The bad weather attacked again at the 6 Hours of Fuji, but along with the rain like in 2013, the fog ruined the plans for a full race as only a bit more than four hours was the longest racing time they achieved, with Toyota taking first and second and staying alive in the quest for the FIA World Endurance Championship title.
The race started with the Safety Car on track due to the bad weather and it stayed like this for more than ten minutes, followed then by multiple slow zones around the track, which in total took the initial 15 minutes of racing. The green flag start then saw both Toyotas in attack mode over the No. 1 Porsche, which was concluded in less than a lap to then go after the No. 2 Porsche. Though they achieved no success in overtaking the leader.
Battles were happening for class leads in LMP1 and LMP2 near the end of the first hour when visibility became a concern again and the Safety Car joined the track again, and after 25 minutes of neutralization the Red Flag was brought as the first corners became more and more foggy. After 30 minutes stopped, the cars returned to movement behind the Safety Car and then progressing to slow zones again, and the second hour ended with green flag action.
The first class that saw action coming after the green was LMGTE-Pro as the No. 92 Porsche got past the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari in the brake battle at Turn 1 and took the class lead. Toyota then got themselves in a great position as the No. 8 car lapped the No. 2 Porsche before another Safety Car period came because of excessive amount of standing water in the track.
The yellow flag ceased before the halfway point and the combination of awful weather and fog building up in the home straight played a part into the status quo in the race. Things were pretty even in LMP1 and LMP2, but judging by the consecutive overshoots of José Maria Lopez and some other drivers, taking risks wasn’t exactly an option in the cards.
The Safety Car joined the circuit again with 3 hours and 10 minutes of racing due to contact that sent the No. 13 Rebellion Oreca to a heavy shunt, which held the field for about 40 minutes, with the Toyota assault to the No. 2 Porsche being immediate, then forming a home 1-2 with the No. 7 and the No. 8 TS050s.
The LMGTE-Pro was also having quite a clash between the No. 92 Porsche and the No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari for second, to the point of trading paint between them and even the traffic with them, and thanks to a contact between the No. 92 and the No. 67 Chip Ganassi Ford, the No. 51 took the place and started chasing the No. 91 in front and eventually after putting a fight they swapped places. The same No. 67 missed the brakes at Turn 1 and went right to the crash, bringing a brief Full Course Yellow period in the end of the fourth hour.
20 minutes after the last yellow another one was called with Safety Car intervention coming later due to poor track visibility, specially in the first sector. With simply no condition to race after 10 minutes of Safety Car, the race was red flagged with an hour and a half to go, and it persisted until about 15 minutes to go, when the race was expected to resume but given the few minutes of racing to go, Eduardo Freitas reverted the call and declared the race as being finished, with the results from the previous hour, so the No. 8 and the No. 7 made a Toyota 1-2 while the No. 1 Porsche managed to complete the podium within the leader lap.
The No. 31 Rebellion Oreca kept stuck in the LMP2 lead and took class honors, and the No. 51 AF Corse capitalized with the overtake in the No. 91 Porsche and won in LMGTE-Pro, while the good leading periods of the No. 61 Clearwater Ferrari didn’t translate in a class win in LMGTE-Am as it went to the No. 54 Spirit of Race Ferrari.
Next race is the 6 Hours of Shanghai on November 3rd. Though is impossible to confirm at the moment, if the rain that’s affecting China now comes in the race weekend it may come as a help again for Toyota in their championship bid.
PHOTO: Toyota Gazoo Racing
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