WEC | 6h Fuji: Porsche takes heavy triumph, 296 consoles Ferrari

Porsche returns to winning ways at the 6h of Fuji with crew #6 making a strong stab at their title rivals, while Toyota and Ferrari are licking their wounds on a complicated day to say the least.

The penultimate event of the FIA ​​World Endurance Championship season proved to be more closely fought and unpredictable than expected, with plenty of twists and turns in the standings that kept everything in the balance until the checkered flag and provided a lot of fun.

If among the HYPERCARS it is the 963 that triumphs, in the LMGT3 Class comes the first affirmation for Ferrari with a crazy comeback of the 296 #54, also here at the end of furious battles that animated the category for very long stretches. The second place instead was enough for Manthey PureRxcing to win the title with a race to spare, as well as for the Porsche-Jota #12 among the private Hypercars.

HYPERCAR: Porsche paw, big BMW

In Japan, all predictions over the 6 Hours went to waste and the standings saw several notable changes. The one that held its position the most was the #6 Porsche with Vanthoor/Lotterer/Estre doing very well to exploit not only the potential of their #6 963, but also the problems of others.

First of all the puncture that relegated the Cadillac of Bamber/Lynn to the back of the pack, which while trying to climb back up the slope went onto the dirt of the ‘100R’ bend, ending up disastrously in a pendulum and against the outside wall, destroying everything just with 1 hour to go.

The Toyotas had been the most dangerous for the LMDh run by Team Penske, but the #7 GR010 Hybrid of Kobayashi/Conway/De Vries ended up KO in a rough collision with the #5 Porsche of Christensen/Makowiecki/Campbell (already dropped back at the start after being hit by the #83 Ferrari) while aiming for the podium and both cars ended up in the pits damaged by retirement.

The #8 Toyota had a very complicated race and in the final stages even had to serve a Drive Through penalty for not giving way to the #6 Porsche when it was lapping it, meaning Buemi/Hirakawa/Hartley went from third to tenth.

#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, #15 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8: Dries Vanthoor, Raffaele Marciello, Marco Wittmann, #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 – Hybrid: Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa

Photo credit: JEP / Motorsport Images

The BMW #15 of Vanthoor/Marciello/Wittmann deservedly took second place, making up for the unfortunate performance in Austin and scoring the first podium in the series for Team WRT and the M Hybrid V8 thanks to a race of great substance.

Furious duels in the final laps put third place in the balance, which in extremis went to the Alpine #36 of Schumacher/Lapierre/Vaxiviere, authors of a comeback with a series of overtaking moves and fastest laps that also gave the French team its first Top 3 of the year.

Also sensational was the final comeback of the Peugeot #93 of Jensen/Vergne/Muller, capable of catching up and overtaking the Porsches of Jota and especially the Ferrari. Going in order, the 9X8s came out in a very tense finale, taking advantage of the Safety Car that had grouped everyone together with 1h30′ to go (complicit in the withdrawal of the Lamborghini, which broke down in the final sector) and the #94 of Duval/Di Resta/Vandoorne came eighth by a whisker.

The Porsche-Jotas fought for a long time for the Top5, grabbed by the #12 of Stevens/Ilott/Nato ahead of the #38 of Rasmussen/Hanson/Button, celebrating the one-two in the private team category with the title secured by the winning crew with one race to spare.

Behind the 963s we find the #35 Alpine of Milesi/Habsburg/Gounon, which could have aimed for a trophy had it not hit a Corvette and received a Drive Through penalty towards the end, slipping to seventh ahead of the #94 Peugeot.

#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen, #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer, Laurens Vanthoor, #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 – Hybrid: Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck de Vries

Photo by: Andreas Beil

Coming to Ferrari, the day was looking very tough for the 499Ps and things got even worse, if we may say so, with a final free fall that saw the #50 of Fuoco/Nielsen/Molina drop to ninth, after the trio had fought honourably to at least remain in contention for the Top5.

The only good news for Maranello among the prototypes is the very bad day for Toyota, as the #51 of Per Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi retired in the penultimate hour due to an electronic problem with the ERS power control system; now the boys of the #50 find themselves 35 points behind the top and will need a miracle for the drivers’ title, while for the constructors there is still some hope.

The #8 Toyota completes the overall top 10, outside of which remains the #99 Porsche of Proton Competition, on the privateer podium with Andlauer/Jani/Tincknell, followed by the #83 Ferrari of AF Corse driven by Kubica/Shwartzman/Ye with great difficulty, collecting accidents and penalties that kept it out of the fight at the front from the second lap.

The #20 BMW also retired due to a technical problem, as did the Lamborghini which suffered a gearbox failure during the fifth hour.

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

Photo credit: JEP / Motorsport Images

LMGT3: Ferrari’s comeback, Rossi great

Ferrari’s disastrous day in HYPERCAR was mitigated by the extraordinary performance of Rigon/Castellacci/Flohr at the wheel of the #54 296.

Even in this category the positions were shuffled for a long time and Rigon’s great comeback in the final rewarded the Vista AF Corse crew, combative and with their first success with the new car.

Great comeback for Bachler/Sturm/Malykhin, the first LMGT3 Champions in history with the #92 Manthey PureRxcing Porsche without making any mistakes and doing well to stay out of trouble, aware that a points finish was needed given the problems of their direct rivals.

The first of these were Lietz/Schuring/Shahin with the 911 #91 of Manthey EMA, which was hit by the Cadillac during a lapping phase and suffered a puncture that caused it to plummet in the standings.

The podium remained in the balance until a few laps from the checkered flag, when Maxime Martin managed to bring the #46 Team WRT BMW shared with an excellent and combative Valentino Rossi, as well as Ahmad Al Harthy, into third place, taking a good result with a series of overtaking moves that had slipped away in the previous races due to various adverse situations.

#46 Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3: Ahmad Al Harthy, Valentino Rossi, Maxime Martin

Photo by: Andreas Beil

Fourth was the #81 Corvette of Eastwood/Andrade/Van Rompuy (TF Sport) behind the #85 Lamborghini of the Iron Dames Gatting/Frey/Bovy, both with a bitter taste in their mouths for a potential podium that went up in smoke at the end.

Moving, as usual, Alessio Rovera on the AF Corse Ferrari #55, which started in the hands of poleman François Heriau with brake problems and was followed by Simon Mann, for the great finish of the driver from Varese who did everything possible to reach a sixth place that, however, cannot fully satisfy.

Also in the top 10 are the Aston Martins of D’Station Racing #777 (Sorensen/Mateu/Bastard) and Heart of Racing #27 (Mancinelli/James/Riberas), seventh and ninth respectively, divided by the #59 McLaren of United Autosports that Saucy/Cottingham/Costa were leading in first place until the final hour, when a Drive Through penalty was issued for an infringement committed during a neutralization.

Tenth was the BMW #31 of Gelael/Farfus/Leung (WRT) followed by the Lexus of Akkodis-ASP, also paying more than one penalty during the home race. The Lamborghini #60 of Iron Lynx did badly, 13th, as did the impalpable Ford Mustangs of Proton Competition.