FIA WEC: Toyota excels at Fuji, new LMP2 winner

Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley are the winners of the 6 Hours of Fuji, the second round of the 2019-2020 FIA World Endurance Championship season.

The trio in the #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid defeated their colleagues in the #7 car (Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway, Jose Maria Lopez) to give Toyota one more 1-2 victory in the reduced field of just five LMP1 cars. Rebellion Racing’s Bruno Senna, Norman Nato and Gustavo Menezes finished third in the #1 Rebellion R13-Gibson.

As expected, Toyota takes one more 1-2 victory

Maiden LMP2 win for the Racing Team Nederland

There was a great battle in the LMP2 class, ending with the maiden victory for the Racing Team Nederland. The victorious drivers in the #29 Oreca were Nyck de Vries, Giedo van der Garde and Frits van Eerd. Eight LMP2 cars participated in the race. Interestingly, the #29 crew is the fifth different crew to win the LMP2 class in the last five FIA WEC races.

The #38 Jota Sport Oreca finished third, driven by Anthony Davidson, Antonio Felix da Costa and Roberto Gonzalez. The LMP2 podium was completed by Ho-Pin Tung, Gabriel Aubry and Will Stevens in the #37 Oreca of Jackie Chan DC Racing.

Racing Team Nederland Oreca Fuji Speedway

Racing Team Nederland’s Oreca at Fuji Speedway

The victories both in the GTE Pro and GTE Am went to Aston Martin crews. Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen took the GTE Pro victory in the #95 Aston Martin AMR Vantage GTE with a one-lap advantage over defending world champions Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre in the #92 Porsche 911 RSR. AMR’s Alex Lynn and Maxime Martine climbed to the third podium spot in the GTE Pro class.

The victory in the most massive GTE Am class (11 cars) went to Jonny Adam, Salih Yolus and Charlie Eastwood in the #90 Aston Martin of TF Sport. The other two manufacturers were also represented on the podium, with Francois Perrodo, Emmanuel Collard and Nicklas Nielsen second in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE, and Ben Keating, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Felipe Fraga third in the #57 Porsche of Team Project 1.