Konnichiwa. Welcome, to Japan, and to Fuji Speedway, in th shadow of the majestic Mount Fuji, for the 6 Hours of Fuji, round number four of the FIA World Endurance Championship "Super Season" for 2018-2019. The crowd is looking for a more enjoyable race than what they encountered last year with heavy clouds and torrential rain.
On a wet track, here in Fuji, we are ready to bring the action. In qualifying, as always, the first cars on track are those from the GT classes, GTE Pro and GTE Am. The track is dry for qualifying. Porsche and Aston Martin would battle in GTE Am. Third quickest in the session was the #77 Dempsey Proton Porsche 911 RSR shared by Australian Matt Campbell, Christian Ried of Germany, and Julien Andlauer of France. They looked extremely fast early on, but they were snookered, by of all cars, their team mate. The #88 Dempsey Proton Porsche 911 RSR in the hands of Italian's Matteo Cairoli and Giorgio Roda, sharing this weekend with Japan's Satoshi Hoshino, romped to the top of the tree.
Both factory Aston Martin's were in the top three places in GTE Pro. If you were to look at this as a chocolate cream sandwich cookie, while the Aston Martin's were the cookies, the #82 BMW M8 GTE for BMW Team MTEK, was the cream. This car, with just a two driver lineup for the Fuji race, featuring Tom Blomqvist and Antonio Felix Da Costa, the Briton, and the Portuguese. It was the "Dane Train" Aston Martin, the #95 Aston Martin Vantage AMR of Niki Thiim and Marco Sorenson who put their car on pole. They claimed the first pole for the brand new Aston Martin Vantage GTE, with it's all new 4.0 liter turbo V8 engine.
Up next, it was time for the Prototype classes to qualify, LMP2 and LMP1. Two battles fought in LMP1. Who would be the better of the Toyota's, and, who would be best of the rest. Second fastest in LMP2 was the all Malaysian Jackie Chan DC Racing entry, car #37 driven by Jazeman Jafaar, Weiron Tan, and Nabil Jeffri. The pole sitting car, would be the DragonSpeed entry, however, the #31 Oreca 07 shared by Roberto Gonzalez, Pastor Maldonado, and Anthony Davidson. In LMP1, we saw late flying laps by both Rebellion cars, putting them squarely on the second row of the grid. The closest challenger to the Toyota duo, will be Neel Jani in the #1 car, as he ran third quickest. Sebastien Buemi was going for pole in Toyota #8, made a mistake, and had to settle for second spot. On pole, is the sister Toyota, #7, of Jose Maria Lopez, Kamui Kobayashi, and Mike Conway.
On to race day. Capacity crowds are here, to cheer on their home favorites, Toyota who start on pole and lock out the front row. Both Toyota's were actually penalized in qualifying. Before the race, we even see our old buddy, jet pack man, whizzing around in mid air on his super hover board, wowing the fans and giving a lot of people the thought, "dude, you have to be plumb crazy to be able to do something like that!" After all the pageantry and festivities before the race, it's now time to get down to business.
It has been drizzling on the grid. The track is soaking, as it's the wettest it's been all weekend here, at Fuji. The cars accelerate away on a very wet track! They started the race and ran the first lap behind the safety car. But now, three minutes in, it's time to turn 'em loose! Red lights, on. Red lights, out, windshield wipers on, and we're away! Kazuki Nakajima and Andre Lotterer lead the field, as Gustavo Menezes wants to go by Lotterer! Andre Lotterer stays on the inside while his team mate Menezes drifts wide. They did their best those two, to avoid any kind of argy bargy. The DragonSpeed car is geting after it early, going by the two SMP Racing LMP1 cars, with Ben Hanley at the wheel of it, sharing with James Allen, the young Australian. So, an Aussie and a Brit are in that car.
