Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe
Race report
WEC Fuji

WEC Fuji: Porsche extends points lead with win, disaster for Toyota

Porsche takes victory as Toyota suffers a disastrous six-hour race in front of its home fans

#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer, Laurens Vanthoor

Porsche claimed victory in the penultimate round of the World Endurance Championship at Fuji to close in on the 2024 drivers’ title.

Laurens Vanthoor, Andre Lotterer and Kevin Estre scored the first win for the #6 Porsche 963 LMDh since the season-opener in Qatar to extend their championship lead to 27 points ahead of the Bahrain title decider in November.

It followed the #7 Toyota GR010 HYBRID of Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck de Vries and Mike Conway failing to finish the race after Kobayashi was involved in a collision with the other factory Penske car of Matt Campbell with a little more than an hour to go.

The damage to the #7 GR010 HYBRID was so heavy that the Japanese manufacturer was forced to retire the car from the race, putting Porsche in a strong position to claim its first overall title in WEC since 2017.

A charging opening stint from Vanthoor, followed by an overcut in the first pitstop phase, propelled the #6 Porsche to the front of the field in the second hour of the race.

Although the #50 Ferrari 499P briefly managed to take the lead in the third hour on a slightly different strategy, Lotterer was able to pass Nicklas Nielsen shortly after the halfway mark to reinstate the status quo.

The race was essentially split into two unequal parts, with a caution period at the beginning of the fourth hour bringing all frontrunning cars on the same strategy and resetting the battle for the lead.

As the Lamborghini SC63 driven by Daniil Kvyat stopped at the exit of the final corner with a terminal technical issue, nearly the entire field took advantage of the virtual safety car period to complete a cheap pitstop.

The VSC was followed by a full-blown safety car, which eventually retreated to make way for a 90-minute sprint to the finish.

The #6 Porsche led the way with Estre behind the wheel, heading the #15 BMW of Dries Vanthoor and the #8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID driven by Ryo Hirakawa.

#7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 - Hybrid: Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck de Vries, #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 - Hybrid: Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa

#7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 - Hybrid: Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck de Vries, #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 - Hybrid: Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa

Photo by: Andreas Beil

Estre slowly pulled away from Vanthoor and was able to bring the car home with a winning margin of 16.6s despite a late off in the final hour.

The #6 Porsche was investigated for a possible tyre pressure infringement, but was able to get away with a reprimand.

Second place for Dries Vanthoor, Raffaele Marciello and Marco Wittmann marked BMW’s maiden podium in WEC as well as the first in any championship in 2024.

Wittmann started the race from third place and jumped the #8 Toyota of Sebastien Buemi on the opening lap to claim second, a position the #15 crew would hold on to until the finish despite diverging on strategies in the second hour.

Another first-year manufacturer recorded its first visit to the rostrum, with Mick Schumacher, Nicolas Lapierre and Mathieu Vaxiviere taking third in the #36 Alpine A424 LMDh.

Ex-Haas Formula 1 driver Schumacher repassed the customer #12 Jota Porsche 963 of Norman Nato with just six minutes remaining in the race, having also impressed with his pace early in the first stint.

The #93 Peugeot 9X8 shared by Mikkel Jensen, Nico Muller and Jean-Eric Vergne claimed fourth after Jensen also managed to clear Nato in the final moments of the six-hour contest.

That left the #12 Jota car of Nato, Callum Ilott and Will Stevens in fifth and just ahead of the sister entry crewed by Jenson Button, Oliver Rasmussen and Phil Hanson.

Peugeot managed to get both its cars inside the points, as Stoffel Vandoorne, Paul di Resta and Loic Duval took seventh in the #94 entry ahead of the second Alpine of Charles Milesi, Ferdinand Habsburg and Jules Gounon.

Habsburg dropped to 17th place on the second lap after being caught up in a Turn 1 melee triggered by ex-Formula 1 driver Robert Kubica.

#5 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Matt Campbell, Michael Christensen, Frederic Makowiecki, #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Robert Kubica, Robert Shwartzman, Yifei Ye

#5 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Matt Campbell, Michael Christensen, Frederic Makowiecki, #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Robert Kubica, Robert Shwartzman, Yifei Ye

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Kubica outbraked himself into Turn 1 and slammed the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P into the back of the #5 Porsche of Frederic Makowiecki, who then pitched the #51 Ferrari of Antonio Giovinazzi into a spin. Giovinazzi, in turn, tagged the Alpine of Habsburg.

