6 Hours of Fuji Race Report

This 2026 FIA WEC 6 Hours of Fuji Race race report was compiled by regular endurance-racing correspondent and motorsport fundi, Dr Nick van der Meulen.

The sixth round of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship took place in Japan in the form of the 6 Hours of Fuji. Nestled under Mt. Fuji, the Fuji Speedway, owned by Toyota, is notorious for its inclement weather, one of the most famous thereof being the deciding Formula 1 Grand Prix in 1976 which saw James Hunt take a dramatic world championship win. Toyota is easily the most successful marque at this circuit, however, they haven’t won in three years.

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Rain Playing its Part

Qualifying and Hyperpole was washed out due to inclement weather, which meant the grid was decided by the times posted in free practice. The winners of the event last season, Alpine, dominated the race, running 1-2 for much of it. A major accident involving LMGT3 Project 59 McLaren #58 brought out the safety car in the final hour. The team decided to pit their lead car #36 (Gounon/Martins) for tyres, while short-stopping the sister vehicle #35 (Habsburg/Milesi). Their split strategy was not enough: Toyota outfoxed them by gambling and stopping to take even less energy than their rivals. Martins charged to second place and harried Ryo Hirakawa’s Toyota #8 (Buemi/Hartley/Hirakawa) in the final minutes of the race. It was not enough and Toyota took a famous victory in front of their enthusiastic fans. Martins followed them home in second position, while Milesi crossed the finish line in fourth place.

All to Play For

Toyota #7 and BMW #20 began the round leading the world championship, level on points. Both began the race well down the order, however, BMW M Team WRT #20 (Rast/S. van der Linde/Frijns) faced misfortune, which began with a puncture after an on-track skirmish. Sheldon van der Linde was involved in another incident, being sandwiched between Ferrari #51 and a LMGT3 backmarker. The South African was forced into a spin, losing them more time, resulting in them finishing outside the points. Toyota #7 (De Vries/Conway/Kobayashi) worked their way into a points-scoring position before receiving a drive-through penalty for an infringement. Toyota’s superior strategy saw the #7 back in the points, finishing eighth.

BMW M Team WRT also took advantage of the safety car period in the final hour of the race, short-stopping #15 (Magnussen/Marciello/D. Vanthoor). They could not keep Alpine #36 behind them, but still finished on the podium in third place. This was a surprising result, as the marque did not prove competitive throughout the race despite their straight-line speed.

Strong Showing

Cadillac #38 (Bamber/Bourdais/Aitken) was very fast throughout the race and were rewarded for their efforts with fifth place. The sister #12 machine (Stevens/Nato) had a more challenging day, however, they were rewarded for their efforts with points for seventh place.

The Aston Martin Valkyries ran strongly at Fuji, shadowing the two Alpines throughout the race. Aston Martin Thor Team #007 (Tincknell/Gamble) led briefly in the closing stages, but had to serve two penalties for infringements, leaving sister car #009 (Sorensen/Ribeiras) to fight for the podium. Unfortunately, both cars suffered in the final pitstop scramble, but #009 managed to salvage points for ninth position.

Ferrari lacked speed throughout the weekend, as did Peugeot Totalenergies. Ferrari #50 ran in the points until suffering a hydraulic failure, while #51 managed to score a point for tenth place. Peugeot #94 was rewarded with sixth place by doggedly circulating – proving how unpredictable endurance racing can be.

Special mention must be made for Genesis Magma Racing #19, who ran in the top five for almost the entire race. They looked to be rewarded with their first points of the season and the marque’s highest finish in the series thus far, but the final pitstop under the safety car robbed them of points.

LMGT3

Team WRT #32 BMW (Farfus/Leung/Gelael) took a dramatic victory in the LMGT3 category, hunting down and passing the #34 Racing Team Turkey by TF Sport Corvette (Eastwood/Dempsey/Yoluꞔ) in the dying minutes of the race. The Corvette, crippled with worn tyres, lost another place to Heart of Racing Aston Martin #27 (James/Robichon/Drudi), but managed to hold on to third place at the fall of the chequered flag. Vista AF Ferrari #54 (Rigon/Castellacci/Flohr) finished fourth, while erstwhile race leader TF Sport Corvette #33 (Edgar/Catsburg/Keating) salvaged fifth position.

Championship Standings

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.

Hartley/Hirakawa/Buemi top the world championship standings (89 points), following victory at Fuji. Kobayashi/Conway/De Vries are relegated to second in the standings (79 points) ahead of Rast/Frijns (75 points). Magnussen/Marciello lie fourth (69 points) ahead of Sheldon van der Linde (65 points).

In the LMGT3 category, Jonny Edgar leads with 86 points ahead of teammates Nicky Catsburg (82 points) and Ben Keating (64 points). James/Drudi/Robichon lie fourth in the standings with 62 points, ahead of Eastwood/Dempsey/Yoluꞔ (58 points).

The seventh round of the World Endurance Championship will take place in Spain (6 Hours of Barcelona), on 18 October 2026.