Toyota Racing win dramatic 6 Hours of Fuji 

Toyota racing fought back to earn victory in an incident-packed 6 Hours of Fuji yesterday and extend their lead in the FIA World Endurance Championship. 

Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa won what is a home race for the team in their No8 TR010 Hybrid and took the lead in the drivers’ standings with two races remaining in the season. The team’s 10^th victory at Fuji stretches their advantage in the manufacturers’ championship to 23 points. Le Mans winners Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries recovered from their own setbacks to finish eighth and stay in the title battle, in second, 10 points behind their team-mates. 

After poor weather caused qualifying to be cancelled, the TR010 Hybrids had ground to make up to challenge at the front. The No8 started from eighth with the No7 in 13^th when the race began on a damp track. Buemi quickly made up two positions while de Vries’s race was disrupted by a puncture inside the first half-hour. A promising fightback was then interrupted by a spin due to contact with the No35 Alpine early in the second hour. 

The TR010 Hybrids battled their way into top six contention during the opening three hours, but the second half of the race started with frustration. Early in the fifth hour, Hartley was pushed into a spin by the No007 Aston Martin at turn one. At the next pit stops soon after, Hirakawa took the wheel in sixth. Kobayashi was seventh until a drive-through penalty for speeding under a full course yellow dropped the No7 to 12^th. 

However, a safety car with 55 minutes to go enabled a bold strategic call from the No8 crew. Engineers correctly anticipated a longer interruption due to barrier repairs, so the car was refuelled accordingly, and there was no tyre change. Hirakawa thus led the race when it resumed with 20 minutes remaining. As the rain fell and under intense pressure, he held off the No36 Alpine and crossed the line 0.591secs ahead. Kobayashi made up two positions in the final minutes to finish eighth. 

The World Championship battle now returns to Europe for the penultimate round of the season, the inaugural 6 Hours of Barcelona on 18 October at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. 

Team quotes 

Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car No7): “Winning at Fuji is very important for us so congratulations to the whole team for this victory, and particularly the No8 crew who did such a strong race. Everyone worked so hard for this, and we all kept fighting until the very end. For our car, it was a bit of a difficult day and I don’t think we had a clean enough race. We were a little bit off the pace generally, so we were always chasing and that defined our day.” 

Mike Conway (driver, car No7): “A great result in the end for car No8. They deserved that one after a great call on the last stop to jump everyone in the pits. So well done to them. As a team we scored good points today and won in front of our home fans, which always feels great. On our car, the penalty took us out of contention. Unfortunately, that means we lost some ground in the drivers’ championship but there are still two races to go, and we’ll do our best to get back on top.” 

Nyck de Vries (driver, car No7): “This is a great result for the team and I’m super happy that Toyota Racing were able to win at home. I think this makes everyone very, very proud. We scored a few points with our car but of course we hoped for more. I think several things could have gone differently and been done better but that’s racing. We need to focus instead on a great team victory and celebrate a very good day for the team.” 

Sébastien Buemi (driver, car No8): “This is one of our best wins in a long time. I’m really proud of this one, especially as it was completely unexpected going into the last part of the race. The team made a great call on the last pit stop and it was enough to jump ahead of everyone. An amazing strategy move. And then of course, Ryō kept everyone behind and didn’t make any mistakes in difficult conditions. All in all, it was an amazing win.” 

Brendon Hartley (driver, car No8): “What an incredible race and home win. I’m so happy for Ryō to take the flag at his home race. It’s a very nice feeling that we’re going to enjoy for a while. We didn’t have the ultimate pace but with good execution, no mistakes on track, and an amazing strategy at the end, we came away with the home win. Massive thanks to everyone on the team.” 

Ryō Hirakawa (driver, car No8): “It’s amazing to be on the top step of the podium in front of our fans. Of course, we always pushed to get a victory but until the last safety car, it didn’t look possible. The team did a great job on strategy. This win is for them. The last few laps were really stressful. The track conditions were quite tricky, and the Alpine was closing quite fast. I was able to manage it, so I’m very happy, especially at Fuji. It’s a special feeling and good for the World Championship.” 

6 Hours of Fuji results 

ENDS