Ferrari could manage only a ninth-place finish, with Nielsen, Antonio Fuoco and Miguel Molina in the #50 car that briefly led with Nielsen at the wheel.

The sole surviving Toyota that Hirakawa shared with Sebastien Buemi and Brendon Hartley finished a distant 10th and last of the points-scorers after a frustrating final stint.

Cadillac led the opening stint of the race with Earl Bamber at the wheel, before a driver change in the first pitstop contributed to the #2 V-Series.R dropping behind the winning Porsche.

Bamber was then trying to regain third place lost to Marciello when he came to blows with the BMW driver at Turn 1 in the third hour, leaving him with a puncture.

A dramatic final-hour shunt for Bamber put paid to any hopes of Cadillac finishing in the points, with the Kiwi barely managing to bring the hobbled car back to the pits.

Ferrari wins in LMGT3, Porsche wraps up class title

#54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3: Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci, Davide Rigon

#54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3: Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci, Davide Rigon

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Ferrari scored its first victory in the new-for-2024 LMGT3 class, with Davide Rigon, Francesco Castellacci and Thomas Flohr taking the top spot in the #54 AF Corse 296 GT3.

Rigon sealed the victory with a last-lap pass over the #59 United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 of Gregoire Saucy, who eventually slipped out of podium positions.

The #92 Manthey PureRxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R of Klaus Bachler, Aliaksandr Malkyhin and Joel Sturm eventually took second, sealing the drivers’ title with a round still to go.

The #92 Porsche was leading the race under the safety car in the penultimate hour, but Bachler was passed by the McLaren of Saucy. Both Bachler and Saucy were then overtaken by Rigon in an impressive final stint from the factory Ferrari driver. 

The final place on the podium went to Maxime Martin, Valentino Rossi and Ahmad Al Harthy, marking the second visit to the rostrum for the #46 WRT BMW M4 GT3 crew.

WEC Fuji results

   
1
 - 
4
   
   
1
 - 
2
   
Cla Team # Drivers Car Laps Time Interval Pits Retirement Points
1
PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT HYPERCAR
6 France K. Estre Germany A. Lotterer Belgium L. Vanthoor Porsche 963 213

-

  5    
2
BMW M Team WRT HYPERCAR
15 Belgium D. Vanthoor Italy R. Marciello Germany M. Wittmann BMW M Hybrid V8 213

+16.601

16.601

16.601 6    
3
Alpine Endurance Team HYPERCAR
36 France N. Lapierre Germany M. Schumacher France M. Vaxiviere Alpine A424 213

+42.321

42.321

25.720 7    
4
PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES HYPERCAR
93 Denmark M. Jensen Switzerland N. Müller France J. Vergne Peugeot 9X8 2024 213

+45.846

45.846

3.525 7    
5
HERTZ TEAM JOTA HYPERCAR
12 United Kingdom W. Stevens United Kingdom C. Ilott France N. Nato Porsche 963 213

+49.689

49.689

3.843 6    
6
HERTZ TEAM JOTA HYPERCAR
38 United Kingdom J. Button United Kingdom P. Hanson Denmark O. Rasmussen Porsche 963 213

+51.916

51.916

2.227 6    
7
Alpine Endurance Team HYPERCAR
35 France J. Gounon Austria F. Habsburg France C. Milesi Alpine A424 213

+54.316

54.316

2.400 7    
8
PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES HYPERCAR
94 United Kingdom P. di Resta France L. Duval Belgium S. Vandoorne Peugeot 9X8 2024 213

+54.324

54.324

0.008 6    
9
FERRARI AF CORSE HYPERCAR
50 Italy A. Fuoco Spain M. Molina Denmark N. Nielsen Ferrari 499P 213

+57.874

57.874

3.550 6    
10
Toyota Racing HYPERCAR
8 Switzerland S. Buemi New Zealand B. Hartley Japan R. Hirakawa Toyota GR010 - Hybrid 213

+58.879

58.879

1.005 7    
11
Proton Competition HYPERCAR
99 United Kingdom H. Tincknell Switzerland N. Jani France J. Andlauer Porsche 963 212

+1 Lap

47.009

1 Lap 8    
12
AF Corse HYPERCAR
83 Poland R. Kubica Israel R. Shwartzman China Y. Yifei Ferrari 499P 211

2 laps

  10    
13
Vista AF Corse LMGT3
54 Switzerland T. Flohr Italy F. Castellacci Italy D. Rigon Ferrari 296 GT3 194

