling 40 kilos of ballast down the pit straight each lap, the advantage that gave them ultimately meant they found themselves fighting for a podium from 14th on the grid.

Pure Rxcing’s achievements this season deserve real recognition. In its debut WEC season, the Edgar Kochanovskij-led team has managed to orchestrate one of the most ruthless campaigns in the championship’s history. Second place at Fuji means the Le Mans 24 Hours is still the only race the No. 92 has finished off the podium. But missing out on a strong double points haul in France, as it’s turned out, didn’t matter in its pursuit of the title.

In the shorter races, the Pure Rxcing crew have met every challenge thrown their way and put together a fairytale run. As a reward for their efforts, Malykhin, Bachler and Sturm head to Bahrain as champions with the pressure off, knowing a memorable night awaits them at the end-of-season beach party.

For Porsche, the 2024 FIA WEC season has been one for the ages. Pure Rxcing and Cadillac-bound JOTA have played their part in its pursuit of all five titles. Now it’s over to Penske to finish the job.

Porsche ends Toyota’s home win streak in Fuji thriller

Toyota’s streak of six consecutive WEC race wins on home soil was snapped today at Fuji Speedway, after the No. 6 Porsche 963 claimed an emphatic victory in a drama-filled six hours. For points leaders Laurens Vanthoor, Andre Lotterer and Kevin …

Toyota’s streak of six consecutive WEC race wins on home soil was snapped today at Fuji Speedway, after the No. 6 Porsche 963 claimed an emphatic victory in a drama-filled six hours.

For points leaders Laurens Vanthoor, Andre Lotterer and Kevin Estre, a methodical run to the lead from fifth on the grid was enough to seal their second win of the season and first since the opening round at Qatar. More importantly, though, the performance was critical for their title challenge.

It has put them in an almost insurmountable position in the Hypercar drivers’ world championship and handed Porsche the lead back in the manufacturers’ title race. In the drivers’ ranking, the No. 6 trio’s lead has ballooned to 35 points ahead of the finale in November, where 39 points are on offer.

Their rivals in the No. 50 Ferrari came home a lowly ninth after struggling for pace and losing key positions in the closing stages and the No. 7 Toyota retired with suspension damage. A high-speed collision for Kamui Kobayashi with the No. 5 Porsche at Turn 3 in the penultimate hour ended the title hopes for himself and Nyck de Vries.

“It was an amazing team effort, it’s been a fantastic weekend with so much support and energy for the fans,” said Lotterer. “I always wanted to win this — it’s like a home race. For the championship, it’s also very good.”

Porsche upstaged Toyota and Ferrari at Fuji. JEP/Motorsport Images

Elsewhere, this race served as another marker of progress for BMW and Alpine after their standout performances at COTA two weeks ago.

Behind the winning Porsche, the No. 15 BMW M Team WRT M Hybrid V8 took second. Dries Vanthoor, Raffaele Marciello and Marco Wittmann in the No. 15 ran a perfect race from second on the grid and were rewarded with their best finish of the season, crossing the line 11 seconds back from the winning 963.

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The No. 36 Alpine A424 eventually finished third after the battle for the final podium place went down to the wire, as multiple penalties and door-to-door battles with time expiring changed the running order in the top five multiple times.

At first, Alpine’s sister car looked set to claim the French brand’s first podium of the year before it was penalized for contact, dropping the car to seventh. The No. 8 Toyota then inherited the place, but it too was handed a drive-through in the closing laps for ignoring blue flags and battling with the lead Porsche.

This left the No. 12 JOTA Porsche and No. 36 Alpine to duke it out for the set of trophies. Norman Nato in the No. 12 and Mick Schumacher in the No. 36 went at it hammer and tongs, with Schumacher making his final move up the inside at the final corner with seven minutes remaining.

Nato then lost another place to Mikkel Jensen, who in the No. 93 Peugeot, emerged as one of the fastest drivers on track in the closing laps and almost nabbed a shock podium.

Before a safety car was called with 80 minutes remaining to recover the Lamborghini SC63, which stopped on track with a gearbox issue, this year’s WEC race at Fuji was extremely tough to read. The running order shuffled frequently through the first four hours as teams ran through various pit and tire strategies to set themselves up for the end.

For the 56,000 fans trackside, though, it was an absorbing contest. Seven of the eight Hypercar factory teams led a lap and the top 10 cars finished on the lead lap by the end after the safety car bunched the field up and created a frantic finale.

A race this eventful was always going to leave a number of teams frustrated and disappointed. The No. 51 Ferrari crew’s race was a disaster and added to what turned into a forgettable race day for the factory team. James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi spent most of the race nursing a damaged car before it was retired after 168 laps with an energy recovery system issue. The COTA-winning No. 83 privately funded 499P also struggled and finished 12th.

