Fuji win #10 for Toyota/Michelin!
The 6 Hours of Fuji was won by the #8 Toyota TR010 Hybrid of Buemi/Hartley/Hirakawa, just 590-thousandths of a second clear of the #36 Alpine A424 which had led for much of the distance. Third over the line was the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8. The Hypercars lapped on Michelin's soft or medium Pilot Sport Endurance slicks in the mixed dry/damp conditions.
Thanks to its strong times in free practice, Alpine was able to monopolize the grid's front row after qualifying was canceled. Its pole-sitting #36 prototype went on to top the leaderboard until the last of the Japanese round's six hours.
The track had not dried entirely for the start of Sunday's race and the majority of the Hypercars opted for Michelin's soft Pilot Sport Endurance slick, with only four cars on mediums all-round.
The delicate conditions produced a tangle in the GT3 field through Turn 1, leading to the first of the day's numerous Safety Car/Full Course Yellow/Virtual Safety Car interruptions. Prior to the last of these, with less than an hour to go, Alpine had seemed to be cruising to its first ever FIA WEC one-two finish, a year after its maiden win at the same venue.
However, the last round of refueling stops – under the Safety Car – changed all that when the French squad chose to provide its #36 car with four fresh soft slicks. In contrast, the #8 Toyota and #15 BMW made do with a quick 'splash' of fuel that enabled them to rejoin in front, ahead of the A424s. A late push saw Victor Martins (#36) recover second place, but Toyota's Ryo Hirakawa held firm during the exciting last 20 minutes to claim victory.
The Japanese make's tenth FIA WEC success at Fuji Speedway concluded what turned out to be a somewhat complex weekend... “The cold weather for the start of race, when the track temperature was no higher than 20°C, made tire choice difficult,” reported Pierre Alves, manager of Michelin Motorsport's endurance racing programs. “Our partners ran different strategies, ranging from four softs to four mediums, or a combination of both. The soft proved competitive over two stints during the race, while at the same time enabling the drivers to benefit from fast warm-up performance after the various re-starts.”
After failing to make any real mark for much of the afternoon, the #15 BMW took advantage of its last pit-stop to gain a footing on the podium, but its championship-topping #20 sister prototype was delayed by two collisions.
The #35 Alpine and #38 Cadillac rounded out the top-five, followed home by the #94 Peugeot which managed to fight back from 15th to sixth place. Ferrari failed to build on its recent success at Austin, while Genesis Magma Racing was poorly rewarded for its strong early showing.
The FIA WEC's next round will take teams to Barcelona, Spain, on October 18. The fixture was added to the calendar to stand in for the originally-planned race in Qatar.