19 laps

  7    
14
Manthey PureRxcing LMGT3
92
A. Malykhin
J. Sturm
Austria K. Bachler
Porsche 911 GT3 R 194

+19 Laps

22.304

22.304 6    
15
TEAM WRT LMGT3
46 United Kingdom A. Al Harthy Italy V. Rossi Belgium M. Martin BMW M4 GT3 194

+19 Laps

25.590

3.286 6    
16
TF Sport LMGT3
81 Belgium T. Van Rompuy Portugal R. Andrade Ireland C. Eastwood Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R 194

+19 Laps

27.537

1.947 7    
17
IRON DAMES LMGT3
85 Belgium S. Bovy Switzerland R. Frey Denmark M. Gatting Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 194

+19 Laps

31.531

3.994 7    
18
Vista AF Corse LMGT3
55 France F. Heriau France S. Mann Italy A. Rovera Ferrari 296 GT3 194

+19 Laps

38.535

7.004 9    
19
D'Station Racing LMGT3
777 France C. Mateu
E. Bastard
Denmark M. Sorensen
Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 194

+19 Laps

44.291

5.756 7    
20
United Autosports LMGT3
59 J. Cottingham N. Costa Switzerland G. Saucy McLaren 720S GT3 Evo 194

+19 Laps

44.516

0.225 7    
21
Heart of Racing Team LMGT3
27 United Kingdom I. James Italy D. Mancinelli Spain A. Riberas Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 194

+19 Laps

48.371

3.855 7    
22
TEAM WRT LMGT3
31
D. Leung
Indonesia S. Gelael Brazil A. Farfus
BMW M4 GT3 194

+19 Laps

54.845

6.474 6    
23
AKKODIS ASP Team LMGT3
78
A. Robin
Austria C. Schmid South Africa K. van der Linde
Lexus RC F GT3 194

+19 Laps

1'02.513

7.668 6    
24
AKKODIS ASP Team LMGT3
87 Japan T. Kimura
E. Masson
Argentina J. Lopez
Lexus RC F GT3 194

+19 Laps

1'08.575

6.062 8    
25
IRON LYNX LMGT3
60 Italy C. Schiavoni Italy M. Cressoni
F. Perera
Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo2 193

20 laps

  8    
26
Manthey EMA LMGT3
91
Y. Shahin
M. Schuring
Austria R. Lietz
Porsche 911 GT3 R 193

+20 Laps

35.271

35.271 8    
27
Proton Competition LMGT3
77 United States R. Hardwick Canada Z. Robichon United Kingdom B. Barker Ford Mustang GT3 193

+20 Laps

46.256

10.985 7    
28
Proton Competition LMGT3
88 Germany C. Ried
M. Pedersen
Norway D. Olsen
Ford Mustang GT3 192

21 laps

  8    
29
United Autosports LMGT3
95 United Kingdom J. Caygill Chile N. Pino Japan M. Sato McLaren 720S GT3 Evo 191

22 laps

  8    
30
FERRARI AF CORSE HYPERCAR
51 Italy A. Pier Guidi United Kingdom J. Calado Italy A. Giovinazzi Ferrari 499P 168

45 laps

  7 Retirement  
31
Toyota Racing HYPERCAR
7 United Kingdom M. Conway Japan K. Kobayashi Netherlands N. de Vries Toyota GR010 - Hybrid 163

50 laps

  7 Retirement  
32
BMW M Team WRT HYPERCAR
20 South Africa S. Van Der Linde Netherlands R. Frijns Germany R. Rast BMW M Hybrid V8 202

11 laps

  7 Retirement  
33
CADILLAC RACING HYPERCAR
2 New Zealand E. Bamber United Kingdom A. Lynn Cadillac V-Series.R 193

20 laps

  7 Retirement  
34
TF Sport LMGT3
82 Japan H. Koizumi
S. Baud
Spain D. Juncadella
Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R 164

49 laps

  9 Retirement  
35
PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT HYPERCAR
5 Australia M. Campbell Denmark M. Christensen France F. Makowiecki Porsche 963 163

50 laps

  7 Retirement  
36
Lamborghini Iron Lynx HYPERCAR
63 Italy M. Bortolotti Switzerland E. Mortara Russian Federation D. Kvyat Lamborghini SC63 146

67 laps

  4 Retirement  

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Ferrari bracing for 'race of survival' after tough Fuji qualifying - Giovinazzi
Next article Schumacher: Alpine Fuji podium comes after starting weekend with "worst car"

Top Comments

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe