Fuji WEC: Toyota keeps title hopes alive in shortened race
Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Anthony Davidson took the win on Toyota's home soil in the 6 Hours of Fuji round of the FIA World Endurance Championship as the race was shortened by poor weather conditions.
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
The victory for the #8 Toyota keeps the title race open going into the penultimate round of the series at Shanghai next month.
Points leaders Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Earl Bamber only needed to finish ahead of the #8 Toyota in their Porsche 919 to seal the drivers' crown, but they ultimately trailed home a lap down in fourth, their points gap down to 39 points.
The clock had just ticked past four and a half hours when the stoppage came as low cloud descended on the circuit.
The #8 Toyota was in first place at the time, but due a pitstop.
It was intended for the race to be restarted for the final 10 minutes of the six hours, but the call came from race control with 14 minutes left on the clock that the result would be called.
As 70 percent of the race has been completed, full points were awarded, even for drivers who, like Davidson in the #8 Toyota, didn't get behind the wheel.
The winning team had an edge on the opposition for much of the race that was interrupted by five safety car periods and one VSC, in addition to a 32-minute red flag period in the second hour.
The #8 in the hands of Nakajima moved to the front when the race resumed after the first stoppage.
The Japanese driver pulled away from teammate Jose Maria Lopez in the sister car in the early stages of the third hour as the Argentine struggled with a windscreen wiper problem.
Nakajima lost the lead when he pitted, but took second from Nick Tandy in the #1 Porsche after the safety car bunched up the field.
He then reclaimed the lead when Lopez, who shared the #7 Toyota with Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway, made the car's third pitstop.
Nakajima was 16s up on Conway, who took over from Lopez, when the safety car was sent out five laps before the red flag.
Conway was fighting off the advances of Neel Jani, Tandy's teammate in the #1 Porsche, when the race was neutralised and then stopped.
Bamber had not pitted in the #2 Porsche when the first red flag was shown, which meant he had to stop for fuel and tyres as the safety car pulled in after the restart.
The time lost by stopping under green-flag conditions relegated Bernhard to fourth, just over a minute down on the leader.
The German driver then struggled in the wet conditions and was lapped by Nakajima early in the third hour.
The Rebellion Racing car driven by Bruno Senna and Nicolas Prost were declared LMP2 winners before the team's third driver Julien Canal could drive.
It led the majority of the race, Senna pulling away from the P2 pack in the opening stages.
Prost was running approximately 15 seconds ahead of the Signatech Alpine driven by Nicolas Lapierre and Andre Negrao when the final safety car came out.
Ferrari leads Porsche duo in GTE Pro
Ferrari took GTE Pro honours after James Calado was able to take the lead in the run-up to the final yellow.
The Briton, paired with Alessandro Pier Guidi in the #51 AF Corse, finished ahead of Frederic Makowiecki and Richard Lietz.
The #91 Porsche was joined by the #92 sister car on the podium, as third place went to Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre.
The Ganassi Ford of Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell, points leaders prior to the race, had a torrid time, finishing eighth and last in class.
Priaulx was given a one-minute stop-go penalty for running a red light in the pits and then sustained a puncture that sent him into the barriers shortly after an incident with Estre.
The AF Corse Ferrari driven by Miguel Molina, Francesco Castellacci and Miguel Molina took GTE Am honours.
They moved ahead of the long-time class leader, the Clearwater Ferrari driven by Weng Sun Mok and Matt Griffin, when the two cars pitted for what turned out to be the final time.
Race results:
Pos. | # | Drivers | Car | Class | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 8 | Anthony Davidson Kazuki Nakajima Sébastien Buemi |
Toyota TS050 Hybrid | LMP1 | 113 Laps |
2 | 7 | Kamui Kobayashi Mike Conway Jose Maria Lopez |
Toyota TS050 Hybrid | LMP1 | 1.498 |
3 | 1 | Andre Lotterer Neel Jani Nick Tandy |
Porsche 919 Hybrid | LMP1 | 2.272 |
4 | 2 | Timo Bernhard Brendon Hartley Earl Bamber |
Porsche 919 Hybrid | LMP1 | 1 lap |
5 | 31 | Bruno Senna Julien Canal Nicolas Prost |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3 laps |
6 | 36 | Nicolas Lapierre Andre Negrao Gustavo Menezes |
Alpine A470 | LMP2 | 3 laps |
7 | 38 | Oliver Jarvis Ho-Pin Tung Thomas Laurent |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3 laps |
8 | 28 | François Perrodo Emmanuel Collard Matthieu Vaxiviere |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3 laps |
9 | 24 | Jean-Eric Vergne Ben Hanley Matt Rao |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3 laps |
10 | 26 | Roman Rusinov Pierre Thiriet James Rossiter |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 3 laps |
11 | 51 | James Calado Alessandro Pier Guidi |
Ferrari 488 GTE | LMGTE PRO | 4 laps |
12 | 91 | Richard Lietz Frédéric Makowiecki |
Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE PRO | 4 laps |
13 | 25 | Vitaly Petrov Simon Trummer Roberto Gonzalez |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 4 laps |
14 | 92 | Michael Christensen Kevin Estre |
Porsche 911 RSR | LMGTE PRO | 4 laps |
15 | 66 | Stefan Mücke Olivier Pla |
Ford GT | LMGTE PRO | 4 laps |
16 | 71 | Sam Bird Davide Rigon |
Ferrari 488 GTE | LMGTE PRO | 4 laps |
17 | 97 | Darren Turner Jonathan Adam |
Aston Martin Vantage | LMGTE PRO | 4 laps |
18 | 95 | Marco Sorensen Nicki Thiim |
Aston Martin Vantage | LMGTE PRO | 5 laps |
19 | 54 | Francesco Castellacci Miguel Molina Thomas Flohr |
Ferrari 488 GTE | LMGTE AM | 6 laps |
20 | 61 | Matt Griffin Mok Weng Sun Keita Sawa |
Ferrari 488 GTE | LMGTE AM | 6 laps |
21 | 77 | Christian Ried Matteo Cairoli Marvin Dienst |
Porsche 911 RSR (991) | LMGTE AM | 6 laps |
22 | 86 | Mike Hedlund Ben Barker Nick Foster |
Porsche 911 RSR (991) | LMGTE AM | 7 laps |
23 | 98 | Pedro Lamy Paul Dalla Lana Mathias Lauda |
Aston Martin Vantage V8 | LMGTE AM | 8 laps |
24 | 67 | Harry Tincknell Andy Priaulx |
Ford GT | LMGTE PRO | 17 laps |
25 | 13 | Nelson Piquet Jr. David Heinemeier Hansson Mathias Beche |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 28 laps |
26 | 37 | David Cheng Tristan Gommendy Alex Brundle |
Oreca 07 | LMP2 | 61 laps |
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