Porsche Penske Motorsport trio André Lotterer, Kévin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor took a significant step closer to title glory in the FIA World Endurance Championship today, by securing an impressive second victory of the season in the 6 Hours of Fuji.
In front of 68,500 fans around the legendary Japanese circuit, the penultimate round of the campaign was as absorbing as it was unpredictable. From fifth on the grid, the race-winning #6 Porsche 963 Hypercar was a contender from the outset, with Vanthoor displacing both Toyotas in the opening laps before piling the pressure on Marco Wittmann in the second-placed BMW M Hybrid V8.
During the first round of pit visits, the Porsche then leapfrogged the BMW and the Cadillac Racing V-Series.R – which had led the first 42 laps from pole position – to seize the initiative. Pit-stop cycles and an inspired Nicklas Nielsen in the #50 Ferrari 499P aside, it was an advantage the #6 car would not subsequently relinquish.
Artfully managing several safety car periods and exploiting an alternative strategy to the majority of the 18-strong Hypercar field, the Porsche crew always looked the most likely to win, with Lotterer getting the better of Nielsen’s Ferrari mid-race, and Estre surviving both a lunge from a lapped Ryo Hirakawa and a slippery brake pedal that sent him deep into Turn One in the final hour to stay in front.
The trio’s fifth podium of 2024 extended their margin at the summit of the standings to 35 points with only 39 remaining in play. That means just an eighth-place finish in Bahrain – irrespective of any other result – will be sufficient to seal the deal.
Their cause was aided by a disappointing day for championship rivals Toyota and Ferrari. Following a quiet start, the #7 Toyota GR010 – Hybrid of home hero Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries at one stage appeared to be hauling itself into the reckoning, particularly in the hands of rapid Dutchman de Vries, but a clash between Kobayashi and Matt Campbell in the #5 Porsche on lap 163 put both cars out on the spot and spelt the end of the Toyota drivers’ title ambitions.
The #8 Japanese machine was similarly in the mix for the rostrum, but a late drive-through penalty for Hirakawa’s contretemps with Estre dropped that car down the order, meaning there was no Toyota on the podium at Fuji for the first time since 2015.
Despite Nielsen’s race-leading heroics on distinctly worn tyres, the #50 499P could ultimately finish no better than ninth. While still mathematically in contention, the Dane and team-mates Antonio Fuoco and Miguel Molina now need a minor miracle to steal the crown from Porsche’s grasp.
Having scored just six points all season arriving in Japan, the #15 BMW M Team WRT entry piloted by Wittmann, Raffaelle Marciello and Dries Vanthoor featured up at the sharp end throughout and deservedly scooped the runner-up spoils following a strong run, marking only the second time in history that two brothers have finished on the same WEC podium.
There was a battle royale for the bottom step of the rostrum, but the penalty for the #50 Ferrari and a similar offence by the #35 Alpine – with Charles Milesi hitting an LMGT3 car after a stellar run during which the Frenchman set the race’s fastest lap – ruled both out of the reckoning, and the Cadillac fell victim to a number of errors.
That opened the door for the #36 Alpine to take third place, with Mick Schumacher producing a superb final stint to overhaul both Oliver Rasmussen and Noman Nato. There was, however, still cause for celebration for Hertz Team JOTA, as the British outfit clinched the FIA World Cup for Hypercar Teams.
The 2024 WEC campaign will conclude with the Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain on 31 October – 2 November.
Click HERE for the full results.
LMGT3
Malykhin, Sturm and Bachler take the first ever WEC LMGT3 title as No.54 VISTA AF Corse Ferrari take maiden LMGT3 win….
Manthey PureRxcing celebrated title glory in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s LMGT3 category in the 6 Hours of Fuji today (15 September), as Aliaksandr Malykhin, Joel Sturm and Klaus Bachler produced a determined performance in Japan to put the destiny of the coveted crown beyond reach of any of their rivals.
The Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 crew could manage no better than 14th on the grid in qualifying on Saturday, but race day would prove to be a different story, as a mixture of strong speed, savvy strategy and fortuitous timing around the safety car interventions carried the title-chasing trio into contention for the race win, with Malykhin in particular putting in a marathon two-and-a-half-hour stint.
Ultimately, the battle for victory boiled down to a crowd-pleasing three-way fight between the #92 Porsche, the #59 United Autosports McLaren of James Cottingham, Nicolas Costa and Grégoire Saucy – which survived contact from the sister car in the early stages – and the #54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari piloted by Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci and Davide Rigon.
It was Rigon who pulled off the decisive moves, overhauling Bachler and Saucy in swift succession with half-an-hour remaining to cement the maiden victory for the Ferrari 296 LMGT3 and Vista AF Corse’s first of the 2024 campaign.
Bachler held on to finish second – more than sufficient to secure the championship, with the only other crews that could still have beaten Manthey PureRxcing winding up tenth and 14th. With Saucy battling tyre wear, Maxime Martin climbed to third in the closing laps in the #46 Team WRT BMW he shared with Ahmad Al Harthy and Valentino Rossi – the MotoGP legend the architect of a stellar middle stint along the way that hauled the car up the order.
After lining up on pole position, François Heriau lost time in the opening exchanges in the second Vista AF Corse entry, with the Frenchman and team-mates Simon Mann and Alessio Rovera eventually battling back to sixth behind the Iron Dames.
The season will conclude with the Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain on 31 October – 2 November.
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By Matt Hancock
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