Porsche Penske Motorsport have securing their second victory of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) with a masterful drive on the 6 Hours Of Fuji. The Porsche led house a 1-2 for German producers, with the #15 BMW M Workforce WRT automotive ending in a spectacular second in solely their first 12 months of WEC racing. Within the remaining 7 minutes of the race, the #36 Alpine Endurance Workforce snatched a podium place, that means that each BMW and Alpine safe their first Hypercar podium of the 12 months.
The #6 Porsche now has a agency grasp on the championship following a disastrous race for his or her rivals. The #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing workforce didn’t end the race following heavy contact with the #5 Porsche within the penultimate hour. The opposite title contender, the #50 Ferrari AF Corse, did handle to complete however fell again down the order to ninth throughout the remaining stint of the race.
In LMGT3, nevertheless, the title has been secured in high quality kind by Manthey PureRxcing. The #92 automotive certified down in 14th however did the whole lot proper throughout the race to safe a podium end result, ending second. The race was gained by the #54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari with a hard-earned victory, the primary LMGT3 win of the season for Ferrari. The #92 Porsche got here second, with the #46 Workforce WRT BMW coming house third, not least due to excellent stints by the Physician himself, Valentino Rossi.
Driver Response
Porsche driver Laurens Vanthoor, who was watching his brother Dries Vanthoor in his BMW chase down the Porsche, joked “I used to be a bit burdened as a result of I do know my brother effectively. I texted my Dad and mentioned I hope he stays calm! It’s nice for us to win and nice for me to have my brother subsequent to me on the rostrum. It’s a fairly particular weekend which I’ll bear in mind for a very long time.”
Andre Lotterer, who lived and raced in Japan for a few years, was naturally delighted. “It was a tremendous workforce effort” he enthused. “It’s been a improbable weekend right here to race in entrance of this crowd. There’s a lot assist and a lot power coming from the followers. For me, it’s one race that was lacking. I needed to win this one as a result of it’s a kind of house race for me, so I’m very, very joyful.”
Race Report
Cadillac Racing had an outstanding qualifying, ending first in each qualifying and the all vital Hyperpole shootout. They maintained their nice tempo firstly of the race, stretching out a 2 second lead throughout the first 2 laps. The #15 BMW M Workforce WRT, which had began in third, jumped to 2nd. After a clear first lap, the protection automotive was deployed on lap 2. Heading down into the primary nook after the 1.45km straight, the #83 Ferrari had an enormous lockup, punting into the again of the #5 Porsche Penske Motorsport automotive, inflicting a concertina impact, shoving the #51 Ferrari AF Corse into the #35 Alpine Endurance Workforce automotive as effectively. #83 Ferrari was given a 30 second stop-and-go penalty for inflicting a collision.
In LMGT3, François Heriau certified his #55 Vista AF Corse Ferrari on pole for the primary time. Nevertheless, he plummeted down the order on the primary lap, pitting to examine a problem below the protection automotive. #81 TF Sport Corvette led the way in which as the protection automotive interval got here to the top, adopted by the 2 United Autosport McLarens. Nevertheless, the #95 McLaren span below braking on the next lap, plummeting to 14th at school.
After the protection automotive interval, Laurens Vanthoor within the #6 Porsche overtook Sebastian Buemi for third and instantly set about difficult the #15 BMW for 2nd. In the meantime, Cadillac bought the hammer down and began to ascertain a lead. A terrific three-way battle for the lead of LMGT3 ensued within the first hour, with Sarah Bovy within the Iron Dames Lamborghini difficult James Cottingham in his #59 McLaren for 2nd place, all whereas constructing a niche of over 5 seconds from the remainder of the pack. With solely a few minutes to go within the first hour, Bovy made the transfer stick.
The #63 Lamborghini Iron Lynx fell down the order and out of the highest 10. Having seemed very quick in qualifying, the Italian automotive struggled on its outdated tyres. Within the first spherical of pit stops, Coronary heart Of Racing Aston Martin bought forward of the #59 McLaren in LMGT3. In the meantime the 2 Hertz Workforce JOTA Porsches have been battling their method up a fantastically aggressive Hypercar discipline. On the sharp finish of the sector, the #6 Porsche jumped each Cadillac and BMW into the lead of the race, curtesy of the two-man Cadillac workforce doing a driver change.
One other security automotive interval was referred to as within the 2nd hour to clear particles and harmful promoting hoarding. With 4:18:00 race time nonetheless to go, inexperienced flag racing bought underway once more. The #50 Ferrari was wanting significantly racey on recent rubber, overtaking the #5 Porsche and each Toyotas by the top of the primary racing lap, earlier than chasing down the battle for 2nd between the Cadillac and the #15 BMW. In LMGT3, Nico Costa within the #59 McLaren took the lead from the #81 Corvette because the 2nd hour got here to an finish.
With 3:25:00 race time left, the #15 BMW had a problem within the pits, the entrance left tyre being reluctant to come back off after which return on the automotive. Nevertheless, as soon as once more because of a driver change, they got here out of the pits forward of the Cadillac. The massive information was the #50 Ferrari popping out forward of the beforehand race main #6 Porsche. A terrific battle into flip 1 between Nicklas Nielsen within the Ferrari and André Lotterer within the Porsche noticed Nielsen pull of a rare defensive transfer towards the extremely skilled Lotterer.
