Метка: Fuji

Alpine got Fuji podium despite starting weekend with «worst car»

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Mick Schumacher has hailed Alpine for improving a car that he felt was at its “worst” this year in order to clinch a maiden podium in the World Endurance Championship at Fuji.

During an impressive final stint, Schumacher snatched third place in the #36 Alpine A424 LMDh he shares with Nicolas Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxiviere, delivering the French manufacturer its best-ever finish since its return to the Hypercar category at the start of the year.

The result followed a tough weekend for the #36 crew, which struggled in comparison to the sister #35 car in practice and could qualify only 15th out of 18 entrants in the top class.

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Alpine hadn’t got to the bottom of the #36 car’s struggles in the run-up to the race, but Schumacher, Lapierre and Vaxiviere were able to come through the field to take an unlikely third place, finishing 42s down on the winning #6 Porsche.

After taking the chequered flag, Schumacher said he was impressed by how Alpine was able to turn around its performance in such a short span of time, but stressed that the team still had work to do ahead of the Bahrain season finale in November.

«It was tough this time,” he said. “I think we started off actually from, in my opinion, the worst car we’ve ever had this year.

“We were really fighting [the car] a lot and were not confident at all from our side. [The] #35 seem to be a bit better on that.

“In the #36, for some reason, we struggled a bit more. And could see it in the pace nonetheless compared to the #35.

“So there’s a lot of homework we still have to do. We should have to do some digging on our side if there’s something that is different.

“But on the other hand we can be really happy with our result. The #35 was also, at a time, in for the win. For it being our first year in the championship, it’s insane.»

Podium: #36 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Mick Schumacher

Podium: #36 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Mick Schumacher

Photo by: Andreas Beil

The result marked Schumacher’s first visit to the podium since his title-winning campaign in Formula 2 in 2020, having managed a best finish of sixth during his two-year stint in Formula 1.

The German driver showed impressive pace early in the race to propel the #36 Alpine inside the top 10 by the beginning of the second hour.

He returned behind the wheel of the car after a late safety car appearance, grabbing third place from the #12 Jota Porsche 963 of Norman Nato with less than 10 minutes remaining in the race.

The 25-year-old said he’d “had a lot of fun” on track after a very long time, but felt he’d had to “really fight” in order to secure the podium finish.

“It was good, we really, really fought for this one,” he said. “The team has made great calls in strategy all around the race and we really showed potential.

«We had some very close battles. I’m getting more confidence in how to fight in the WEC. I definitely wasn’t expecting it to be this hard, but these cars are pretty robust.

“It seems a bit like the good old days of karting. I had a lot of fun out there. It’s been a while that I was on the podium.»

Contrasting fortunes

#35 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Jules Gounon, Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen, Charles Milesi

#35 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Jules Gounon, Ferdinand Habsburg-Lothringen, Charles Milesi

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

The #35 Alpine crewed by Charles Milesi, Ferdinand Habsburg and Jules Gounon was on course for third before a drive-through penalty for Milesi put the #36 car out of the running for a podium finish.

Milesi was sanctioned for a collision with the #81 TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3.R late in the race, but was able to recover to seventh to secure a double points finish for Alpine.

The Frenchman took responsibility for the incident, but felt the punishment didn’t fit the crime.

“The contact with the Corvette, I couldn’t do anything: he was going left-right, left-right and I didn’t know where he was going, so I tried to go outside and he moved at the last-minute,” he said.

“It was my fault, I hit him, but we need to accept the penalty for sure. It’s a bit harsh for what happened but anyway we have to deal with it. It’s my fault, I did a mistake and it cost us the podium.”



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Ferrari bracing for ‘race of survival’ after tough Fuji qualifying

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Antonio Giovinazzi believes Ferrari can best hope to “survive” in Sunday’s World Endurance Championship race at Fuji after a tough qualifying for the two factory crews.

Giovinazzi struggled to 12th in the #51 Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercar in the opening segment of qualifying on Saturday, lapping almost seven tenths off the pace set by Alex Lynn in the #2 Cadillac V-Series.R.

