The sixth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (FIA WEC) season took place at Fuji Speedway in Japan this past weekend. BMW M Team WRT came away with a podium finish in Hypercar and a win in LMGT3 but ultimately lost the lead in the Hypercar championship to Toyota.
The 6 Hours of Fuji, held in the shadow of Mt. Fuji, was the sixth round of eight total on the season. Coming into the Japan race, BMW M Team WRT drivers René Rast and Robin Frijns were leading the Hypercar championship in a close battle with Toyota drivers. BMW was second in manufacturer points in Hypercar, behind Toyota.
The #20 M Hybrid V8 finished 13th in Hypercar after a difficult race.
Qualifying at Fuji was canceled due to heavy rain, which turned out to be a bad thing for BMW M Team WRT. With no qualifying session, the starting grid was based on the fastest combined times of the two practice sessions. While other teams had run qualifying simulations during those sessions and put in some fast laps, BMW M Team WRT didn’t, so ended up starting at the bottom of the order in the Hypercar group.
René Rast made good progress in the start of the race in the #20 M Hybrid V8 that he shares with Robin Frijns and Sheldon van der Linde, but the car was hit twice by the same Ferrari (#51), which led to cut tires and unscheduled pit stops for the #20 car and led to a penalty for the Ferrari in the second incident. The #20 BMW ended up finishing in 13th place and Rast and Frijns dropped to third in the driver’s championship. Sheldon van der Linde is out of sequence with Rast and Frijns in the points, as he didn’t drive the car in the opening round of the season.
Kevin Magnussen sprays some of the bubbly on the Hypercar podium.
The #15 M Hybrid V8 of Dries Vanthoor, Raffaele Marciello and Kevin Magnussen had a strong race, moving up through the field with fast driving and good strategy, with a safety car period in the final hour helping to move them more toward the front. The #15 car and drivers finished on the podium in third behind the winning #8 Toyota (which moved into the championship lead) and the #36 Alpine. “It is a great result for us,” said Magnussen. “The great work of the pitwall and the pitstop crew made the difference today. We didn’t have the pace to finish on the podium, but we still did. We kept it clean all race, so it was a great job by the team today and congrats to everyone.” The third place for the #15 car kept BMW in second in the manufacturer’s championship behind Toyota.
In LMGT3, Augusto Farfus, Darren Leung and Sean Gelael started 14th in class but put in a strong race and had great pit work and strategy from Team WRT to take the win. Farfus put in a fantastic drive in the closing stages of the race, moving from sixth to first after the final restart, aided by fresh tires. It was the best result for the #32 car and crew since finishing fifth in the opening round at Imola. “Every time it looked good for us, the safety car came at the wrong time, and we ended up dropping back before making our way back up,” said Farfus. “Then, finally, in the last stint, we had another stop that didn’t go our way, but I managed to get through the traffic pretty quickly. I am extremely happy.”
Sean Gelael (left on roof), Darren Leung and Augusto Farfus (in car) celebrate their LMGT3 win.
The #69 M4 GT3 EVO of Parker Thompson, Dan Harper and Anthony McIntosh led the LMGT3 category at one point but bad timing on a pit stop and the final safety car period dropped them down to sixth. The #69 was wearing livery at Fuji that was an homage to the famous Jägermeister livery that BMW ran with in DTM many years ago.
Parker Thompson, Dan Harper and Anthony McIntosh finished sixth in LMGT3.
The next round of the FIA WEC is the 6 Hours of Barcelona on October 16th-18th. The Barcelona race (which had to be changed from Qatar due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East) conflicts with the final round of the GT World Challenge Europe (GTWCE) season at the Portimao circuit in Portugal, which is leading to some musical chairs among the BMW drivers. Raffaele Marciello and Augusto Farfus will compete in the FIA WEC race but will have their usual seats in the #98 M4 GT3 EVO in GTWCE filled by Marco Wittmann and Philipp Eng. Dan Harper will have his spot in the #46 M4 GT3 EVO in GTWCE filled by Neil Verhagen, as he also focuses on the FIA WEC race.
—David Haueter
[Photos courtesy Javier Jimenez / Drew Gibson Photography]