Conway, Lopez and Kobayashi win for Toyota; Porsche climb to top of GTE mountain in Fuji

Conway, Lopez and Kobayashi win for Toyota Toyota Gazoo Racing took a home 1-2 finish at the 6 Hours of Fuji today with the No.7 Toyota TS050 HYBRID driven by Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José Maria Lopez taking the victory today. It is a second victory at Fuji for Conway and Kobayashi following success in 2016, and it is a first WEC win for Lopez.  Despite starting the race from the back of the LMP grid after being penalised in qualifying, the No.7 Toyota TS050 HYBRID executed a thrilling race to carve its way through and take the winner’s trophy and maximum points.  The No.8 Toyota of Fernando Alonso, Sébastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima took the flag in second place but kept their championship points lead today. Kazuki Nakajima started and finished the race which saw Toyota score a sixth victory in seven Fuji FIA WEC races.  52,800 spectators enjoyed the WEC action at Fuji Speedway this weekend.

Porsche climbs to the top of GTE mountain in Fuji The battle was fierce throughout and there were four different manufacturers in the first four places in LMGTE Pro, but ultimately it was Porsche’s day as they took victory in both the LMGTE Pro and Am categories at the conclusion of the 6 Hours of Fuji.  Porsche GT Team’s No.92 911 RSR of Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen secured the German marque’s first WEC victory with the current model, finishing 12 seconds ahead of BMW, while 2018 WEC newcomer Team Project 1’s Porsche secured victory in LMGTE Am.  After starting the fourth round of the FIA WEC Super Season in mixed weather and track conditions, the race settled into a rhythm but there was plenty of action in GTE to keep the spectators entertained.

Jackie Chan DC Racing celebrate another 1-2  LMP2 witnessed a faultless display by the Jackie Chan DC Racing squad of the all-Malaysian line-up of Jazeman Jaafar, Weiron Tan and Nabil Jeffri. It was the first ever win for the Malaysian line-up who dominated proceedings.  They led for the majority of the race and led home the sister Jackie Chan DC Racing car of Ho-Pin Tung, Stéphane Richelmi and Gabriel Aubry in what was the second consecutive win for the Chinese-entered squad.  Completing the podium was the Signatech Alpine Matmut trio of Nicolas Lapierre, Pierre Thiriet and André Negrão. The French squad, which was confirmed as 24 Hours of Le Mans LMP2 champions last week, saw their standings lead cut to just one point.