Both cars hit trouble on the second lap of the race, when Robert Kubica in the No. 83 locked up and caused a chain reaction by rear-ending the No. 5 Porsche, which in turn cannoned into the No. 51 and No. 35 Alpine.

The damage sustained wasn’t terminal for any of the cars involved, but it did end the No. 5, No. 51 and No. 83’s chances of a strong finish immediately as they were forced to pit for repairs and in the case of the No. 83, serve a penalty for causing the collision. The No. 83 would be the only one of the three to make the finish as the No. 5 eventually retired after its contact with the No. 7 Toyota.

It was a disastrous race for the pole-sitters at Cadillac Racing in the end too. The U.S.-flagged team’s hopes of a breakthrough win were dashed during the third hour of the race, when Earl Bamber and Raffaele Marciello came together while battling for third place.

The contact between the two wasn’t heavy, but Marciello’s dive up the inside was enough to cause a front-right puncture on the No. 2, forcing Bamber to limp back to the pits for a quick swap which dropped the car to 13th.

Bamber and Lynn battled to salvage a result, but the car ended up being withdrawn from the race when Bamber hit the barriers head-on after losing control of the car on the marbles while fighting through traffic.

Lamborghini Iron Lynx’s SC63 also suffered misfortune on Sunday after an impressive Saturday. Daniil Kvyat, who snuck the car into Hyperpole for the first time, suffered a terminal gearbox issue in the penultimate hour while battling for a points-paying position.

In LMGT3, a spirited drive from Davide Rigon late in the race saw the No. 54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 claim the Italian brand’s first LMGT3 win (and podium) of the season.

“I am so happy, all season we deserved a good result and today we made it. We prepared the car well to double stint tires,” Rigon said after claiming a second win in a row at Fuji for himself, Thomas Flohr and Francesco Castellacci.

However, the biggest story in the class concerned Pure Rxcing, which took the drivers’ and teams’ titles in fine style with a second-place finish; the team’s sixth trip to the podium in seven races.

The Lithuanian-flagged Porsche, driven by Alex Malykhin, Joel Sturm and Klaus Bachler, didn’t have the ultimate pace throughout the weekend (in part due to it carrying 40kg of success ballast) and spent most of the race outside the top five after starting 14th, conserving tires for late in the race. But the team benefitted from the late-race safety car that was called to recover the stranded Lamborghini SC636 and set up a sprint finish.

The race was neutralized just as the car had cycled through to the lead just before its penultimate stop. This meant the team retained track position after visiting the pit lane, enabling Bachler to execute a controlled run to second, ahead of the No. 46 WRT BMW M4 GT3.

United Autosports came achingly close to claiming a first WEC win for McLaren with its No. 59 GT3 EVO, but Gregoire Saucy would relinquish the lead in the final hour and drop like a stone to eighth after being passed by the winning Ferrari, the Pure Rxcing Porsche and No. 46 WRT BMW and four other cars in the dash to the flag.

Elsewhere, the sister Manthey EMA Porsche’s title chances were put to bed with a late-race puncture, the No. 31 WRT BMW could only manage P10 and the Heart of Racing Aston Martin – which was the quickest of the title-contending cars throughout the meeting – eventually finished ninth.

The pole-sitting No. 55 Vista AF Corse Ferrari was another car that struggled through the race. It was classified sixth after Simon Mann, Francois Heriau and Alessio Rovera were forced to complete the entire race without ABS due to a sensor failure at the start.

Next up is the season finale in Bahrain on Nov. 2.

RESULTS

Cadillac working to carry one-lap WEC pace into race form

It was fifth time lucky for Cadillac Racing this afternoon at Fuji Speedway. After qualifying in the top four for four consecutive races, Alex Lynn finally broke through and scored the GM brand its first WEC pole, extending the streak to five races …

His session best 1m28.901s wasn’t quite the perfect lap, as he revealed afterwards that his previous tour was on course to be even faster before he was balked, but it was enough. Enough to give himself and his teammate Earl Bamber prime real estate on the grid for tomorrow’s race and prevent Toyota from grabbing the Saturday headlines before what it hopes will be a 10th win in 11 WEC races on home turf.

Lynn was understandably delighted with his performance. “It feels so good,” he said. “Honestly, we’ve tried so hard all year. I have to say this car is amazing on one lap. I’m so proud to have finally done it as I still have nightmares of that Le Mans night, missing it by a tenth.”

But the task is nowhere near complete. After almost two full seasons in the current era of Hypercar with Cadillac, Lynn knows full well that strong performance on qualifying day won’t necessarily translate to an easy ride in the race. Evidence of this can be found in the points table; nobody has won from pole yet this season in Hypercar.

Thus, Lynn was keen to point out during the post-session press conference that the team has primarily focused on nailing long-run pace all weekend, rather than refining the No. 2 car’s raw speed.