The sister #50 Ferrari driven by Antonio Fuoco did progress to Hyperpole, but the 28-year-old never featured in the battle for pole position either, ending up a distant seventh on the grid.

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Ferrari had a difficult outing at Fuji Speedway in its debut season last year with both its cars finishing a lap down on the winning Toyota, and Giovinazzi fears that the Italian marque is set for another frustrating result on its return to the 4.5km circuit.

Asked to explain Ferrari’s poor showing in qualifying, Giovinazzi told Motorsport.com: “Just no pace. I did the maximum I could do but the car was difficult to drive today in quali. We don’t start from a [good] grid position but it’s a long race so let’s see what we can do tomorrow.

“It was not the pace which we had in Austin and which was better. For some reason last year, we struggled here and same this year. So it’s not our track.”

He added: “We have many cars that are better than us – BMW, Alpine, of course Toyota and Porsche – so it will be a difficult race tomorrow. Let’s survive and see where we will finish.”

The #50 Ferrari shared by Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen is contending for the championship, with the trio trailing the #6 Porsche 963 of Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Andre Lotterer by 12 points with two races to run.

#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen

#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen

Photo by: Andreas Beil

Estre qualified the #6 Porsche in fifth place, while the #7 Toyota crew that is level on points with the #50 Ferrari ended up fourth in the hands of Kamui Kobayashi.

Fuoco said that Ferrari’s goal should be to take the battle to its closest title rivals to put itself in the best position for the Bahrain season finale in November.

“As always we are here to try to do the maximum, and tomorrow we try to fight,” he said. “Luckily the competitors which will fight for the championship are just in front of us and we [will] try to fight with them if we have the chance.”

Asked what would be a good result for Ferrari on Sunday, Fuoco said: “Surviving. Try to finish in the top five.”

Pressed further on whether that was realistic, he added: “Not really but always we try to make it work.”

Additional reporting by Gary Watkins



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Lynn was “desperate” to give Cadillac first WEC pole after near-misses

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Fuji pole winner Alex Lynn has revealed that he was “desperate” to give Cadillac its first top spot in World Endurance Championship qualifying after a string of near-misses.

Lynn stated that he “really, really wanted the pole” after qualifying in the top four in the WEC’s Hypercar class every time out since the Spa round in May.

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“So many times we’ve missed out by a tenth or this or that; [there are] such fine margins,” said the Briton, who shares the solo Ganassi-run Cadillac V-Series.R with Earl Bamber.

“I feel personally that I have pushed the team really hard to look into the details and to find those micro-seconds. That is how you improve — marginal gains.”

Lynn, who sealed Caddy’s first WEC pole after finding nine tenths on his second push lap to get down to a 1m29.901s, revealed the two qualifying sessions on Saturday had been on “the knife-edge”.

He explained how he had been forced to make a tweak to the rear anti-roll bar after leaving the pits in the opening qualifying period, which he also topped, and then made a wrong call to abort his first flier in Hyperpole.

“We made some changes from Free Practice 3 to give me more front end [bite], but it was a bit more than I anticipated,” said Lynn. “I had to soften the rear rollbar to compensate and luckily it was enough.”

#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn

#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R: Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn

Photo by: Andreas Beil

Lynn backed off on his first push lap after encountering Dries Vanthoor in the #15 BMW and admitted that “in hindsight I wish I hadn’t”.

Asked if he was still confident that he could take the pole, Lynn said: “As long as no one improved. The engineer said [the time needed for pole] was a 28.9 and I thought, yep, I’ve got that in me.”

The Englishman described pole position ahead of Toyota on its home track as a “small victory that feels bigger than it is”. He added that it was good “to enjoy the small wins against opposition as strong as this” in Hypercar.

“Not a lot” was Lynn’s reply when asked what it would take to convert the pole into race victory in Sunday’s Fuji 6 Hours.

Cadillac was beaten to fourth place last time out in the WEC at Austin earlier this month by two Ferraris and a Toyota, but Lynn is confident that the V-Series.R will be a contender for victory in Japan.

“I think we are a bit faster than them on long-run pace, so hopefully depending on what they turn up with tomorrow we can be in the mix,” he explained.

