This 2024 WEC 6 Hours of Fuji race report was compiled by regular endurance-racing correspondent and motorsport fundi, Dr Nick van der Meulen.

The seventh and penultimate round of the FIA World Endurance Championship took place at Fuji. The circuit lies at the base of Mount Fuji and it is notorious for its wet weather. James Hunt won the 1976 F1 world championship here when Niki Lauda pulled into the pits in torrential conditions to retire and the late Englishman finished third. At the WEC event, there was heavy rain overnight between Hyperpole and the race itself. This meant the race would begin on a ‘green’ circuit, with all the rubber laid down on track during practice washed away. The weather held for the race, however.

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Surprise Pole

Cadillac Racing #2 (Bamber/Lynn), had a bittersweet weekend. They claimed their first ever WEC pole position and ran strongly for the first third of the race (leading the first 40 laps). Unfortunately, they were delayed by a front right puncture at about half distance. The team had further bad luck when Bamber ran off the circuit at Turn 5 into the wall with 30 minutes remaining of the race. He managed to drag the car back to the pits, but it was pushed back into the garage and retired.

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One Hand On The Trophy

Penske Porsche #6 (Estre/Lotterer/L. Vanthoor), current world championship leaders, took the lead of the race after the first round of pit stops and ran at the front (despite a spirited performance from Niklas Nielsen in the Ferrari) until the fall of the chequered flag. The Vanthoor brothers were classified first and second, as WRT BMW #15 (D. Vanthoor/Marciello/Wittmann) finished runner up.

Porshe Penske #5 (Christensen/Makowiecki/Cameron) did not finish the race, being involved in a heavy accident with Toyota #7. While WRT #20 (Frijns/S. van der Linde/Rast) ran into technical maladies. Jota Porsche #12 (Stevens/Illot/Nato) finished fifth, winning the Hypercar Team World Cup for privateer teams in the process. Teammate #38 (Button/Hanson/Rasmussen) finished sixth overall.

Homeground

The circuit is home of Toyota, purchased by Toyota Motor Company in 2000. Japanese fans turned up in their droves (over 68 000) to see their beloved team dominate at home. Unfortunately, the team did not manage to feature in the battle for victory, despite leading the race at various stages. The wheels came off in the closing stages, with #7 (Kobayashi/Conway/De Vries) having a crash late in the race. Kobayashi made heavy contact with Penske Porsche #5, damaging both cars heavily, both retiring as a result. Toyota #8 (Buemi/Hartley/Hirakawa) received a late drive-through penalty, resulting in them salvaging a single point for finishing tenth.

On The Up

The French marques, Alpine and Peugeot, had an excellent showing at Fuji. Alpine posted their maiden podium finish with #36 (Lapierre/Schumacher/Vaxiviere) finishing a fine third, Schumacher snatched the position with a mere six minutes remaining. Stable mate #35 (Gunon/Habsburg/Milesi) finished seventh, giving the marque much to smile about. Peugeot #93 (Müller/Vergne/Jensen) finished a remarkable fourth, after running outside the top 15 at half distance. Jensen, like Schumacher, made a late charge and grabbed the position with only four minutes remaining. Stable mate #94 (Duval/di Resta/Vandoorne) qualified last in the Hypercar class, but finished eighth.

Tough Race

Ferrari did not have a particularly good day at Mt. Fuji, but #50 (Fuoco/Nielsen/Molina) produced a spirited performance, particularly Nielsen, battling victor Porsche #6 at the front of the field at about half distance. They slipped down the order in the closing stages to finish ninth.

AF Corse #83 (Kubica/Ye/Shwartzmann) compromised themselves by tagging Porsche #5 into Turn 1 on Lap 2 of the race, which sent the Porsche into Ferrari #51 (Pier Guidi/Callado/Giovinazzi) and Alpine #35. Kubica had to serve a 30-second stop-and-go penalty for the infringement. Ferrari #51 suffered a hybrid deployment failure with an hour remaining and the car was retired.

Lamborghini #63 (Bortolotti/Kyvat/Mortara) made progress at Fuji. They qualified for Hyperpole for the first time, led the race for a lap and ran inside the top ten for some time. Unfortunately, Kyvat ground to a halt, with gearbox failure, with less than two hours remaining.

GT3s

The LMGT3 class saw Vista AF Corse Ferrari #54 (Rigon/Flohr/Castelacci) take a fine victory, after running as low as 13th at two thirds race distance. Davide Rigon scythed his way through the field in his stint, posting the marque’s first class victory in 2024. United Autosport McLaren #59 (Cottingham/Costa/Saucy) led going into the final hour, but fell down the field and had to be content with eighth place.

Manthey Purerxcing Porsche #92 (Malykhin/Sturm/Bachler) finished second, taking the 2024 world championship in the process. WRT BMW #46 (Martin/Rossi/Al Harthy) finished a fine third, their first podium finish since the second round of the season. TF Sport Corvette #81 (van Rompuy/Andrade/Eastwood) finished fourth ahead of Iron Dames Lamborghini #85 (Frey/Bovy/Gatting) in fifth.

The top ten finishers in each class score points. There are three points-scoring allocation forms, with different allocations for 6-hour, 8-10-hour and 24-hour events, respectively. Vanthoor/Estre/Lotterer maintain their Hypercar championship lead with 150 points, ahead of Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen with 115 points and Kobayashi/De Vries, with 113 points. Sheldon van der Linde has 10 points and lies 18th in the standings.

In the GT3LM class, the Manthey drivers Malykhin/Sturm/Bachler have an unassailable lead in the championship with 136 points. Shahin/Schuring/Lietz lies second with 90 points, marginally ahead of Farfus/Leung/Gelael with 85 points. Kelvin van der Linde (Akkodis Lexus) lies 19th in the standings, with 18 points.

Season Finale

The final round of the 2024 WEC world championship takes place in Bahrain for an 8-hour event on 2 November 2024. Vanthoor/Estre/Lotterer require an eighth-place finish to secure the 2024 world title, irrespective of where their rivals finish.