Toyota claims home WEC victory at Fuji following late safety car gamble

Title-chasing Toyota secured a milestone tenth home victory at the 6 Hours of Fuji after executing a decisive strategy gamble in the final hour of the round. The late tactical maneuver launched the squad to the summit of the FIA World Endurance Championship standings, reversing what had appeared to be a dominant weekend for rival manufacturers. For the first five hours of the endurance contest, Alpine Endurance Team looked firmly in control of proceedings at Fuji Speedway after locking out the front row of the grid during qualifying.

The two French prototypes dictated the pace through the early and middle stages of the race, leaving the rest of the field scrambling to find a response. However, the competitive landscape altered dramatically when a late safety car was deployed following a heavy accident involving the Garage 59 LMGT3 McLaren driven by Finn Gehrsitz. Gehrsitz emerged unscathed from the impact, but the incident compressed the field and triggered a frantic sequence of decisions on the pit wall as teams prepared for a sprint to the checkered flag.

With all competitors diving into the pit lane, Toyota elected to roll the dice with the #8 GR010 Hybrid Hypercar shared by Ryō Hirakawa, Sébastien Buemi and Brendon Hartley. The car had spent earlier portions of the race fighting back from adversity after Hartley was spun around by Harry Tincknell on the approach to the first corner, leaving the machine facing the wrong direction. Opting against a tyre change and taking on a short fuel fill during the final pit stop, the team vaulted the #8 entry from sixth place directly into the fight at the front.

Rival outfits pursued differing philosophies during the crucial stop. BMW took a calculated risk by keeping Dries Vanthoor out on used rubber in the #15 M Hybrid V8. Meanwhile, Alpine adopted a more conservative strategy, outfitting the #36 machine with a complete set of fresh Michelin tyres for Victor Martins and providing two new left-hand-side tyres to Charles Milesi in the sister #35 car. Those choices initially dropped the Alpine duo down the running order to third and fifth respectively.

As racing resumed with just twenty minutes remaining on the clock, Martins immediately launched a charge through the traffic. The French rookie sliced past the Aston Martin THOR Team entry of Marco Sørensen before teammate Milesi deliberately allowed him through to mount an attack on the leaders. Martins swiftly overtook Vanthoor for second position and zeroed in on the rear wing of Hirakawa, setting up a tense multi-lap duel for the overall win in the dying moments of the race.

Hirakawa mounted a stubborn defense on home asphalt, utilizing tactical spacing and lapped traffic to fend off the charging Alpine. The Japanese driver successfully rebuffed every attempt to pass, crossing the finish line to secure the crew's second victory of the season and Toyota's first triumph at Fuji in three years. The resulting points haul propelled Hirakawa, Hartley and Buemi to the top of the Drivers World Championship standings as the season enters its final stretch.

Reflecting on the frantic closing laps, Hirakawa acknowledged the intense pressure of the restart on a damp circuit with cold tyres. He noted that the presence of a lapped BMW ahead provided a useful reference point while another rival car offered a defensive buffer against the pursuing Alpine. Team support and real-time feedback helped manage the gap until the checkered flag dropped in front of the local spectators.

With the podium completed by the #36 Alpine and the #15 BMW, attention now turns to the next round on the calendar. In the LMGT3 category, Team WRT secured its maiden victory of the campaign after a chaotic multi-car scrap, with Augusto Farfus, Sean Gelael and Darren Leung steering the #32 BMW M4 Evo to class honors. The championship fight will resume next month with the upcoming 6 Hours of Barcelona.

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