The six-hour race at Fuji, the penultimate round of this year’s WEC, begins at 11:00 local time on Sunday.



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Toyota grabs top spot in truncated final practice

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO



Toyota edged out Cadillac and Ferrari to top a shortened final practice for this weekend’s World Endurance Championship round at Fuji.

The hour-long session was cut short with 19 minutes left on the clock due to possible damage to kerbs located at the exit of Turn 1.

TV images showed officials arriving at the corner to inspect the kerbs after the session was initially red flagged with 23 minutes remaining. A decision was soon taken to not resume the session, likely to help the marshals repair the barriers in time for the remainder of the day’s schedule.

The fastest time of FP3 was set by Ryo Hirakawa, the Japanese driver getting down to 1m29.621s in the #8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID just six minutes in to beat the #2 Cadillac V-Series.R of Alex Lynn by just 0.086s.

The Japanese driver’s best effort was about half a tenth slower than the time Dries Vanthoor managed in the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 in FP2, but fractionally quicker than the chart-setting lap from the corresponding session in 2023, which was impacted by overnight rain.

Third place went to Antonio Fuoco in the #50 Ferrari 499P, a further 0.020s down on Lynn, while Alpine was the only other team to break the 90s barrier as Charles Milesi set a best time of 1m29.760s in the #35 A424.

Kamui Kobayashi was fifth in the #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid after lapping the circuit in 1m30.055s, just finishing ahead of the factory #51 Ferrari driven by Antonio Giovinazzi and customer #83 AF Corse entry of Robert Kubica.

The best-placed Porsche was the customer #38 Jota 963 of Oliver Rasmussen in eighth, ahead of another privateer entry — the #99 Proton Porsche whose best lap was set by Julien Andlauer.

The top 10 was completed by the #63 Lamborghini SC63 of Daniil Kvyat, who set a best time of 1m30.550s.

The best Peugeot was classified 11th, four spots ahead of the leading BMW driven by Rene Rast.

Ferrari 1-2 in LMGT3

In the LMGT3 class, Francois Heirau set a series of quick times to lead a 1-2 for AF Corse Ferrari.

Bronze-rated Heirau initially laid a benchmark of 1m41.479s before improving to 1m41.206s in the #55 Ferrari 296 GT3 to end up a tenth clear of the sister car of Davide Rigon.

Ferrari’s closest challenger was the #78 ASP Lexus RCF GT3, courtesy of a 1m41.422s effort from Arnold Robin.

United Autosports finished fourth thanks to Joshua Caygill’s time of 1m41.532s in the #95 McLaren 720S GT3, ahead of the points-leading Manthey PureRxcing Porsche 911 GT3R of Aliaksandr Malykhin.



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BMW leads Porsche and Cadillac in tight FP2

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BMW, Porsche and Cadillac ended up within two hundredths of each other at the top of the times in second free practice for Sunday’s World Endurance Championship round at Fuji.

Dries Vanthoor led the way for the WRT BMW team from Porsche driver Matt Campbell and Cadillac’s Alex Lynn in the 90-minute FP2 session on Friday afternoon.

Vanthoor posted a 1m29.577s during the opening minutes of the session in the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDh before Campbell got down to a 1m29.586s in the #5 Penske-run factory Porsche 963 LMDh to end up just nine thousandths in arrears.

Lynn then lapped the 2.84-mile Fuji Speedway in 1m29.592s aboard the solo Ganassi Cadillac V-Series.R LMDh to end up 0.15s off the pace.

The leading contenders in FP2 all set their times at the beginning of the session when they were on fresh tyres, Vanthoor’s session best representing an improvement of almost exactly a second over the time set by his brother Laurens for Porsche that took top spot in FP1.

Ferrari ended up fourth with the #83 AF Corse-run customer entry, Robert Kubica getting down to a 1m29.904s in the 499P Le Mans Hypercar that won last time out in the WEC at Austin earlier this month.

Ryo Hirakawa claimed fifth on home ground for Toyota with a 1m29.923s aboard the #8 GR010 HYBRID LMH.

