FIA WEC 6 Hours of Fuji - Race Report

The 2018 Fuji 6 Hours was moist… the race started under safety car as Patrick Dempsey waved the green flag. As the field went green the LMP2 pole sitter spun at T1.

Image from the FIA

Toyota and Porsche fought throughout the race, Toyota seeming to cope better in the wet and eventually the number 8 of Nakajima, Davidson and Buemi took the win in class and overall. In 2nd was the number 7 Toyota and 3rd was taken by the number 1 Porsche.

The first red flag arrived just before half distance for reduced visibility from fog which rolled in, this lasted for about 40 minutes before restarting under the safety car.

There was contact between the number 13 Vaillante Rebellion of Beche and the number 24 Manor of Vergne under a slow zone on the front straight. This continued and later on in that lap there was heavy contact spinning the 13 Rebellion into the barriers. The winners in the LMP2 class were the number 31 Vaillante Rebellion of Senna, Prost and Canal.

Image from the FIA

There were 7 safety car periods (including the start), 1 full course yellow and 2 red flags. The full course yellow was shown for the recovery of the number 67 Ford of Andy Priaulx from turn 1. The 67 had contact earlier in the lap causing subsequent “catastrophic tyre damage” sending Priaulx into the barriers. The winners in the GTE Pro class were the 51 AF Corse of Calado and Pier Guidi, followed by the 91 and 92 Porsche’s.

Image from Dailysportscar

GTE Am Clearwater Racing led from pole for most of the race. Matt Griffin commented “It was a super tough stint in very low visibility”. Clearwater were passed in the pit stops by the 54 Spirt of Race Ferrari of Flohr, Castellacci and Molina which went on to win the class, 3rd was claimed by the 77 Proton Racing Porsche.

With 22 minutes to go, while under the red flag there was a radio call to all the teams… the race will re-start in 10 minutes… 5 minutes later there was a further call that due to the fog the race will not be resumed – topsy tervy!!

Full results can be found HERE and with 2 rounds remaining its all to play for, next up is the 6 Hours of Shanghai on the 5th of November.