“In this field, nothing is given for free, so if you can start up front in these races, it’s a big advantage,” he explained. “But we’re still trying to figure out how to make our car just as fast over six hours or even 24. We know how to make it fast, it’s just getting it to do that for a whole race.

“We haven’t changed our mentality. We know we’re quite good in qualifying, but 99 per cent of our focus has been on the race.

“Hopefully, all that work we’ve put in will stand us in good stead when the lights go out. The track is pretty good. It’s quite hot out here this year, so that’s always a challenge trying to set the car up for multiple temperatures throughout tomorrow’s race.”

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With Chip Ganassi Racing’s stint as Cadillac’s Hypercar service provider coming to a close, a win (or indeed a podium) tomorrow would make for an emotional occasion for everyone behind the scenes who has played a part in the effort to this point.

This group, led by Stephen Mitas, has worked tirelessly in pursuit of a first win, yet come up short time and time again. Not only would a big result feel like a long time coming, but thoroughly deserved too.

Beating Toyota in its own backyard tomorrow will likely require a perfect run. But as this mesmerizing WEC season – which has produced a different winner at each event — has shown, you can afford to expect the unexpected and in the case of Cadillac Racing, dare to dream.

Cadillac nets first WEC pole at Fuji

Cadillac Racing’s No. 2 V-Series.R will start tomorrow’s 6 Hours of Fuji from pole position after Alex Lynn ended Toyota’s hopes of a front-row lockout with a blistering 1m28.901s at the end of Hyperpole. Lynn’s lap – which took the top spot by four …

Lynn’s lap – which took the top spot by four hundredths – delivered the GM brand its first WEC pole and extended the Ganassi-run squad’s streak of top-four performances in qualifying to five race with style.

“It feels so good,” Lynn exclaimed. “This car is amazing over one lap, massive congrats to Cadillac. I just wanted to give the team a pole position this year as we’ve come close so many times. I’ve proud we’ve done it.”

The No. 8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID will start second on the grid tomorrow after Ryo Hirakawa’s best effort. His 1m28.942s with under three minutes left was the first lap under 1m29 in the session, but it wasn’t enough.

The sister Toyota meanwhile, eventually dropped from provisional pole to fourth after Dries Vanthoor set a 1m29.059s at the death to put the No. 15 BMW M Hybrid V8 third.

Kevin Estre was the quickest Porsche driver, the Frenchman putting the championship-leading No. 6 factory 963 fifth with a 1m29.152s.

Alpine showed pace, the No. 35 A424 slotting in sixth ahead of the No. 50 Ferrari, as did Lamborghini Iron Lynx. The sole SC63 took ninth after Daniil Kyvat steered the Italian-flagged team into Hyperpole for the first time.

“It’s really positive for the team to get this result,” Kvyat told RACER. “If you had told me we’d get into Hyperpole yesterday I’d have laughed. It’s a nice surprise.”

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Further down the starting order, both JOTA Porsche 963s, both Peugeots, the No. 36 Alpine and two of the three Ferrari 499Ps (the COTA-winning No. 83 and No. 51) failed to make it into the final shootout.

It was certainly a sobering outcome for Robert Kubica. After the win in Austin just two weeks ago, qualifying 13th on the grid for tomorrow’s race was a tough pill to swallow.

“It’s a bit disappointing, I don’t know what happened,” he said. “We didn’t have grip. We need to see what’s going on with that, as it’s annoying. I tried my best and I got traffic in Turn 6. I might have snuck in without it.”

Vista AF Corse also got a maiden WEC pole. JEP/Motorsport Images

Vista AF Corse set the pace in LMGT3, Francois Heriau handing the Ferrari 296 LMGT3 its first WEC pole position with a superb improvement to 1m40.893s late in Hyperpole.

Heriau’s performance added to what has been an impressive run through the race meeting so far from AF Corse’s 296s, which were quick throughout practice and appear ready to finish on the podium for the first time.

“From the beginning of the year, we’ve shown good pace but have been unlucky. This doesn’t feel like a win, but we are very happy as a team,” Heriau said.

En route to his milestone result, Heriau had to get the better of TF Sport’s Tom van Rompuy, who briefly took provisional pole with his first flying lap. However, the Belgian’s best time – a 1m40.975s – wasn’t quite good enough to score himself and the Z06 LMGT3.R its second pole of the year.

The No. 95 United McLaren, after a strong performance from Josh Caygill and the Iron Dames Lamborghini, will occupy the second row.

United’s second McLaren also snuck into the top five and ended up exactly four-tenths off pole.

Vista AF Corse’s sister car made Hyperpole too but Thomas Flohr didn’t quite have the pace to make it a front-row lockout. He will start tomorrow’s race ninth behind the COTA-winning Heart of Racing Aston Martin.

Perhaps the biggest headline in the class from qualifying, though, came ahead of Hyperpole, as three of the championship-contending cars failed to make the shootout.