#7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 - Hybrid: Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck de Vries

#7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 — Hybrid: Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck de Vries

Photo by: Andreas Beil

BMW had two cars in the top six, Robin Frijns ending up on a 1m29.956s in the second of the M Hybrids.

Antonio Giovinazzi took seventh spot for the factory Ferrari squad as the last driver to break 1m30s with a 1m29.975s.

Oliver Rasmussen in the #38 Porsche run by the privateer Jota team claimed eighth ahead of the second Toyota in which Kamui Kobayashi set the time.

The top 10 was rounded out by the second of the Penske Porsches in which Kevin Estre was still three tenths up on team-mate Vanthoor’s morning best.

Alpine took 11th and 13th positions with its pair of Signatech A424 LMDhs, Charles Milesi ending up little more than a tenth ahead of Matthieu Vaxiviere.

Best of the Peugeot 9X8 2024 LMHs was the #93 car in which Mikkel Jensen took 14th spot as the last driver within a second of the pace.

The solo Iron Lynx Lamborghini SC63 LMDh was down 17th in Daniil Kvyat’s hands.

#55 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3: Francois Heriau, Simon Mann, Alessio Rovera

#55 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3: Francois Heriau, Simon Mann, Alessio Rovera

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Alessio Rovera jumped to the top of the charts in LMGT3 in the fastest of the AF Corse-run Ferrari 296 GT3s, the factory driver’s 1m40.682s a couple of tenths faster than bronze-rated Hiroshi Koizumi in the #82 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.

The local driver’s 1m40.851s set at the start of the session still stood as second best despite some late improvements.

Franck Perera got down to a 1m40.860s in the Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2 to take third.

Track action at Fuji resumes on Saturday with a final, hour-long session of free practice beginning at 10:20 local time before qualifying kicks off at 14:20.

WEC Fuji — FP2 results



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Peugeot evaluating further hypercar upgrades for 2025 WEC season

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Peugeot is evaluating the introduction of further upgrades to its Le Mans Hypercar in 2025 in order to close the gap to the front in the World Endurance Championship.

The French manufacturer wants to get a full understanding of the potential of the updated 9X8 2024 by the end of the current season in order to determine whether it needs to use more evo jokers for next season.

Asked what Peugeot has to do to improve its fortunes in the Hypercar class, the marque’s technical director Olivier Jansonnie said: “We are looking at the performance of the car right now, obviously until you find something [major] it’s always difficult to know what it was [that needed improving].

“We are looking at various things: we have evaluated and started to pinpoint so many things on the car that need improvement — especially the last two races were quite relevant for that.

“Part of that is for sure set-up, which we can cure, and once we have a clear picture of what we cannot cure with set-up, we will have to look at evos and jokers eventually.”

He added: “Only once you start getting to the point you can see what you are missing and when it’s to evolve in terms of technical package, jokers and homologation.”

Peugeot invoked the first of the five evo joker performance upgrades allowed to it under the initial five-year lifecycle of the 9X8 LMH ahead of its first full season in the WEC in 2023. 

#93 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Mikkel Jensen, Nico Muller, Jean-Eric Vergne

#93 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Mikkel Jensen, Nico Muller, Jean-Eric Vergne

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

How much of its allocation it has used has not been disclosed and the use of evo jokers is not in the public domain nor shared by the series rule-makers with the manufacturers. 

It is unclear whether its shift from equal size wheels and tyres all round to the narrower fronts and wider rears that was at the centre of the 2024 makeover counted as one. 

Toyota made the same switch from 31cm tyres to 29 and 34cm with its GR010 HYBRID LMH between the 2021 and ’22 seasons. 

It successfully argued that it needed to make the switch as a result of the reduction of minimum weight in LMH that followed the convergence process to allow LMDh machinery into the WEC.

Evo jokers have to be applied for to the rule-makers, the Automobile Club de l’Ouest and the FIA, and are allowed at their discretion. 

While the upgrade for 2024 represented a major change in concept, the new 9X8 has not finished higher than eighth in the five races it has contested so far. The previous version of the car logged a podium finish at Monza in 2023.

Jansonnie said it remains to be decided at what point Peugeot could use evo jokers to introduce new parts on the car if it decides to go down that route, but did not rule out the prospect of starting the 2025 season in late February with the new version.

