Porsche Close In On Title With Win At 6 Hours Of Fuji

Porsche Penske Motorsport have securing their second victory of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) with a masterful drive at the 6 Hours Of Fuji. The Porsche led home a 1-2 for German manufacturers, with the #15 BMW M Team WRT car finishing in a spectacular second in only their first year of WEC racing. In the final 7 minutes of the race, the #36 Alpine Endurance Team snatched a podium position, meaning that both BMW and Alpine secure their first Hypercar podium of the year.

What they all want to win. Credit: Joao Filipe / DPPI

The #6 Porsche now has a firm grasp on the championship following a disastrous race for their rivals. The #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing team did not finish the race following heavy contact with the #5 Porsche in the penultimate hour. The other title contender, the #50 Ferrari AF Corse, did manage to finish but fell back down the order to 9th during the final stint of the race.

In LMGT3, however, the title has been secured in fine form by Manthey PureRxcing. The #92 car qualified down in 14th but did everything right during the race to secure a podium result, finishing second. The race was won by the #54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari with a hard-earned victory, the first LMGT3 win of the season for Ferrari. The #92 Porsche came second, with the #46 Team WRT BMW coming home third, not least thanks to superb stints by the Doctor himself, Valentino Rossi.

The #46 back on the podium in Fuji. Credit: Joao Filipe / DPPI

Driver Reaction

Porsche driver Laurens Vanthoor, who was watching his brother Dries Vanthoor in his BMW chase down the Porsche, joked “I was a bit stressed because I know my brother well. I texted my Dad and said I hope he stays calm! It’s great for us to win and great for me to have my brother next to me on the podium. It’s a pretty special weekend which I’ll remember for a long time.”

Andre Lotterer, who lived and raced in Japan for many years, was naturally delighted. “It was an amazing team effort” he enthused. “It’s been a fantastic weekend here to race in front of this crowd. There’s so much support and so much energy coming from the fans. For me, it’s one race that was missing. I wanted to win this one because it’s a sort of home race for me, so I’m very, very happy.”

Race Report

Cadillac Racing had a superb qualifying, finishing first in both qualifying and the all important Hyperpole shootout. They maintained their great pace at the start of the race, stretching out a 2 second lead within the first 2 laps. The #15 BMW M Team WRT, which had started in 3rd, jumped to 2nd. After a clean first lap, the safety car was deployed on lap 2. Heading down into the first corner after the 1.45km straight, the #83 Ferrari had a huge lockup, punting into the back of the #5 Porsche Penske Motorsport car, causing a concertina effect, shoving the #51 Ferrari AF Corse into the #35 Alpine Endurance Team car as well. #83 Ferrari was given a 30 second stop-and-go penalty for causing a collision.

In LMGT3, François Heriau qualified his #55 Vista AF Corse Ferrari on pole for the first time. However, he plummeted down the order on the first lap, pitting to check an issue under the safety car. #81 TF Sport Corvette led the way as the safety car period came to the end, followed by the two United Autosport McLarens. However, the #95 McLaren span under braking on the following lap, plummeting to 14th in class.

The moment it span away for the #95 McLaren. Credit: Julien Delfosse / DPPI

After the safety car period, Laurens Vanthoor in the #6 Porsche overtook Sebastian Buemi for 3rd and immediately set about challenging the #15 BMW for 2nd. Meanwhile, Cadillac got the hammer down and started to establish a lead. A great three-way battle for the lead of LMGT3 ensued in the first hour, with Sarah Bovy in the Iron Dames Lamborghini challenging James Cottingham in his #59 McLaren for 2nd place, all while building a gap of over 5 seconds from the rest of the pack. With only a couple of minutes to go in the first hour, Bovy made the move stick.

The #63 Lamborghini Iron Lynx fell down the order and out of the top 10. Having looked very fast in qualifying, the Italian car struggled on its old tyres. In the first round of pit stops, Heart Of Racing Aston Martin got ahead of the #59 McLaren in LMGT3. Meanwhile the two Hertz Team JOTA Porsches were battling their way up a fantastically competitive Hypercar field. At the sharp end of the field, the #6 Porsche jumped both Cadillac and BMW into the lead of the race, curtesy of the two-man Cadillac team doing a driver change.

Lamborghini Iron Lynx in the pits. Credit: Joao Filipe / DPPI

Another safety car period was called in the 2nd hour to clear debris and dangerous advertising hoarding. With 4:18:00 race time still to go, green flag racing got underway again. The #50 Ferrari was looking particularly racey on fresh rubber, overtaking the #5 Porsche and both Toyotas by the end of the first racing lap, before chasing down the battle for 2nd between the Cadillac and the #15 BMW. In LMGT3, Nico Costa in the #59 McLaren took the lead from the #81 Corvette as the 2nd hour came to an end.

With 3:25:00 race time left, the #15 BMW had an issue in the pits, the front left tyre being reluctant to come off and then go back on the car. However, once again due to a driver change, they came out of the pits ahead of the Cadillac. The big news was the #50 Ferrari coming out ahead of the previously race leading #6 Porsche. A great battle into turn 1 between Nicklas Nielsen in the Ferrari and André Lotterer in the Porsche saw Nielsen pull of an extraordinary defensive move against the incredibly experienced Lotterer.