The No. 92 Pure Rxcing Porsche will start 14th just ahead of the sister EMA car in 15th. Both 911s struggled for outright pace and ended up a second off the fastest time in the session.

“I did the most I could with the car, that is our pace and what we’ve got. We will do our best tomorrow to score points,” championship leader from Pure Rxcing Alex Malkyhin admitted.

Neither WRT BMW made it through either. Darren Leung qualified 16th in class with a 1m42.013s in the No. 31, which is the better placed of the two M4 LMGT3s in the points standings. The No. 46 will line up 12th.

It was however a more encouraging run for AKKODIS ASP and its pair of RC F LMGT3s. The No. 87 missed out on the shootout by three-tenths and will start P11, while the No. 78 made it through and managed to nab sixth for Lexus’ home race.

Tomorrow’s race is set to start at 11:00am local time.

RESULTS

No. 8 Toyota tops final Fuji practice

Toyota’s No. 8 GR010 HYBRID finished up the final practice session ahead of the 6 Hours of Fuji this morning on top of the timing screens, with a 1m29.621s set by Ryo Hirakawa. The local hero’s lap came nine minutes into the hour-long session, which …

Toyota’s No. 8 GR010 HYBRID finished up the final practice session ahead of the 6 Hours of Fuji this morning on top of the timing screens, with a 1m29.621s set by Ryo Hirakawa.

The local hero’s lap came nine minutes into the hour-long session, which was preceded by a brief Circuit Safari session for a select group of fans and red-flagged with 21 minutes remaining due to an issue with the kerbs and runoff at the exit of Turn 1.

Replays during the stoppage showed a large chunk of brick coming loose as the No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P passed through, which prompted the decision by the race director to bring the action to a halt and inspect the area with circuit officials.

The session did not go green again in the end, meaning the teams lost a third of the track time. We now await news on a solution to the problem that will allow track action to resume.

Nevertheless, FP3 came to a close with four different manufacturers sitting in the top four, all setting times within two-tenths, teasing what promises to be an entertaining Qualifying session later today.

The No. 2 Cadillac slotted in second after a 1m29.707s from Alex Lynn 20 minutes into the run, the No. 50 Ferrari ended up third and the No. 35 Alpine rose to fourth during a nine-lap run from Charles Milesi.

Both Toyotas ended up in the top five, as the No. 7 GR010 ended up fifth with a 1m30.055s.

In LMGT3 Vista AF Corse’s Ferraris continued to flex their muscles, with the No. 55 ending up quickest and the No. 54 setting the second-fastest time after hot laps set shortly before the red flag. The best time from the two was a 1:41.206.

“At the moment it’s good but we need to remember it was half a session and we used new tyres,” No. 54 driver Davide Rigon said. “It should be a tight qualifying as yesterday there was one second between the top 17 cars. The car is never perfect but we have a good feeling.

Best of the rest was the No. 78 AKKODIS ASP Lexus, which came within two-tenths of the No. 55 with a 1m41.422s from Arnold Robin.

The No. 95 United Autosports McLaren, which briefly sat second after a tour from James Cottingham, ended up fourth with the championship-leading Pure Rxcing Porsche fifth.

Qualifying is set to get underway at 14:20 local time later today.

Gounon ‘on trial with myself’ to make the most of Alpine call-up

Alpine’s Hypercar reserve driver Jules Gounon is eager to soak up as much information and track time as possible this weekend in Fuji. The Frenchman – who was thrown in at the deep end as the substitute for the injured Ferdinand Habsburg earlier …

Alpine’s Hypercar reserve driver Jules Gounon is eager to soak up as much information and track time as possible this weekend in Fuji. The Frenchman — who was thrown in at the deep end as the substitute for the injured Ferdinand Habsburg earlier this year at Imola and Spa — is back for a third start in the No. 35 A424 and senses a prime opportunity to impress.

In April when he received the call to race in Italy following Habsburg’s crash in testing, the situation was far from ideal. He lacked track time and the Signatech-run Alpine effort was still finding its feet with its new car.

Now, though, at the back end of the campaign, Gounon rejoins the team at an exciting moment, fresh from its best result of the season just two weeks ago at Circuit of The Americas. There the A424 took a real step forward in performance terms and the No. 35 finished fifth.

“Everything was not ready for my debut, I had only one test day in the car before I arrived in Imola and everything was new,” he reflected in conversation with RACER. “I didn’t adapt to the systems and I didn’t do any work beforehand because I wasn’t expecting to drive. It was difficult, especially as I didn’t have any relevant downforce experience before in single-seaters or anything like that. All I did was one LMP2 test to convince Alpine to give me a reserve role!

“Spa was better, but still hard. All I had was 10 laps in each practice session and then in the races I did 45 minutes in Imola because of the changing conditions and in Spa, I did 50 minutes because of the red flag. It’s not a lot, so I’m definitely not where I want to be yet.

