Toyota currently leads the overall standings with 152 points, 26 points ahead of its nearest rival, Ferrari.. However, with a total of 65 points still up for grabs (25 for Fuji and 38 for Bahrain, plus extra points for pole position in each race), there is still a chance for Ferrari to catch up with the reigning champions.
36 cars will compete on the Fuji International Circuit, which is 4,563 kilometers long, as the shortest on the WEC calendar. It is located 100 km west of Tokyo. Fuji is famous for its 1.5 km finish line, where the Hypercars reach speeds of around 320 km/h and nearly 41% of the lap is driven at full power. During each lap of the circuit, Hypercar drivers change gears up to 36 times.
Toyota has an excellent track record on its home circuit, having won the previous five editions. In fact, Toyota has only lost once at Fuji in the current WEC season since 2012, when Porsche took the win in 2015. However, Ferrari has shown incredible speed this season, scoring victory at Le Mans, and there was stiff competition from Cadillac, Porsche and Peugeot, meaning another home win for Toyota was no easy feat.
All at stake in the fight for the LMP2 title
A total of 12 Hypercars will compete in the main WEC category at Fujione less than the previous round at Monza, as Glickenhaus Racing opted to skip the Japanese race.
Naturally, local fans will be there to support Toyota Gazoo Racing, which has two local drivers in its ranks: Kamui Kobayashi in car number 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid and Ryō Hirakawa in car number 8. Indeed, the Fuji Circuit This is more than just a home race for the team, as the hybrid powertrain of the GR010 HYBRID is designed, developed and built just a few kilometers from the circuit.
Among the drivers, it is the Toyota GR010 Hybrid team number. 8 (Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ryō Hirakawa) lead the drivers’ championship with a lead of 23 points. However, all eyes will be on the heated battle for second place, which will see the number 7 Toyota team (Jose María López, Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi) tie on points, with the number 51 Ferrari team and the winning trio. of Le Mans consists of James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi.
Following the successful Hypercar debut at Monza in July, the 99th Proton Competition entry will bring the total number of Porsche 963s competing in Japan to four, joining the two Porsche Penske Motorsport cars (number 5 and number 6) and the Porsche of Hertz Team JOTA group.
Behind Toyota and Ferrari, Cadillac confirmed its position as the third force in the field of Hypercars. A great asset of the V-Series.R, its reliability has led the brand to two podiums in the WEC this season. The team will make its Hypercar debut on Asian soil with the Cadillac V-Series.R, which is always a crowd pleaser.
After achieving its first WEC podium at Monza in July, Peugeot TotalEnergies will return to Fuji for the second time with its two Peugeot 9X8 Hypercars. Vandoorne, who is the official reserve driver for Peugeot TotalEnergies, will replace Nico Mueller, who will miss the Japanese WEC race due to injury. Vandoorne will race at the wheel of the Peugeot 9X8 alongside Loic Duval and Gustavo Menezes.
The team occupies fifth position in the standings, 16 points behind Porsche, which holds fourth place. Completing the Hypercar entry list will be Floyd Vanwall Racing with Esteban Guerrieri, Tristan Vautier and Joao Paulo de Oliveira at the wheel.
Just ten points separate the two LMP2 leaders heading into Fuji, with Team WRT leading the Inter Europol Competition in second place. United Autosports is in third place, 28 points behind the category leaders, Team WRT.
In LMP2, Felipe Albuquerque will return to the United Autosports team after missing the previous round due to commitments in other races. Another notable driver change is in Prema Racing’s 63rd entry, with Andrea Caldarelli returning to the Oreca 07 Gibson alongside Doriane Pin and Daniil Kvyat.
Meanwhile, Corvette Racing clinched the LMGTE Am title in the final race at Monza, who amassed an impressive total of 145 points with two rounds remaining. However, the battle for second and third place is much closer, with just seven points separating the second-placed Iron Dames from third-placed ORT of TF and fourth-placed Dempsey-Proton Racing.
After sitting out the previous round, Northwest AMR’s #98 team, including Ian James, Daniel Mancinelli and Alex Riberas, will return for Fuji.
Japanese team D’Station Racing will be a big favorite to the local fans at Fuji, with Satoshi Hoshino and Tomonobu Fujii driving the Aston Martin Vantage AMR with Casper Stevenson.
Notable driver changes to the LMGTE Am include two Japanese additions in the 21st AF Corse team, with Horoschi Koizumi and Kei Cozzolini driving with Simon Mann. Cozzolino was racing with Kessel Racing earlier in the season, but Daniel Serra returned to the team for this race, along with Japan’s Takeshi Kimura and Scott Huffaker.
The on-track action is set to begin on Friday, September 8 in the first free practice session (FP1). Qualifying will take place on Saturday afternoon, with the 6-hour race starting at 11am on Sunday, September 10.
The latest registration list for the 6 Hours of Fuji can be found HERE.
Ticket sales information can be found HERE.
Follow all the action via the official FIA WEC app. Or watch the race live on television on Eurosport across Europe, MotorTrend in the United States or, for fans in Japan who can’t make it to Fuji, the entire race will be broadcast live on J Sports.
Race schedule
Thursday April 27
04:00 – 05:30 Free training 1
08:30 – 10:00 Free Training 2
Friday April 28
03:20 – 04:20 Free practice 3
07:40 Qualification
Saturday April 29
04:00 – 10:00 Race
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