Car #7, the Toyota TS050 Hybrid of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, and Jose Maria Lopez was at the back of the field, racing through the spray. GTE Pro was a regular street fight from the word go. Fernando Alonso says, "oh man, this is hot stuff", referring to the racing. That's true, Fernando. The last time he was here, he was winning a Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix. It was, at the front with the Toyota's, but it was really getting tasty in the GTE Pro division in the middle of the field. The manufacturer teams from Ferrari, Ford, BMW, and Porsche were putting on a great show, and the LM GTE Am machines didn't disappoint either.
Although, in the wet, Paul Dalla Lana, the Canadian Aston Martin pilot, got a free ride on the whirligig. He cuts a corner and finds zero grip on the wet curbs. Gustavo Menezes who had his troubles at the very beginning, was not faring too well as Jenson Button, the former Formula 1 World Champion, passed him. Actually, it was both SMP BR01's that mugged Menezes. Button, and Stephane Sarrazin each took a shot at him and got by. In GTE Pro, it was a slug fest between Aston Martin and BMW. Aston Martin had the edge in qualifying, while BMW drew first blood in the race, but then, the Aston's returned with a monstrous right hook.
DragonSpeed meanwhile, gets smoked by the Le Mans winners, the #36 SignaTech Alpine Alpine A470 Gibson in the hands of Nicolas Lapierre, Andre Negrao, and Pierre Thiriet. SMP and Rebellion, too, were scrapping for the position of the best non hybrid LMP1 car, and of course, the only hybrid's are the Toyota's. Pit stops commenced as the weather changed and the rain subsided. Wet tires, or slick tires. Take your pick, but do so, wisely. Meanwhile, one of the SMP cars had no choice but to lose a wheel. The left rear departs company with the car. Well, it has to be said. You picked a fine time to leave me, loose wheel. Step one. Lose wheel. Step two. Crawl back to pit lane and tell the crew, "I need a new wheel, now, please!"
Toyota #8, the Sebastien Buemi, Fernando Alonso, Kazuki Nakajima car, leads the motor race. The track is still damp. But then, a huge shunt! The #70 MR Racing Ferrari 488 GTE explodes a tire, and it shreds the bodywork to smithereens. The right front tire is gone, and he's running on the rim, as he also decimates one of the DHL sponsorship signboards at the side of the track. This is the car of Olivier Beretta, Eddie Cheever III., and hometown favorite Motoaki Ishikawa. The #70 didn't make it back to pit lane.
The question is, why did this tire fail? A tire will fail at the highest possible revolutions. There's debris everywhere. If people want to pit and take tires, this is the time, the moment to get something done about how a car is handling. We are seeing light rain in the forecast, which throws another spanner into this race, ladies and gentlemen. Looking at the incident again in replay, the right rear tire... boom! It explodes, and shreds itself, and the bodywork on the back of the Ferrari. Motoaki Ishikawa, driving that car, is just a passenger. There's nothing he can do. That's massive damage, and the car will be headed for the garage for quite some time. So, with a colossal debris field out there, it was decided to put the race under full course yellow. The track was cleaned up and the cars, not being able to make service stops however, were led through the pit lane during this time. Pit stops took place after the cleanup, and there was more tire gambling. Which one do you choose? Do you go for full wets, intermediates, or slicks?
Let's clarify. A full wet tire has tread on it to channel water away. An intermediate is also called a "hand cut" tire, where a tire tech takes a hot iron and cuts grooves into what is essentially a slick tire, and of course, a slick tire is the definitive tire for racing with absolutely no tread on it's surface. The answer was, if you were off the road on the wet grass, it didn't matter what kind of grip you got. Gustavo Menezes finds this out, the hard way. He slides, hitting the grass, and at full chat, he slews sideways again, and, wallop! He goes straight into the tire barrier. Big damage to the #3 Rebellion R-One. He had no temperature in the tire, and no grip, and when you don't have those things, well, the tire might as well be a piece of wood rattling around on the back of the stub axle. Menezes' shunt extends the safety car period. As the cars continue behind the safety car, the track surface is beginning to dry.