“However, coming back I can see a lot of progress since my last race, definitely,” he said. “Everyone has worked hard and it shows. The car feels much better, more consistent and more natural. The systems are better and that’s the key. There’s still a disadvantage compared to Porsche and Ferrari, who have more cars running and more time to analyze. But we all have the goal of building this.”

Better still, he has had ample time to mentally prepare for this cameo at Fuji in the seat usually occupied by Paul-Loup Chatin. To aid his development, this appearance was written into his contract before the season began, he’s had the weekend circled in his calendar for months.

What would a strong performance on Sunday mean for his future? Right now, there are no guarantees, but a standout performance would surely improve his chances of securing a full-time Hypercar drive in the future.

Taking that step will not be easy, though Gounon has both the ability and a résumé that speaks for itself. During his time as a Mercedes-AMG factory driver, he has racked up Spa 24 Hours, Rolex 24 At Daytona and Bathurst 12 Hour wins to his name, as well as a pair of World Challenge Europe titles. Now he has an eye on what’s next.

Thus, he is grateful that Mercedes-AMG — a brand that aspires to compete in the FIA WEC but doesn’t currently have a program — has been so accommodating, allowing him to explore a future in Hypercar by adding this reserve role at Alpine to his ongoing GT racing commitments.

“We are definitely in the golden era for endurance racing, with so many factories and pro drivers. I want to be a part of that going forward,” Gounon said when asked about his ambition to race in the WEC’s top class. “At the same time, I still have a contract with Mercedes until the end of next year, so I know I will still be doing GT racing. If one day I get the chance (in Hypercar), I will take it, but I will definitely not stop GT racing.

“For now though, my goal is to not let my teammates down. I know what I can deliver in terms of performance in a prototype like this, but I am not there yet. I’m not seconds off; I just need to find the final few tenths. I don’t feel like I am on trial with the team, instead, I am on trial with myself and I want to show what I can do and impress.

“With the team in the position it is in now, we hope to score more points and make a strong statement. I want to be a part of that. Every weekend comes with new challenges. Hopefully, we can face them.”

Toyota looks to reclaim WEC superpower form on home soil

The FIA World Endurance Championship’s Hypercar title battles resume at Fuji this weekend, two weeks on from AF Corse’s dramatic victory with the privately-funded No. 83 499P at Circuit of The Americas’ Lone Star Le Mans on Labor Day weekend. And while Ferrari and Porsche both head into the seventh race of the season with high hopes, they are under no illusions that beating Toyota on home soil will be anything other than a tall order.

Toyota’s WEC record is near perfect at the Fuji Speedway, with nine wins in 10 races. The only exception came back in 2015 when Porsche won with its 919.

While some of its victories over the years came while racing in a lean top-class, it demonstrated last year — after Porsche led the opening hours of the race with its No. 6 963 — that even with stiff opposition the Toyota team is capable of orchestrating a formation finish on Sunday evening. The million-dollar question ahead of the race is therefore whether or not Toyota will prove to be the safe bet once again.

The speedway named for nearby Mount Fuji has been a happy hunting ground for Toyota and its GR010 HYBRID but the opposition has been gaining ground. JEP/Motorsport Images

The season hasn’t been a stroll in the park for Toyota like it was at times in 2023, but its GR010 HYBRIDs have progressed through the season nicely after a tough start to the campaign in Qatar, where an out-of-character performance saw them fighting in the mid-pack.

Since challenging for victory but ultimately coming up short again at Le Mans back in June, Toyota has hit fine form. The No. 8’s race-winning run in Brazil in July looked comfortable and a second win in a row looked odds-on at COTA earlier this month before the No. 7 was penalized in the closing stages while leading and fell to second.

The result? For the first time in 2024 Toyota heads into a race weekend leading the Hypercar manufacturers’ world championship and if Sunday goes to plan it has every chance of traveling to the season finale with the upper hand in the drivers’ title race too.

The overarching narrative in Hypercar during the first half of the season centered around Porsche’s turnaround and Ferrari’s second fairytale run at Le Mans. Now, it seems, the script has been flipped. With titles on the line, the most experienced and successful team in the class is once again firing on all cylinders.

Despite all this, Toyota’s team director Rob Leupen told RACER that the team is proceeding with caution this weekend. Extending its win streak in Japan, he stressed, is likely to be tougher than ever.

“Three teams are fighting for the championship. And for us, it will be tough to know where we are until Sunday. In Austin, we struggled in qualifying but the race went much better than expected, like São Paulo,” he explained. “We will need to fight because we have seen Porsche strong here last year. Here we are the team to beat, but it will be a hard and close fight.”