“It’s open again,” he said. “We are looking hard into what could bring us performance. So depending upon the findings we do between now and the end of the year, we will decide what we do.”

Jansonnie wouldn’t be drawn about the scope of the changes when asked if Peugeot would make small tweaks to the car or bring more substantial upgrades.

“It’s impossible to tell until we have the full picture,” he said. “It has to be some balance between how long we can wait before doing something and how much you can gain from doing something quickly. It depends on what we find on track next month [in testing].”

Jansonnie added that “the target is to have a clear picture by the end of November” while the “type” of update will also help in determining the full timeline of the upgraded car.

“You have some quick and easy things that you can design in a couple of weeks, produce the parts in three to four weeks and test them, if you are 100 per cent sure what you are doing,” he said.

“That’s a two, three-month turnaround. There are other options that could be much longer. It’s impossible to answer.”



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Porsche pips Toyota in red-flagged opening practice

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Porsche led home favourite Toyota in a red-flagged opening practice for this weekend’s World Endurance Championship round at Fuji.

Laurens Vanthoor set a best time of 1m30.581s in the #6 Porsche 963 LMDh at the very beginning of the 90-minute session to head the #8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID of Ryo Hirakawa by just 0.010s.

Third place went to Antonio Fuoco in the Le Mans 24 Hours-winning #50 Ferrari 499P, but the Italian trailed the leading two cars by almost half a second with a time of 1m31.104s.

Frederic Makowiecki claimed fourth in in the #5 Porsche, the French driver making a relatively late improvement to demote the #7 Toyota of Nyck de Vries to fifth place.

The #83 customer AF Corse Ferrari took sixth in the hands of Yifei Ye, while Stoffel Vandoorne guided the #94 Peugeot 9X8 to a strong seventh place ahead of Ferdinand Habsburg in the best of the Alpines, the #35 A424.

The top 10 was completed by the #12 Jota Porsche of Will Stevens and the #51 Ferrari driven by James Calado.

Cadillac finished a distant 12th with Earl Bamber ending up almost a second off the best time set by Vanthoor. The American marque separated the two BMW entries, the #15 car finishing ahead in 11th place.

The #63 Lamborghini shared by Mirko Bortolotti, Daniil Kvyat and Edoardo Mortara was classified 17th, only ahead of the #38 Jota Porsche in the Hypercar class.

McLaren quickest in LMGT3

In the LMGT3 class, Marino Sato ended up fastest in the #95 United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 with a best lap of 1m40.528s.

However, the sister #59 McLaren driven by Gregoire Saucy caused the only major interruption of the session when he stopped at the Dunlop chicane with 21 minutes left on the clock.

The car could be recovered quickly, with green flag being waved with 14 minutes remaining.

Alessio Rovera set an identical time to Sato in the #55 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 to finish second, with Davide Rigon finishing another two tenths behind in the sister Ferrari to claim third.

The best of the rest was Franck Perera in the #60 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo with a best effort of 1m40.849s.



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Austin clash with Estre «looked worse than it was»

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Toyota driver Sebastien Buemi believes his late-race clash with Kevin Estre’s Porsche at the Austin World Endurance Championship round «looked worse than it was».

Buemi insisted that the camera angles of the incident on the Circuit of The America’s back straight when he moved over on the Frenchman to defend his position «made it look very different to how it felt in the car», while admitting that he was at fault.

«When I started to move to the inside he was already too far alongside and a bit in my blind spot — I made my move too late,» Buemi told Motorsport.com of an incident that resulted in him receiving a 30s stop-go penalty and two points on his licence.

The #8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercar made contact with the factory Penske-run Porsche 963 LMDh at that point, but Buemi continued to move to his left.

That resulted in a second contact when Estre was almost completely off the track on the apron alongside the retaining wall.

«It looks very bad on my part, like I am aiming to have a crash, like I want to crash with him,» said Buemi.

«In the car it didn’t feel like that — I don’t want to crash with someone on purpose.»

