How perfect Porsche inched closer to WEC title on Toyota’s home turf

Becoming the first double winners of the 2024 World Endurance Championship season in Fuji was a decisive step in Porsche's bid to end Toyota's run of top class titles. Here's how Laurens Vanthoor, Andre Lotterer and Kevin Estre evaded the dramas that befell their rivals to beat much-improved BMW and Alpine

Porsche knew it would be in the mix at Fuji. The Japanese circuit did, after all, provide the breakthrough race for its 963 LMDh in 2023. Yet the German manufacturer was far from convinced that it was going to win the penultimate round of the World Endurance Championship. But points leaders Laurens Vanthoor, Andre Lotterer and Kevin Estre executed a near-perfect race last Sunday to claim victory and leave the circuit with one hand on the Hypercar drivers’ title.

Execute was what the crew of the #6 Porsche did over six incident-packed hours round the 2.84-mile Fuji Speedway – there were three safety cars and a further two Full Course Yellows – and what its rivals failed to do. That included their pursuers for the drivers’ crown and Porsche’s in the manufacturers’ battle, Toyota and Ferrari, as well some upstarts in the fight at the front of the field.

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Author Gary Watkins

Gary Watkins has, for reasons best known to himself, devoted all his working life to covering sportscar racing. This season is his 33rd as a motorsport journalist, during which time he has reported on major long-distance events on four continents and approaching 80 24-hour races. He reckons a degree in political philosophy makes him well qualified for covering the sometimes Machiavellian world of international sportscars.

Gary, who also writes for Motor Sport, Autocourse, RACER and others, lives in Surbiton close to the former workshops of the Cooper Formula 1 team but spends more time on the road than at home for most of the year.