Nailing the tire strategy, as ever, will be crucial — especially if it stays dry on Sunday and both the Michelin medium and hard compounds prove useful. Qualifying well may be more of a priority than usual too, as overtaking on Fuji Speedway is notoriously tough, particularly in Sectors 2 and 3 where opportunities to pass even the slower GT cars are limited.

While Alpine, Cadillac and BMW are tipped to be in the mix on Sunday, Toyota will remain focused on beating Porsche and Ferrari.

Toyota’s execution and strategy figure to be tested at Fuji. JEP/Motorsport Images

Penske’s No. 6 963 of Laurens Vanthoor, Andre Lotterer and Kevin Estre finished on the podium last year in Japan and all three are keen to bounce back and prevent their slim 12-point lead from shrinking further before Bahrain.

“This is one of the tracks that suits our car better, which is good because it’s an important race to do well,” Lotterer told RACER. “I haven’t thought too much about the title before this weekend because you need to take it race-by-race.

“We’ve been strong and consistent and found ways to extract the maximum out of our package, especially in the last two races when we lacked speed. Ultimately, whether or not the title race is on your mind the task doesn’t change.”

Ferrari’s 499 struggled for outright pace at Fuji 12 months ago, but on the face of it, there’s reason to believe that its second visit may yield better results. The recent Joker update — focused on brake cooling and aero efficiency — was originally expected to be most effective here and in Bahrain. However, the mood within the camp is not as positive as you may expect.

“It’s clear already after FP1 that this is going to be a tough weekend for us. I don’t expect the Joker change to make a big difference,” No. 50 driver Antonio Fuoco told RACER. “We should be OK for the top 10 for qualifying but I think it’s going to be a long race. It’s a matter of staying out of trouble and doing the best we can in a very deep field.”

Securing the manufacturers’ title is Toyota’s number one priority, but with the No. 7 full-season duo of Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries firmly in the fight for drivers’ honors, Leupen admits that team orders may be required between its two crews to ensure it is best positioned to claim both championships in November.

“The No. 7 will get more support to secure points if they are in the position to continue to fight for the championship,” he said. “It’s important. But if anything happens then we will push the No. 8. It’s a team effort and we will work with both cars because they need to support each other.”

BMW’s Vanthoor leads second Fuji WEC practice

BMW M Team WRT’s No. 15 M Hybrid V8 set the pace in the second Free Practice session of the WEC weekend in Fuji this afternoon. Dries Vanthoor was the hotshoe for the team in the session, setting a 1m29.577s early in the running as part of a flurry …

Vanthoor’s 1m29.577s was almost a full second quicker than the best time set in Free Practice 1 earlier in the day by his older brother Laurens Vanthoor in the the No. 6 factory Porsche, but just 0.009s up on the No. 5 Porsche that slotted in second this time with a lap from Matt Campbell.

Adding to the encouraging session for BMW was a late long-run from Raffaele Marciello, who completed a series of fast laps in the No. 15 with medium tires on the front and hards on the rear, as the team worked towards nailing in a setup for the race.

Completing the top five was the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series. R, No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari and No. 8 Toyota, all three lapping within three and a half tenths of the No. 15 BMW.

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Like Hypercar, the running order in LMGT3 was significantly different from FP1, with the Vista AF Corse finding speed. Alessio Rovera put the No. 55 Ferrari atop the times with a 1m40.851s. However, Marino Sato’s 1m40.528s from the earlier session in the No. 95 United Autosports McLaren remains the quickest lap of the day from the class.

TF Sport’s No. 82 Corvette finish up second in the afternoon, with the No. 60 Iron Lynx Huracan third. It was extremely close in the category, with 16 of the 18 cars lapping within a second.

There was one notable incident, with Claudio Schiavoni spinning at Turn 10 in the No. 60 Huracán, before receiving a reprimand for an unsafe rejoin.

Track action continues tomorrow with Free Practice 3 at 10:20am local time.

RESULTS

Vanthoor leads opening Fuji practice for Porsche

The No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 set the fastest time in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s first practice session of the weekend at Fuji Speedway, Laurens Vanthoor completing a 1m30.561s early on to put himself and his …

Toyota’s No. 8 GR010 HYBRID ended up second on the timing screens in Hypercar with a 1m30.571s from Ryo Hirakawa, while Ferrari’s Le Mans-winning No. 50 499P made it three manufacturers in the top three.

Completing the top five were the sister factory Porsche and Toyota’s No. 7 car, which ended up fourth and fifth, with marginally faster laps in the hot, humid weather than the No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari which won last time out at COTA. Peugeot’s No. 94 sister car ended up seventh, with the fastest of the Alpine A424s — the No. 35 — eighth.

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Further down the order the No. 93 9X8 slotted in 16th, the car completing just 31 laps — the fewest in the class — after missing time early due to engine checks in its pit box.

