WEC: Toyota defeats Porsche at Fuji

The crowd of 54,700 fans (3 days) saw their home team, Toyota, take a 1-2 victory over Porsche in the 6 Hours of Fuji WEC race.

The #7 Toyota GR010 of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez won after a lengthy battle with the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 during the race.

After starting 2nd, The No. 7 Toyota sealed their fourth win of the 2023 season, winning this one by 39.119 seconds.

The #7 car’s fourth win of 2023 keeps their drivers’ World Championship challenge alive going into the seventh and final race, with the #8 crew now holding a 15-point lead and a maximum of 39 remaining.

A one-two victory after locking out the front row in qualifying does not reflect the full story of an incredibly close race at the front, which saw the GR010 Toyotas battling through the field and only taking the lead in the fifth hour.

At the start, Mike Conway was pushed down to third and Sébastien Buemi fell to sixth he was being hit by the #50 Ferrari at a chaotic turn one. When racing resumed after a first-lap safety car, Conway was then edged off track whilst fighting for second and dropped to fourth while Buemi overtook the #2 Cadillac for fifth.

The pressure at the front increased after the first driver changes, which came around the two-hour mark. José immediately set the fastest lap of the race and closed to within striking distance of the #6 Porsche during a charging stint, with Ryo also closing the gap in the third-placed #8.

Lopez relentlessly looked for a way past the leader and soon the top three were separated by barely a second after a string of fast laps from Ryo, who eventually passed José before making a bold overtake for the lead at the end of the fourth hour.

A few minutes later, the final driver changes saw Brendon take over in the lead, with Kobayashi a close second. Kobayashi was the fastest car on track and soon took the lead, stretching his advantage as Hartley fended off brief pressure from the #6 Porsche into the final hour of the race.

Kobayashi controlled the final stages and took the checkered flag after 229 laps to earn TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s ninth win in 10 races at Fuji Speedway and extend the team’s unbeaten streak which stretches back to 2016. Hartley crossed the line in second for the #8 crew.

In winning the race, Toyota also secured the FIA WEC Hypercar Manufacturers’ World Championship title.

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 a penalty for an 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 5th hour followed by several laps in the pits for repairs. The American squad eventually finished tenth.

Floyd Vanwall took 11^th 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

In LMP2, WRT came seconds from scoring a 1-2 finish, after a race-long duel with United Autosports’ ORECAs. The #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 #23 United ORECA early in the race that dropped it outside the top five in the opening hour.

In the end, though, Robert Kubica would steer the #41 home with a 16-second gap to the #22 United Autosports ORECA of Filipe Albuquerque that was involved in a door-to-door scrap with the #31 WRT ORECA in the final few laps.

“In the last 90 minutes we got undercut by the #23 but I knew they had to fuel save, I managed to take the lead, create a gap and bring it home,” Kubica said in summary. “This was really important for the championship, as Inter Europol didn’t score a lot of points and we finished in front of the #22.”

LMGTE-AM

GTE Am was another thriller, with twists and turns all the way to the end. The #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 #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 #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 #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 #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 #33 not ended up serving two costly penalties – one for the aforementioned contact with the winning #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.”

The final round of the 2023 FIA WEC season will take place in the Middle East at the start of November for the 8 Hours of Bahrain.

Koji Sato comment for the 6 Hours of Fuji

Together with our Japanese fans and partners who support our challenge in WEC, at the 6 Hours of Fuji, the sixth round of the season, the #7 car won from pole position and the #8 car completed a one-two victory. To make the victory even more special, we also secured the manufacturers’ World Championship. Thank you to everyone who supported us to achieve this.

Race Results – 6H of Fuji