The FIA WEC returns to the spotlight with round six of the season, the 6 Hours of Fuji. There are 65 points left to award this season with 39 points for the Bahrain 8 hours race and 26 for the 6 Hours of Fuji. Three championships are at stake for Hypercars:

FIA WEC Hypercar World Endurance Manufacturers’ Championship
FIA WEC Hypercar World Endurance Driver's Championship
FIA World Cup for Hypercar teams

Fuji’s track is challenging for the teams with one of the longest straights in motorsports (almost 1.5 kilometres) alternating wide-radius bends such as the famous “100 R”, with others taken at low speeds. The teams will do a lot of fine-tuning to optimise the car’s performance in radically different sectors. Since TOYOTA GAZOO Racing have won eight of the nine WEC races in Japan since returning to top-level endurance racing in 2012, their experience with the track is definitively an asset against rival hypercar manufacturers.

Aleesandro Pier Guidi: “The Fuji track represents something unique in the championship calendar as it alternates between a fast section – the first two sectors – and a very slow one – the final sector. From the point of view of the car’s set-up, you can opt for a medium-high load set-up, which guarantees better performance in the mixed section at the expense of speed, or vice versa at a medium-low load. In spite of the fact that it is not my favourite track, I have fond memories of Fuji in the LMGTE Pro class: apart from the triumph in 2022, the win in 2017 remains indelibly etched in my memory, at a race held in very demanding conditions, on the wet asphalt: it was a key race for the conquest of my first world title, with James Calado. Source: Ferrari Press Office

FIA WEC Hypercar World Endurance Manufacturers’ Championship.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Spa-Francorchamps.

The reigning World Champions aims for a fifth victory in 2023, which could secure the FIA WEC Hypercar World Endurance manufacturers’ Championship for a fifth consecutive season. The team leads Hypercar rivals Ferrari by 26 points and will secure the crown if it outscores the Italian marque by 13 points in Fuji.

Cadillac and Porsche have definitively lost any chance of winning the championship because Cadillac (3rd) is 80 points behind Toyota and Porsche (4th) is 86 points behind.

📷 © Luc Warnotte at 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The #2 Cadillac entry was only 0.231 of a second off the pole-winning lap time at Spa and 0.362 of a second arrears at Monza. Earl Bamber said us 09/25/23 “we are close on the edge to be in front of them.”

The Porsche Penske Motorsport works squad is also aiming for a podium finish. Kévin Estre (Porsche 963 #6): “Japan is one of my absolute favourite countries. I’m very eager to travel there again. We were consistently strong in Fuji with the 911 RSR. Whether that will also be the case with the Porsche 963 is too early to tell, since we’ve never tested there. Our engineers have intensively analysed the data from Monza to fine-tune some aspects and squeeze every last ounce of performance out of the car. I’d like us to have an upper hand on our rivals in Japan.“ Source: Porsche

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Monza. Peugeot 9X8 #93 first podium.

With Peugeot's rise in performance at Monza, those three manufacturers will definitely play a role in the Manufacturers title attribution.

FIA WEC Hypercar World Endurance drivers' championship

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Monza. Current Drivers Championship standing: Toyota #8, Toyota #7, Ferrari #51.

In the FIA WEC Hypercar World Endurance drivers' championship, only the crews of Toyota #7, Ferrari #50 and #51 can still claim to beat the current leaders Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa in the #8 GR010 HYBRID who are leading the Drivers’ Championship with 23 points.

6 Hours of Monza winners Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López in the #7 GR010 HYBRID are second in the standings heading to Fuji.

Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car #7): “Everyone in the team is looking forward to our home race and the chance to compete in front of our Japanese fans, as well as our Toyota colleagues and partners who contribute so much. After Le Mans, winning at Fuji is our next priority and we have a very strong record there. So our target is to extend our run of victories, despite the very close competition amongst the Hypercar. It will be a big fight between a lot of manufacturers which is what all the fans want to see. We won on Ferrari’s home ground in Monza in the last race, so I am sure they will want to get their revenge this weekend. We need to get everything right, avoid any mistakes, and keep pushing to stay in front. With only two races to go in the season, this is a critical race for the World Championship so we will be giving everything.” Source: Toyota

Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi, who share the 499P #51, are third also 23 points behind the championship leaders. Their #50 Hypercar teammates Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen are fourth, 7 points behind the #51 trio.

Antonio Giovinazzi: “We’re back at the wheel of the 499P two months after the Monza race with the aim of doing our best to undermine Toyota, who remain the main rivals in the championship. We still have two important races before the end of the year and we are determined to get the best possible results: the hope is to keep the championship challenge wide open until the final round in Bahrain. And Fuji? I know little about the track, where I competed in 2016 in an LMP2 prototype. It is an unusual track, fast in the first two sectors and very slow in the final one, so tyre management throughout the six hours will be important.” Source: Ferrari Press Office

📷 © Luc Warnotte at Spa-Francorchamps. #2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R.

Admittedly, the Lynn, Bamber and Westbrook trio with the LMDh based Cadillac #2 can still mathematically win the championship but, with 44 points behind while there are 65 to be awarded in the last two rounds, it would be very surprising if the Toyota #8 fails to garner 22 points which would definitely put them out of reach for the crew of the beautiful sound making blue American car.

Alex Lynn: “I always look forward to racing at Fuji, which holds a special place in my memory. It’s a great race circuit with a beautiful backdrop. On the competition side, I think we have at least another podium in us this season. The car deserves that and this team deserves another result this year and we’ll be going to Fuji with a lot of motivation to achieve that.” Source: Cadillac Racing

FIA World Cup for Hypercar teams

Engaged since the start of the championship, the British team JOTA was able to garner 100 points by finishing the rounds of Sebring and Portimao (in LMP2 with Oreca #48) and Spa (with Porsche 969 #38). Since then, they have not scored any more points as well as their only title rival (Proton Competition) which participates in the championship since Monza. JOTA is already assured of the title in the Teams Hypercar classification.

Yifei Ye (Porsche 963 #38): “The first seven months of the year were very labour-intensive, so I really enjoyed the rest period after Monza. I relaxed, but also trained a lot and intensively prepared myself physically and mentally for the last two races of the year. Our team has evaluated the data from Monza. We have concrete ideas about what we want to try out in Fuji to become even more competitive. I’m looking forward to Japan because I used to race karts there when I was ten and eleven years old. As a Porsche Motorsport Asia-Pacific selected driver, it’s obviously close to my heart to put in a particularly strong performance on an Asian track.“ Source: Porsche

Neel Jani (Porsche 963 #99): “We used the long break after the last race in Monza to analyse our initial experiences with the Porsche 963. In Fuji, we are competing with a completely new car, as the car from Monza will be fielded in the American IMSA series. I’m very familiar with the Fuji racetrack from my races in the FIA WEC. The fans in Japan are always extremely enthusiastic. I’m looking forward to the atmosphere there. On the sporting side, we’re giving everything, as always. But we’re still a fledgling team so every lap counts. Our learning curve remains steep.“ Source: Porsche

The programme:

Friday, 8 September: free practice sessions from 11 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. and from 3.30 to 5 p.m.
Saturday the 9th, after the third free practice session from 10.20 to 11.20 a.m., qualifying from 3.30 to 3.45 p.m. decides the starting grid for the 6 Hours,
Sunday the 10th at 11 a.m. (all times are local).

The qualifying and the race can be followed live on FIA WEC TV.