In LMGT3 it was a strong start to the weekend for United Autosports, its No. 95 McLaren GT3 EVO topping the times with a 1m40.528s. The No. 95 did however bring out FP1’s only red flag in the final half hour, after stopping at Turn 10 after Marino Sato had contact with the Cadillac.

The pair of Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3s completed the top three with the No. 55 ahead of the No. 54, both within 0.2s of the McLaren.

RESULTS

Toyota resists Porsche pressure to take Fuji 1-2

Toyota Gazoo Racing scored a memorable 1-2 finish on home soil and secured the FIA WEC Hypercar Manufacturers’ World Championship in the FIA WEC 6 Hours of Fuji. Its No. 7 GR010 of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez led home the …

A front-row lockout, a 1-2 finish and a title win suggests a simple day’s work at first glance, but this was far from a walk in the park. The No. 6 Porsche Penske 963 of Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre and Andre Lotterer led more than half of the race and forced Toyota to work hard in its pursuit of a fifth victory in 2023 and a sixth consecutive victory at Fuji.

In the end, Toyota had enough pace and consistency with both of its cars to create a comfortable margin by the end of the race, but this was still a hugely encouraging day for Porsche and for the LMDh platform in the WEC. Vanthoor and later Estre demonstrated that the 963 is capable of fighting for wins in this company in what was the Penske-run team’s most convincing performance, by some distance.

Porsche’s Vanthoor takes the lead from the Toyotas at the start. Motorsport Images

Vanthoor laid the foundations for a thrilling first half to the race when he took the lead from Mike Conway into Turn 1, with a daring move up the inside at the start. It was a messy run through the hairpin for much of the Hypercar field, with many cars taking evasive action and driving off the track.

The No. 6 took control while both Toyotas ran wide and fell back down the order, behind the two Ferrari 499Ps. For Conway in the No. 7, the task quickly switched from building a lead from pole, to fighting back through the field.

Before the end of the opening hour the fightback was well underway and he found himself up to second after making moves on the No. 51 Ferrari of James Calado and No. 50 of Miguel Molina, leaving him just one more move to make. But Vanthoor had created a healthy 16-second gap and had the pace to go toe-to-toe with the Briton, who eventually handed over to Jose Maria Lopez to finish the job.

The race for the lead came alive towards the halfway mark after Lopez reeled in Kevin Estre, who took the wheel of the No. 6 after Vanthoor. The Argentinian tried everything, yet couldn’t find a way through and was eventually caught by the recovering No. 8 Toyota, then piloted by Ryo Hirakawa, who in the space of a few minutes made a move on Lopez for second and then Estre for the lead at Turn 10 just before the fourth set of stops.

Once that move was made it effectively ended Porsche’s chances of victory, as Lotterer emerged from the pits down to third. There was one final twist though, as the No. 8 dropped to second behind the No. 7 at Turn 1, the team ordering Brendon Hartley to let Kamui Kobayashi through with the final hour approaching.

The 1-2 finish, with the No. 7 coming home first for a fourth time this season, has had significant repercussions for the title battles. Toyota claimed the manufacturers’ title for a fifth season in a row after Ferrari AF Corse’s 499Ps failed to finish on the podium.

“I need to congratulate everyone back in Cologne and here in Japan,” Lopez said. “There are so many people behind this project, and we must thank them for making this result. I knew we had the car to do it.”

“I hope this gets a lot more people looking at our championship, that’s what I am looking for,” Kobayashi added.

The drivers’ title isn’t yet settled, though as Kobayashi, Conway and Lopez closed the gap on the No. 8 crew heading into the finale. Hartley, Hirakawa and Sebastien Buemi sit on 133 points while today’s race winners now have 118. Ferrari’s Le Mans winners in the No. 51 are third with 108.

Heading into the race, much of the talk centered around whether or not Ferrari could snatch a home win from Toyota after it failed to achieve the same feat at Monza, and how much of an impact Peugeot could make on its second trip to Japan with the 9X8, following its head-turning podium in Italy.

But it was Porsche that would prove to be the disruptor and a surprise package, claiming a second podium of the season, but in far more convincing fashion than at Portimao. Ferrari and Peugeot meanwhile, had equally forgettable races.

Off the podium, the two 499Ps finished fourth and fifth, with the No. 50 ahead of the No. 51. The cars started strongly but quickly faded. Ferrari’s lack of experience showed today. For the first time this season, it headed into the race with no prior testing at the circuit and simply didn’t have the pace.

The drivers reported issues with grip. Miguel Molina explained that the team started the No. 50 on the hard tyre on each corner, before making a gamble with running the mediums on the left side after the first stops. It didn’t work either and in the end neither Ferrari finished on the lead lap.

What about Peugeot? The team headed into the race weekend with confidence that it could make an impact after its performances at Le Mans and Monza, but neither 9X8 had the pace to feature and finished seventh and eighth.