#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer, Laurens Vanthoor, #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 - Hybrid: Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa

#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer, Laurens Vanthoor, #8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 — Hybrid: Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Buemi also suggested that there may have been mitigating circumstances for the second contact, because the Toyota sustained a left-rear puncture at some point over the course of the incident.

«I don’t know when the puncture happened, but basically I was trying to keep it on the road,» he said.

«I don’t know how much that affected what happened.»

Buemi admitted that his robust defence of sixth position in the penultimate hour of the Lone Star Le Mans event race was influenced by the difficulties the Toyota drivers faced trying to overtake at Austin.

The Toyota was short-fuelled early in the penultimate hour to leapfrog it ahead of the Porsche, which had already stopped and therefore was on tyres that were already up to temperature.

«I wasn’t looking forward to being overtaken on the outlap because I didn’t want to spend 32 laps stuck behind him when I was pretty confident we were faster,» explained Buemi.

«The fact that you know that it is nearly impossible to pass pushes you sometimes to make sure you don’t lose a position.»

Buemi accepted blame for the incident and the penalties that followed, which combined with the time lost to the puncture dropped the car he shares with Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa to a non-scoring 15th place.

«I made a mistake, and when you make a mistake you have accept that you may get a penalty,» he said.

But he suggested that there needs to be consistency in the policing of driving standards in the WEC.

He pointed to the incident in which he was hit from behind at the first corner at Fuji last year by Ferrari driver Miguel Molina.

«I was checking the start last year and it wasn’t even investigated,» he said. «I would like a review of the consistency of the penalties in the WEC.»

Buemi said that he had already cleared the air with Estre after the race.

They communicated by text after the race and then met up by chance in a cafe the morning after the race.

«I accept that the first part was a misjudgement, but the bit that wasn’t good was the second move,» said Estre.

«I don’t think what he did was right, but at least he says the same thing.»

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Toyota takes another BoP hit for home WEC race at Fuji

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Toyota has received a further double hit under the Balance of Performance for this weekend’s Fuji World Endurance Championship round after its near-miss last time out at Austin.

The Japanese manufacturer’s GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercar will run with reduced maximum power and increased minimum weight under the Hypercar BoP released on Tuesday for the penultimate round of the WEC in Japan on Sunday.

It follows a starring performance by Toyota at Austin earlier this month, which would have yielded victory for the #7 entry driven by Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries but for a late drive-through penalty awarded to the Japanese driver for failing to slow sufficiently under waved yellow flags.

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The GR010 had been given a 9kW (12bhp) reduction in power for the US event at the Circuit of The Americas and has now had power reduced by a further 4kW (5bhp), bringing its maximum down to 493kW (661bhp).

Toyota’s minimum weight has gone up by 5kg for Fuji, the same increase as it received for Austin, meaning it will have to run at 1070kg for its home race in Japan.

That is the heaviest the GR010 has been since it ran at 1089kg at the Qatar season-opener in March when its two cars could finish only fifth and eighth when they had maximum power of 510kW (683bhp).

Toyota’s loss of performance from its hybrid powertrain will be offset under the new Power Gain element of the BoP introduced at the Le Mans 24 Hours in June: above 250km/h (155mph) the GR010 will be allowed 0.8% extra power compared with Austin.

Ferrari, which took victory in Austin with the customer AF Corse-run 499P LMH shared by Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Robert Shwartzman, will race in Japan with the same BoP as in North America with the exception of a 0.6% loss of power above 250km/h (155mph).

#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi

#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Porsche, which leads the Hypercar drivers’ points with Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Andre Lotterer, has received a weight break of 4kg and a power increase of 3kW after its 963 LMDh dropped out of the lead battle in Austin.

Peugeot is another winner under the BoP for Fuji, its 9X8 2024 LMH being handed another 7kg reduction in weight and a 4kW increase in power.

The Cadillac V-Series.R LMDh, which took fourth position in Austin, has been given marginally more power (2kW) and less weight (1kg) for this weekend. Alpine and BMW have also received power increases of 3kW and 2kW respectively.

Lamborghini’s maximum power and minimum weight for Fuji is unchanged from Austin.

Track action for the Fuji 6 Hours, round seven of the 2024 WEC, kicks off with free practice on Friday.



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