The Porsche 911 RSR's are languishing down towards the tail of the GTE Pro field and they just don't have the oomph to stay with the Ford's, Aston Martin's, BMW's, and Ferrari's. Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz sharing car #91, and #92 with Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre driving. In the LM GTE Am class, it was the Gulf Racing Porsche 911 RSR, #86, in the lead for a wee while. Michael Wainwright and Ben Barker, sharing this weekend with Austrian Thomas Thomas Preining. Giancarlo Fisichella makes his way by the #86, driving his #54 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GTE he shares with fellow Italian Francesco Castellaci, and Switzerland's Thomas Flohr. LMP2 saw Signatech Alpine battling back towards the top three, aiming to get ahead of their rivals at TDS Racing. The #28 TDS Racing machine, being driven by the French trio of Francois Perodo, Matthieu Vaxiviere, and Jean-Eric Vergne. As the track begins to dry, we see the Aston Martin factory cars struggling for pace. The Porsche 911 RSR's are working their way back to the sharp end in GTE Pro. The better track conditions are seemingly also benefitting both of the AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE's, of James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi, and Sam Bird and Davide Rigon.
Everyone is on slick tires and the track here at Fuji, is showing far more than just a narrow dry line. Pit stop time for Ford and for BMW. The same is true of the aforementioned Ferrari's. Ford shows in the top three in LM GTE Pro with the #67 car of Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell. Ferrari leads and are in a hotly contested battle with the #82 BMW M8 GTE of Antonio Felix Da Costa and Tom Blomqvist. Dempsey Proton and Gulf Racing Porsche's along with the TF Sport Aston Martin are ahead in the LM GTE Am category. In GTE Pro, the BMW's began struggling for pace, but the balance was there, see sawing every which way.
There was some contact between the #71 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE and the aforementioned #31 LMP2 car that was the class pole sitter. Both cars consequently had to head for the pit lane with broken suspension. This ruined Ferrari's race in GTE Pro. They were totally out of contention for class honors. One hour of racing, remains, at Fuji Speedway. Porsche leads in both LM GTE Pro with the factory cars, and in LM GTE Am. The race settled down towards the end, and Team Project 1 would earn the accolades in LM GTE Am, winning the class with their #56 Porsche 911 RSR in hands of Jorg Bergmeister, Patrick Lindsey, and Egidio Perfetti. Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre are victorious in LM GTE Pro, for the second time in the "Super Season" having teamed with Laurens Vanthoor to win Le Mans with their special tribute to the "Pink Pig" Porsche 917 for that race. Jackie Chan DC Racing goes 1-2 in LMP2, with the #37 car, taking it's first, and the team's third win in the "Super Season". Congratulations to the all Malaysian squad of Jazeman Jaafar, Weiron Tan, and Nabil Jeffri.
Toyota goes on to score their third win of the "Super Season", but, with the sister car, as the #7 TS050 Hybrid of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, and Jose Maria Lopez, are your overall winners! Toyota wins, at home, at Fuji Speedway! It's fitting, since it is their own track, and they earn the spoils of victory in their own backyard with a 1-2 finish.
Overall/LMP1: #7 Conway/Kobayashi/Lopez Toyota TS050
LMP2: #37 Jaafar/Tan/Jeffri Oreca 07
LM GTE Pro: #92 Christensen/Estre Porsche 911 RSR
LM GTE Am: #56 Bergmeister/Lindsey/Perfetti Porsche 911 RSR
AS amazing as it is to believe, we are halfway through the "Super Season". Four events down, and four still to run before we crown champions at the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans. Round five of the championship, is in a month, the 6 Hours of Shanghai at the Shanghai International Circuit in Shanghai, China, on the third Sunday in November. Stay tuned for that race. Looking forward to it. Sayonara, for now, everyone.
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