Fantastic Fuji One-Two for Toyota Gazoo Racing
Toyota Gazoo Racing delighted an enthusiastic home crowd by earning a one-two victory in the 6 Hours of Fuji, the fourth round of the 2018-19 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).
A compelling race saw the #7 TS050 HYBRID of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López cross the line in front, just 11.440secs ahead of team-mates Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Fernando Alonso in the #8 car, for their first win of the season despite starting eighth.
That marked TOYOTA’s sixth win from seven WEC races at its home circuit, while for Mike and Kamui it is their first victory since a memorable triumph at Fuji in 2016. It was a particularly special race for José, who set the fastest lap and earned his first-ever WEC win, having joined the team last season.
The result extends TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s lead in the teams’ World Championship to 14 points over Rebellion Racing. Sébastien, Kazuki and Fernando stretched their advantage in the drivers’ standings, with Mike, Kamui and José moving up to second, 13 points behind.
An action-packed start on a wet track saw Kazuki in the pole position #8 hold the advantage while Kamui put on an overtaking show in the #7, exploiting the advantage of four-wheel drive in the difficult conditions to move from eighth on the grid to second by lap two.
The excitement continued throughout a fascinating first hour. Kamui pitted early to switch to heavy wet tyres before a safety car period eliminated Kazuki’s lead of over one minute. Soon after, the #8 switched to hybrid intermediate tyres, leaving the #11 SMP in the lead.
Changing weather added to the drama, with bright sunshine drying the track towards the end of the safety car period. That left Kamui on inappropriate tyres for the conditions so he was the first to pit for slick tyres after the 30-minute interruption and he took advantage by immediately setting very quick lap times.
Kazuki and the other LMP1 cars did likewise soon after and when the running order stabilised early in the second hour, Kamui led in the #7 with Kazuki close behind and both TS050 HYBRIDs steadily building a gap to the third-placed #1 Rebellion.
When Kazuki handed over to Sébastien after two intense hours, the #8 was around 10 seconds behind its sister car, but with newer tyres Sébastien began to close the gap on a fully dry track. The #8 took over the lead when Kamui brought his epic two-and-a-half-hour stint to an end, with Mike taking the wheel.
The momentum swung between the two cars, depending on who had the newer tyres. After a full course yellow with two hours remaining, José in the #7 led by around 20 seconds from Fernando in the #8 and the pair pushed each other hard.
José set what turned out to be the fastest lap of the race on lap 153 and he kept a stable gap at the front until handing the lead to Kamui with just over 30 minutes remaining. Kamui had the honour of taking the chequered flag in the #7, with Kazuki bring the #8 home second for a perfect team result.
The team is determined to repeat that result when WEC heads to China for the final race in 2018 and the fifth of eight races this season, the 6 Hours of Shanghai on Sunday 18 November.