The remaining four LMDh cars in the field were also unable to make the top five, with various incidents and issues proving costly.

The sister Porsche Penske 963 had a torrid time, with a puncture on the opening lap (after being hit), a penalty and a power steering issue. The Proton example, which was brand-new for this weekend, also hit trouble with a seatbelt failure that caused two trips to the garage. Hertz Team JOTA had a better outing and finished sixth, but had to serve a penalty for hitting the team’s LMP2 car.

Cadillac’s V-Series.R, meanwhile, finished 10th, its biggest delay coming late in the race when Earl Bamber had to limp back to the pits after the front-left wheel became detached.

In LMP2, WRT came seconds from scoring a 1-2 finish, after a race-long duel with United Autosports’ ORECAs. The No. 41 crew of Robert Kubica, Louis Deletraz and Rui Andrade came alive in the second half of the race, recovering well from contact with the No. 23 United ORECA early in the race that dropped it outside the top five in the opening hour.

Rui Andrade, Robert Kubica, and Louis Delétraz took a comfortable LMP2 win. Motorsport Images.

In the end, though, Robert Kubica would steer the No. 41 home with a 16-second gap to the No. 22 United Autosports ORECA of Filipe Albuquerque that was involved in a door-to-door scrap with the No. 31 WRT ORECA in the final few laps.

“In the last 90 minutes we got undercut by the No. 23 but I knew they had to fuel save, I managed to take the lead, create a gap and bring it home,” Kubica said. “This was really important for the championship, as Inter Europol didn’t score a lot of points and we finished in front of the No. 22.”

Robin Frijns, who briefly took second from Albuquerque, would have to settle for third (the crew’s first podium of the year) in the No. 31 after their tussle through traffic.

The No. 23 United Autosports ORECA ended up finishing fourth, ahead of the No. 36 Alpine that finished fifth.

WRT’s No. 41 trio haven’t quite won the title with their second win of the season, but they head to the finale in firm control. They have 135 points, while Inter Europol’s drivers have 102 after a disappointing ninth-place finish and the No. 22’s full-season drivers, Frederick Lubin and Phil Hanson, are a further point back on 101.

“The strategy was to have a clean race and score as many points as possible. We lost a bit with the contact at the start, but we got there in the end,” added Deletraz.

Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci and Davide Rigon emerge triumphant in a wild GTE Am battle at Fuji. Motorsport Images

GTE Am was another thriller, with twists and turns all the way to the end. The No. 54 AF Corse Ferrari of Davide Rigon, Francesco Castellacci and Thomas Flohr took their first win of the season, finishing 19 seconds clear of the No. 57 Kessel Racing Ferrari that made it a 1-2 for the Italian manufacturer with its best finish of the season.

“Fuji brings us a lot of luck (after the No. 54 crew won Am previously in 2017). There was a big scare when I was hit by the Corvette, but my past rally experience allowed me to miss the wall. If we are put down, we fight harder and that’s the spirit of the team,” said a delighted Thomas Flohr.

The result would change after the flag, though, as the No. 57 Ferrari received a post-race 10-second time penalty because Ritomo Miyata “didn’t reduce speed to 80 kph within the required time under FCY” during the race. This promoted the No. 33 Corvette Racing C8.R to second place, adding to what was a rollercoaster race for Ben Keating, Nico Varrone and Nicky Catsburg.

Had the No. 33 not ended up serving two costly penalties — one for the aforementioned contact with the winning No. 54 Ferrari into Turn 10 — and another for forcing the GR Racing Porsche off track, Corvette would surely have scored its fourth win of the season. The fuel-saving strategy the team attempted to employ was simply staggering, Ben Keating in the opening stints of the race tasked with trying to limit the car to four pit stops.

“I am a right-foot braker,” Keating said to WEC TV after his stint. “Because I only use my right foot on the pedals, I use a lot less fuel. Turn 1 is downhill, Turn 3 is downhill, and you can save without losing much lap time. They gave me a target to hit.”

But his swipe on Thomas Flohr, which sent the Swiss off track and onto the grass would force the team in for both a door change at a regular stop and a 30-second stop and hold.

After the penalties were served, Nico Varrone fought hard to claw back the lost time and put the car back into contention before Catsburg’s stint. The second penalty put the final nail in the coffin though, dropping the car to third late in the race, with a margin to the cars ahead that Catsburg was unable to make up before the end of the race.

The penalty for Kessel dropped its Ferrari to fourth. Further back the No. 85 Iron Dames Porsche, which was in the mix throughout ended up finishing fourth, ahead of the Project 1 AO 911 RSR 19. The best of the Aston Martins, the No. 98 Northwest AMR Vantage, ended up seventh, behind the No. 77 Dempsey Proton Porsche.

Next up is the final race of the 2023 FIA WEC season, which is set to be held on November 4 in Bahrain.

RESULTS