Valentino Rossi made up a tremendous 5 locations in 2 laps in his #46 BMW, together with a shocking transfer previous 2 vehicles on the identical time at flip 1, the Physician displaying his class and talent on 4 wheels. In Hypercar, catastrophe for the #2 Cadillac with 3:11:00 to go. Contact with the #15 BMW precipitated a right-front puncture for the American workforce. On the midway level, the #50 Ferrari was defending the lead laborious from the #6 Porsche on older tyres. Nielsen was demonstrating extraordinary defence, holding the should quicker Porsche behind lap after lap. Finally Lotterer bought the job carried out on the run to show 1 on lap 108, however Nielsen did beautifully to maintain him behind for thus lengthy.
The #15 BMW fell out of the highest 3 for the primary time within the race with 2:40:00 to go. Nyck de Vries within the #7 Toyota was completely flying and overtook simply earlier than the ultimate nook, setting off in scorching pursuit of the 2nd place #50 Ferrari. Certainly, simply 13 minutes later, de Vries climbed as much as 2nd with an virtually carbon copy transfer on the Ferrari. However with just about everybody on totally different gasoline and tyre methods, the race was turning right into a basic endurance race with no clear winner rising with 2 hours to go.
Charles Milesi within the #35 Alpine was flying up the order, getting as much as 4th forward of the #50 Ferrari with 1:55:00 to go. A security automotive interval was referred to as after the #63 Lamborghini suffered gearbox points, placing the Italian squad out of the race. Almost all of the Hypercars elected to have a pit cease, neutralising the differing methods, that means the ultimate part of the race could be a roughly 90 minute lengthy dash race led by the #6 Porsche and #15 BMW. In LMGT3, after an incredible race of doing lengthy stints and staying out of hassle, championship main #92 Manthey PureRxcing, which certified in 14th at school, led the pack as we ready to go racing once more.
Drama for each Toyotas with 1:18:00 to go. Firstly, automotive #8 was overtaken by the #35 Alpine, the French automotive going as much as a podium place. However in worse information for the Japanese workforce, the championship contending #7 Toyota needed to head to the storage following dramatic contact with the #5 Porsche. The Porsche went across the outdoors of the Toyota, thought it had the transfer carried out earlier than flip 2, delivering to the nook and getting caught by the Toyota. Because the Porsche span off the observe, the Toyota went broad with it and each vehicles clattered into one another, inflicting large injury to each vehicles.
In LMGT3, the #54 Ferrari managed to get previous Rossi within the #46 BMW to rise up right into a podium place. Manthey PureRxcing seemed below actual strain firstly of the ultimate hour from the #59 McLaren, and certainly promptly misplaced the lead. With 45 minutes to go, they slipped to 3rd with a beautiful transfer by Davide Rigon within the #54 Ferrari to slip as much as 2nd. With 33 minutes to go, Rigon bought the job carried out, taking the lead in LMGT3 however with Manthey PureRxcing and United Autosport lower than a second behind.
With half an hour to go, the #2 Cadillac slid off the observe attempting to keep away from visitors at flip 3, spearing into the obstacles. Bamber did handle to limp again to the pits so a security automotive was prevented, however what had been a really promising race for the American workforce resulted in heartbreak. The #35 Alpine bought hit with a drive by penalty with 25 minutes to go, dropping it from third to tenth, demonstrating simply how shut the Hypercar class is in 2024. The sister Alpine, nevertheless, carried out an incredible transfer with Mick Schumacher on the wheel snatching third from the Hertz Workforce JOTA Porsche. In the meantime, the #6 Porsche and the #15 BMW have been protected on the entrance, cruising to a really well-earned first and second place end. The #93 Peugeot TotalEnergies claimed the French workforce’s finest results of the season, ending 4th and definitely able to difficult the remainder of the pack.
Championship Replace
It will take one thing really exceptional for the #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport workforce to not be topped champions subsequent trip on the 8 Hours of Bahrain. Their second win of the season on the 6 Hours of Fuji was additionally their fifth podium out of seven rounds, and this consistency has put them virtually out of attain on 150 factors. With 39 factors accessible within the 8 Hours of Bahrain (38 for a race win, 1 for qualifying on pole), they’ve a really helpful 35 level benefit over their nearest rivals, the #50 Ferrari AF Corse. #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing might nonetheless technically win, being 37 factors behind the championship leaders. However, with one spherical to go, it’s Porsche’s championship to lose.
In LMGT3, Manthey PureRxcing might be champions, however second place continues to be very a lot up for grabs. Manthey EMA stay second in the intervening time on 90 factors, with the #31 Workforce WRT BMW simply 5 factors behind in third. Coronary heart of Racing Workforce didn’t actually characteristic in as we speak’s race, however they’re simply 7 factors behind Manthey EMA and really a lot in with a shout of ending second within the championship.
Up Subsequent
The ultimate spherical of the completely charming 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship, the 8 Hours of Bahrain, takes place on Saturday 2 November. Ensure to not miss it.
