Porsche animates the 6 Hours of Fuji.

WECHyperCar

Sep 10

Vanthoor and Estre with the Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 #6 spent two-thirds of the 6 hours of Fuji in the lead but were ultimately unable to defend the top spot.

📷 © Courtesy of Porsche: Laurens Vanthoor with #6 Porsche Penske 963 takes the lead.

In sunshine and temperatures of around 27 degrees Celsius, Laurens Vanthoor treated the record crowd of 54,700 spectators to some gripping race action right at the start. Heading into the race from P3 on the grid, the Belgian promptly swept past his rivals in the sprint to the first corner. During his two stints, he extended the lead over his pursuers to over ten seconds. Vanthoor then handed the ca. 515 kW (700 PS) hybrid prototype to his works driver colleague Kévin Estre. The Frenchman stayed in the lead until the last lap of his two stints but had to allow the first of two Toyotas past right before the final pit stop.

Toyota clinch manufacturers’ title

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing earned a thrilling one-two victory on home ground in the 6 Hours of Fuji to clinch the manufacturers’ title in the penultimate race of the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season.

📷 © Courtesy of Toyota Gazoo Racing: Both Toyota GR010 Hybrid teams top the 6 Hours of Fuji and clinch the manufacturer’s title..

Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López took victory in their #7 GR010 HYBRID after an epic Hypercar battle with Porsche, earning maximum points and confirming TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s fifth consecutive manufacturers’ World Championship. Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa completed a perfect result by taking second place in their #8 GR010 HYBRID, finishing just 39.119secs behind.

It was not an easy race for both Toyota as Conway with #7 was pushed down to third at the start and Buemi fell to sixth as he was being hit by the #50 Ferrari. After an exciting battle between World Championship contenders TOYOTA GAZOO Racing and Ferrari, the GR010 HYBRIDs come out on top and started closing the gap with the #6 Porsche.

Hirakawa (#8) passed Lopez (#7) before making a bold overtake for the lead at the end of the fourth hour. After the final driver changes Kobayashi took the lead, stretching his advantage as Hartley fended off brief pressure from the #6 Porsche into the final hour of the race.

📷 © Courtesy of Toyota Gazoo Racing: #7 GR010 Hybrid fourth win this season.

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.

Mike Conway (Driver, car #7): “It’s a great day for the team. We came here wanting a one-two to wrap up the manufacturers’ championship and we did that. It wasn’t easy, it was hard fought, and we had to really scrap for position but it’s nice to get the result. José and Kamui did an awesome job. It was a tough race for all of us and each of us had moments when it was difficult to overtake. Our pace looked close with Porsche, so we knew we had a real race on our hands. We had to bide our time and once Kamui got clear it was okay. All our car crew and engineers did a stellar job, not just this weekend but all season. Congratulations to everyone at TOYOTA GAZOO Racing on the manufacturers’ title, now let’s try to get the drivers’ title in Bahrain.”

Sébastien Buemi (Driver, car #8): “It’s a perfect team result, everyone did a great job and now we can enjoy winning the manufacturers’ World Championship. It was such a tight race; I am sure the fans will have enjoyed that. Our car lost position at the start and then we lost time coming through the other Hypercars, so we decided to save a bit of fuel. Then Ryo had a very strong stint to put us back in contention, but it was an amazing race from car #7, congratulations to them.” Source: Toyota Gazoo Racing

Second podium for the Porsche 963 #6

📷 © Courtesy of Porsche: André Lotterer, Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor clinch their second podium this season.

Porsche Penske Motorsport has secured the second podium result in the FIA World Endurance Championship WEC with the Porsche 963. At the sixth and penultimate round of the season at the Fuji Speedway in Japan, works drivers Kévin Estre from France, André Lotterer from Germany and Belgian Laurens Vanthoor finished third.

📷 © Courtesy of Porsche: #6 Porsche Penske 963.

Kévin Estre (Porsche 963 #6): “Although the Toyotas were a bit stronger than us today, I’m totally satisfied with third place. Our pace today was great and we deservedly led the race for four hours. Our tremendous progress was obvious here. That makes us very positive. We want to do just as well in Bahrain – preferably even a little better.”

Ferrari end fourth and fifth

For the first time this season, the Ferrari 499Ps failed to mount the FIA World Endurance Championship podium, finishing fourth and fifth in the 6 Hours of Fuji, respectively, with the trio of Fuoco-Molina-Nielsen and Pier Guidi-Calado-Giovinazzi. The Ferrari – AF Corse team leaves Japan knowing it exploited the car's full potential. They tried to implement creative and alternative strategies, but these were not enough to win the points required to keep their Manufacturers' title hopes alive.

Depending on the extra points up for grabs in the 8 Hours of Bahrain, this result means the Drivers' title is still mathematically possible if technically challenging for the crews from Maranello.

ANTONIO FUOCO: 3Miguel made a strong start, and we tried to stay with the leaders and hold on, but we weren’t fast enough. From our point of view, we did the best we could as a team. Now, we must analyse all the data so we can tackle Bahrain to the best of our ability.”

ALESSANDRO PIER GUIDI: "As at Monza we struggled, especially in the sectors where we needed power, but we have kept our Driver’s title hopes alive, even though it will be extremely difficult.” Source: Ferrari

Customer Porsche 6th and 9th

📷 © Courtesy of Porsche: Both customer-run Porsche 963.

The two customer-run Porsche 963 wrapped up the six-hour race at the foot of Mount Fuji in sixth and ninth positions. Hertz Team Jota’s No. 38 entry maintained a steady pace with impressive lap times. The identical No. 99 car fielded by Proton Competition was equally as fast but lost eight laps due to a seat-belt system defect.

Will Stevens (Porsche 963 #38): “It was a clean race with one exception, unfortunately, we were handed a drive-through penalty. If that hadn’t happened, we could have grabbed fourth place. Then we would’ve been in front of the Ferraris! In that sense, it was a positive weekend. We’re gradually working our way closer to the factory teams. In this respect, too, we’ve learned a lot and want to translate this into further progress at the season finale in Bahrain. Then comes the winter break, where we will work just as hard to make real progress for the coming year.”

Neel Jani (Porsche 963 #99): “Harry drove a very strong stint at the beginning. We were running in the region of fifth place. Unfortunately, there was a small mishap during a driver change and the seatbelt buckle broke – what a shame. We had to fix it, of course, but it meant the end of our race. We used the remaining laps as a test. Our pace was great. In the end, I managed at times to match the pace of the three top cars. Now it’s time to perform like this over the entire race distance.”

Tough day for Cadillac Racing at Fuji

Alex Lynn was running in the top five through the lone safety car period of the race and the initial round of pit stops until the #2 Cadillac V-Series.R started fading to eighth due to tire degradation. Westbrook and Bamber were faced to the same issue on top of two drive-thru penalties for infractions and an eight-minute garage visit after the left-front wheel ring sheared off and the tire left the hub and out of harm’s way on the track. After repairs, Bamber soldiered on for 10th place in class, tying the team’s lowest finish in the six races.

Richard Westbrook: “Tough race for us. We really turned things around after a difficult Friday. Alex did a fantastic job in qualifying. He gave us a lot of hope in the race, but we have a few headwinds. The car is just very difficult to drive over a double stint. We’ll learn, get better and look forward to Bahrain.” Source: Cadillac Racing