Cadillac led the way early on in the race. Credit: Javier Jimenez / DPPI

Valentino Rossi made up an amazing 5 places in 2 laps in his #46 BMW, including a stunning move past 2 cars at the same time at turn 1, the Doctor showing his class and skill on 4 wheels. In Hypercar, disaster for the #2 Cadillac with 3:11:00 to go. Contact with the #15 BMW caused a right-front puncture for the American team. At the halfway point, the #50 Ferrari was defending the lead hard from the #6 Porsche on older tyres. Nielsen was demonstrating extraordinary defence, keeping the must faster Porsche behind lap after lap. Eventually Lotterer got the job done on the run to turn 1 on lap 108, but Nielsen did superbly to keep him behind for so long.

The #15 BMW fell out of the top 3 for the first time in the race with 2:40:00 to go. Nyck de Vries in the #7 Toyota was absolutely flying and overtook just before the final corner, setting off in hot pursuit of the 2nd place #50 Ferrari. Indeed, just 13 minutes later, de Vries climbed up to 2nd with an almost carbon copy move on the Ferrari. But with pretty much everyone on different fuel and tyre strategies, the race was turning into a classic endurance race with no clear winner emerging with 2 hours to go.

A mixed race for BMW, with the #15 battling for victory and the #20 running last for most of the race. Credit: Joao Filipe / DPPI

Charles Milesi in the #35 Alpine was flying up the order, getting up to 4th ahead of the #50 Ferrari with 1:55:00 to go. A safety car period was called after the #63 Lamborghini suffered gearbox issues, putting the Italian squad out of the race. Nearly all the Hypercars elected to have a pit stop, neutralising the differing strategies, meaning the final section of the race would be a roughly 90 minute long sprint race led by the #6 Porsche and #15 BMW. In LMGT3, after a great race of doing long stints and staying out of trouble, championship leading #92 Manthey PureRxcing, which qualified in 14th in class, led the pack as we prepared to go racing again.

Drama for both Toyotas with 1:18:00 to go. Firstly, car #8 was overtaken by the #35 Alpine, the French car going up to a podium position. But in worse news for the Japanese team, the championship contending #7 Toyota had to head to the garage following dramatic contact with the #5 Porsche. The Porsche went around the outside of the Toyota, thought it had the move done before turn 2, turning in to the corner and getting caught by the Toyota. As the Porsche span off the track, the Toyota went wide with it and both cars clattered into each other, causing huge damage to both cars.

The #8 Toyota, the only one to finish its home race in Fuji. Credit: Joao Filipe / DPPI

In LMGT3, the #54 Ferrari managed to get past Rossi in the #46 BMW to get up into a podium position. Manthey PureRxcing looked under real pressure at the start of the final hour from the #59 McLaren, and indeed promptly lost the lead. With 45 minutes to go, they slipped to third with a lovely move by Davide Rigon in the #54 Ferrari to slide up to 2nd. With 33 minutes to go, Rigon got the job done, taking the lead in LMGT3 but with Manthey PureRxcing and United Autosport less than a second behind.

The #5 Porsche gets wheeled into the pits following contact with the #7 Toyota. Credit: Julien Delfosse / DPPI

With half an hour to go, the #2 Cadillac slid off the track trying to avoid traffic at turn 3, spearing into the barriers. Bamber did manage to limp back to the pits so a safety car was avoided, but what had been a very promising race for the American team ended in heartbreak. The #35 Alpine got hit with a drive through penalty with 25 minutes to go, dropping it from 3rd to 10th, demonstrating just how close the Hypercar class is in 2024. The sister Alpine, however, performed a great move with Mick Schumacher at the wheel snatching third from the Hertz Team JOTA Porsche. Meanwhile, the #6 Porsche and the #15 BMW were safe at the front, cruising to a very well-earned first and second place finish. The #93 Peugeot TotalEnergies claimed the French team’s best result of the season, finishing 4th and certainly capable of challenging the rest of the pack.

The #2 Cadillac after having somehow limped back to the pits after heavy contact with the wall. Credit: Julien Delfosse / DPPI

Championship Update

It would take something truly remarkable for the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport team not to be crowned champions next time out at the 8 Hours of Bahrain. Their second win of the season at the 6 Hours of Fuji was also their 5th podium out of 7 rounds, and this consistency has put them almost out of reach on 150 points. With 39 points available in the 8 Hours of Bahrain (38 for a race win, 1 for qualifying on pole), they have a very useful 35 point advantage over their nearest rivals, the #50 Ferrari AF Corse. #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing could still technically win, being 37 points behind the championship leaders. But, with one round to go, it is Porsche’s championship to lose.

In LMGT3, Manthey PureRxcing may well be champions, but second place is still very much up for grabs. Manthey EMA remain second at the moment on 90 points, with the #31 Team WRT BMW just 5 points behind in third. Heart of Racing Team didn’t really feature in today’s race, but they are just 7 points behind Manthey EMA and very much in with a shout of finishing second in the championship.

Up Next

The final round of the utterly captivating 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship, the 8 Hours of Bahrain, takes place on Saturday 2 November. Be sure not to miss it.