Thanks to their triumph at the 6 Hours of Fuji, the Porsche drivers have put a firm hold on the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship title, with the 8 Hours of Bahrain in November only being decisive for the HYPERCAR class.
In Japan, in fact, the battles involving the private prototype team category and the newly formed LMGT3 have already been archived.
In the FIA World Cup for HYPERCAR Teams, the victory of Stevens/Ilott together with Nato gives the #12 Jota the cup with a race to spare, rising to 165 points and proving uncatchable for AF Corse, which remained on 122 points in a very bad day for the #83 Ferrari driven by Ye/Kubica/Shwartzman.
The Piacenza team also sees Proton Competition #99 (116 points) and Jota #38 (115) closing in on them in the duel for second place that will be resolved in Sakhir.
#38 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963: Jenson Button, Philip Hanson, Oliver Rasmussen, #12 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963: Will Stevens, Callum Ilott, Norman Nato
Photo credit: JEP / Motorsport Images
The game is also over in the LMGT3 class as the second step of the podium was enough for Malykhin/Sturm/Bachler and Manthey PureRxcing to get their hands on the title.
The Porsche #92 crew now has 136 points under their belt and can no longer be reached by their brand-mates Schuring/Lietz/Shahin (Porsche-Manthey EMA #91), who remain dry and stuck on 90 points, +5 on Farfus/Gelael/Leung (BMW-WRT #31), also empty-handed in Japan, while Riberas/Mancinelli/James (Aston Martin #27 – Heart of Racing) are on 83.
With the podium secured in extremis, Valentino Rossi together with Martin/Al Harthy and the #46 BMW-WRT climb into the Top5 with 61 points, overtaking the #55 AF Corse Ferrari of the Rovera/Mann/Heriau trio (59 points).
#92 Manthey Purerxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3: Aliaksandr Malykhin, Joel Sturm, Klaus Bachler
Photo credit: JEP / Motorsport Images
We now come to the HYPERCAR Class, where everything will be decided in the desert: remember that being an 8h the score will be assigned on the scale of 38-27-23-18-15-12-9-6-3-2, plus the additional point that goes to whoever achieves the Hyperpole.
As we said at the beginning, the victory of Lotterer/Estre/Vanthoor at the wheel of the #6 Porsche projects the team to 150 points, 35 more than Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen, authors of 9th place with the #50 Ferrari.
The 499P trio left Kobayashi/De Vries behind them, along with Conway who had a very bad day which now sees the two of the GR010 Hybrid #7 37 points behind the top and with their hopes reduced to a glimmer.
#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer, Laurens Vanthoor
Photo credit: JEP / Motorsport Images
Conway is still fourth at 77 tied with Makowiecki/Campbell/Christensen (Porsche #5), but they are all mathematically out of contention for the title, which also leaves Hartley/Hirakawa/Buemi (Toyota #8) and Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi (Ferrari #51) out of contention. All the names mentioned above will become fundamental in team games to help their teammates.
The battle for the Constructors’ Championship is much more open, with Porsche now at 161 points, extending its lead to 10 points over Toyota, which would simply need a victory ahead of the 963 to confirm its position as the Champion.
Ferrari, on the other hand, saw its stock drop drastically, taking home only 2 points and finding itself at 134, a heavy -27 that risks being filled only with a miracle.
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