Toyota took away the manufacturers’ title after a 1-2 finish in FIA WEC 6 Hours of Fuji where #7 won over #8.
Hypercar –
It was a dream result for Toyota Gazoo Racing at their home race, the WEC 6 Hours of Fuji, as the Japanese manufacturer secured a one-two result. In the doing so, Toyota also sealed the manufacturers’ championship. A total of 54,700 fans attended 6 Hours of Fuji over the weekend – a record number for the Japanese round of WEC.
The No. 7 Toyota Gazoo Racing run GR010 Hybrid Hypercar of Kamui Kobayashi, Jose Maria Lopez and Mike Conway sealed their fourth win of the 2023 season. They headed home the No. 8 sister car of Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa by 39.119 seconds.
Rounding out the top three was Porsche Penske Motorsport who equalled their best result of the season with the No. 6 Porsche 963 driven by Andre Lotterer, Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor. The trio were leading for more than half of the race with an exceptional drive from Vanthoor in the opening stint.
Le Mans winners Ferrari AF Corse claimed fourth and fifth with No. 50 finishing ahead of the No.51 499P Hypercar. Meanwhile, Hertz Team JOTA took sixth position but lost early momentum after penalty for early race collision with No.28 LMP2 sister entry.
Peugeot TotalEnergies finished seventh and eighth with No. 94 9X8 of Gustavo Menezes, Stoffel Vandoorne and Loic Duval led the sister car to the finish line. The No. 93 Peugeot lost time after a lengthy pit stop while the team needed to fix a hydraulic issue in the race’s final hour.
Proton Competition Porsche took its first WEC points after crossing the line ninth despite slipping out of contention with a safety belt issue mid-race. Meanwhile, Cadillac Racing had a difficult race after No.2 V.Series R lost its left front wheel in penultimate hour followed by several laps in the pits for repairs. The American squad eventually finishing tenth.
Floyd Vanwall took 11th position in the Vandervell 680 while No.5 Porsche Penske takes final classified position after losing time after first lap puncture and then long stop in fifth hour.
LMP2 –
#41 WRT Oreca-Gibson of Robert Kubica, Louis Delétraz and Rui Andrade won after overhauling the early-leading #22 United Autosports car. The trio extended their title advantage after their second win of the season.
The #31 WRT entry of Robin Frijns, Ferdinand Habsburg and Sean Gelael looked to have sealed 1-2 for WRT after Frijns vaulted United Autosports’ Filipe Albuquerque with 10 minutes to go but the Portuguese re-took the position in a thrilling fight, and along with teammates Phil Hanson and Frederik Lubin sealed second place.
Title-contending Inter Europol Competition arrived in Japan 10 points off the championship-leading Team WRT entry but experienced a difficult race weekend and took the checkered flag ninth in class.
LMGTE AM –
Davide Rigon, Thomas Flohr and Francesco Castellacci took the #54 AF Corse Ferrari to its first LMGTE Am win of 2023. The #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of Riotmo Miyata, Takeshi Kimura and Scott Huffaker finished second to make it 1-2 for the “Prancing Horse”, however, was later handed a 10s penalty for not reducing the speed sufficiently during a Full Course Yellow period.
Title-winning #33 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R experienced a hectic race that included two penalties to finish third on the road, but was promoted to second place following the penalty for the #57 car.
Here’s the WEC 6 Hours of Fuji results: http://fiawec.alkamelsystems.com/
[Note: The story is as per press release]
