The #6 Porsche 963 won the 2024 6 Hours of Fuji to strengthen the team’s title ambitions. BMW and Alpine recorded their maiden FIA WEC podium finishes, coming home in second and third.
Porsche flawless in dominant win
Kévin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Andre Lotterer put together an outstanding drive to take victory at for Porsche at Fuji International Speedway by 16 seconds after 213 laps of tough racing.
Starting from fifth on the grid, it quickly became clear that the Porsche 963 would be one of the fastest cars over the course of the race distance. Vanthoor and then Lotterer put the Porsche Penske Motorsport car into a strong position over the first half of the race, before Kévin Estre kept his cool following a late-race safety car to clinch the win.
With their direct title rivals stuttering, Estre, Vanthoor and Lotterer took a huge stride towards securing the FIA World Endurance Drivers Championship with their 25-point haul. The trio now only require an eighth-place finish at the season finale, the 8 Hours of Bahrain.
Disaster for title rivals
The only drivers still able to challenge Estre, Vanthoor and Lotterer for the title before the 6 Hours of Fuji had a nightmare weekend and will now need almost a miracle to get their hands on the trophy.
The #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid was in excellent shape for much of the race but fell back through the field due to a shorter stint, which was caused either by a technical issue or the team attempting to bring forward the final “splash and dash” that all Hypercars needed to complete.
Nyck de Vries handed over the car to Kamui Kobayashi, who was planning to take the car through to the end. However, in a controversial incident at T3, the Japanese driver made contact with the #5 Porsche 963 of Matt Campbell. Both cars were heavily damaged and, despite making their way back to the pits, were retired from the race.
The #50 Ferrari could only finish in ninth position after struggling massively on worn tyres in the final stages of the race. After a safety car was called to recover the stricken #63 Lamborghini, the field was bunched up, leaving driver Niklas Nielsen a sitting duck to the hard-charging midfield behind.
After the win for Porsche at Fuji, Nielsen, Fuoco and Molina remain in second place in the championship but must now win the season finale in Bahrain and hope that misfortune befalls the #6 crew.
New names on the podium
The Porsche drivers were joined on the podium by the #15 BMW M.HYBRID V8 of Dries Vanthoor, Raffiele Marciello and Marco Wittmann and the #36 Alpine A424 of Nicolas Lapierre, Mick Schumacher and Mathieu Vaxiviere – marking both manufacturers’ first trip to the rostrum in the FIA WEC.
The BMW was in strong contention for much of the race, keeping pace with the #6 Porsche as well as Ferrari and Toyota, who at times were at the sharp end of the field. The #36 Alpine, on the other hand, was the main beneficiary of a chaotic conclusion to the race, with multiple incidents and drive-through penalties deciding the order.
Late-race safety car and penalties mix up field
The race was effectively reset with 90 minutes remain, after the safety car to recover the #63 Lamborghini was withdrawn and the race went back to green. After a storming drive from Charles Milesi in particular, the #35 Alpine held third position as the final hour began. However, the Frenchman was handed a drive-through penalty for contact with the #81 Corvette and came home in seventh position.
The penalty promoted the #8 Toyota into third place, at the time driven by Ryo Hirakawa. However, Hirakawa was then also penalised by race control with a drive-through penalty. The Japanese driver failed to respect blue flags as the #6 Porsche attempted to pass, even making contact with the leader as Estre attempted to lap him. The #8 car crossed the finishing line in tenth position, putting a major dent in Toyota’s title ambitions.
The flurry of penalties saw the #12 Hertz Team Jota Porsche emerge as the favourite for the final podium spot, however driver Norman Nato was caught and passed by both Schumacher’s Alpine and Mikkel Jensen’s #93 Peugeot in the final 15 minutes.
Peugeot’s fourth-place finish was their best result of the season and will have given the team a much-needed boost.
Ferrari win in LMGT3 as Manthey Purerxcing wrap up title
The #54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 recorded the maiden LMGT3 win for the Prancing Horse. Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellaci and Davide Rigon brought the car home just 4 seconds ahead of the #92 Porsche 911 GT3 of Manthey Purerxcing.
With title rivals Manthey EMA only finishing in P14 after a puncture resulted in an extended pit stop, the podium finish was enough for the #92 crew to secure both the drivers’ and teams’ titles for Porsche at Fuji.
Finishing third was the #46 Team WRT BMW of Ahmed Al Harthy, Maxime Martin and Valentino Rossi, just 2 seconds in front of the #81 TF Sport Corvette.
For a full rundown of race results, click here.
Images © FIA WEC press material – Charly Lopez & Javier Jimenez / DPPI