Dominant Toyota One-Two in Fuji Sees Title Battle with Alpine Even Up ahead of Bahrain Finale

A dominant one-two finish for Toyota Gazoo Racing in Sunday’s 6 Hours of Fuji ensured the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship title battle in the Hypercar class will go down to the wire in Bahrain.

The #8 Toyota of Sebastien Buemi, Ryo Hirakawa and Brendon Hartley were seemingly in a class of their own in Japan and were untouchable once they took over the lead from the sister #7 car of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez just after the ninety minute mark.

In a trouble-free race for Toyota, the #8 closed out the victory by more than a minute, while the third placed #36 Alpine of Andre Negrao, Nicolas Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxiviere was more than two laps down.

The combination of the result means the #8 Toyota and the #36 Alpine will go into the season finale in Bahrain level on one hundred and twenty-one points, while the #7 Toyota is twenty-six points further back in third.

Completing the Hypercar field in Japan were the Peugeot TotalEnergies team, although both the #93 of Paul di Resta, Mikkel Jensen and Jean-Eric Vergne and the #94 of Loic Duval, Gustavo Menezes and James Rossiter had problematic races.

The #94 was the leading Peugeot early on before a twenty-minute trip to the pit lane after smoke was seen coming out of the back of the 9X8, while the #93 also hit pit lane for a seven-minute visit later in the race.  The #93 was ultimately classified fourth, while the #94 was twentieth overall after also being handed a one-minute stop and go penalty for a technical infringement.

LMP2 – WRT beat JOTA to Victory

The #31 WRT Oreca of Robin Frijns, Sean Gelael and Dries Vanthoor took the honours in the LMP2 class at Fuji, with a stellar start by Gelael moving them from fourth on the grid and into the lead on lap one.

The #38 Jota of António Félix da Costa, Will Stevens and Roberto González was the #31’s closest challengers throughout, although a late stop from Stevens meant they finished a lap down to the class winners.

Despite an early spin after contact with the #45 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca early on, the #28 Jota of Jonathan Aberdein, Ed Jones and Oliver Rasmussen completed the podium places, edging out the #41 RealTeam by WRT Oreca of Rui Andrade, Ferdinand Habsburg and Norman Nato.

United Autosports endured a tough day and saw the #23 of Alex Lynn, Oliver Jarvis and Josh Pierson end fifth and the #22 of Philip Hanson, Felipe Albuquerque and Will Owen in seventh, either side of the #9 Prema Orlen Team Oreca of Lorenzo Colombo, Louis Delétraz and Robert Kubica.

For the third time in 2022, the Pro/Am LMP2 victory went the way of the #83 AF Corse Oreca of Nicklas Nielsen, Francois Perrodo and Alessio Rovera.

Felix da Costa, Gonzalez and Stevens hold a twenty-eight point advantage in the championship ahead of Piersen and Jarvis, with Habsburg, Andrade and Nato six points further back.

LMGTE PRO – Ferrari Take One-Two Finish

The #51 AF Corse Ferrari of Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado were in superb form in Fuji, with the pair taking the LMGTE Pro class victory for their second win of the season.

Early on, it appeared that the battle at the front would be fought out between Ferrari and Porsche, but the latter began to drop away from the Ferrari’s and were ultimately left well adrift come the chequered flag.

The #51 took the chequered flag ahead of the #52 of Antonio Fuoco and Miguel Molina, the duo making a pass in the penultimate hour on the #92 Porsche GT Team 911 RSR-19 of Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre, who were forced to settle for the bottom step of the podium.

The #91 Porsche of Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz ended fourth, a long way adrift of the lead battle having been handed a drive-through penalty for track limits early one. Without a safety car intervention at all through the race, they were left in a race of their own.

Also in a race of their own, was the Corvette Racing #64 of Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy, with both drivers struggling to get the best performance out of their Chevrolet Corvette C8.R.  The duo ended fifth, two laps down on the #51 class-winning Ferrari.

The #51 of Pier Guidi and Calado will go into the season finale in Bahrain eleven points clear of the #92 of Christensen and Estre, while Bruni is alone in third, fourteen points back after Lietz was forced to miss the Monza round.

LMGTE AM – TF Sport Bounce Back to take Victory

Last time out at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, the TF Sport Aston Martin team were left with a major rebuild to do after Henrique Chaves crashed heavily at the second chicane, but they rebounded in the best way possible by dominating in Japan.

The #33 of Chaves, Ben Keating and Marco Sørensen dominated proceedings to take the win, ending a lap ahead of the #85 Iron Dames Ferrari of Rahel Frey, Sarah Bovy and Michelle Gatting, the all-female crew taking their second consecutive runners-up spot.

The #777 D’Station Racing Aston Martin completed the podium in their home race with Charlie Fagg, Tomonobu Fujii and Satoshi Hoshino behind the wheel, while the #54 AF Corse Ferrari of Francesco Castellacci, Thomas Flohr and Davide Rigon ended just off the podium in fourth.

Keating and Sørensen hold the advantage at the top of the standings heading into Bahrain, twenty points clear of the #98 Northwest AMR Aston Martin of Paul Dalla Lana, Nicki Thiim and David Pittard, who could only finish fifth in Fuji.