The words of narrator Paul Fowler, from the introduction to the 1986 Group C World Sports Car Championship race at Fuji Speedway on Videovision Broadcast International and their broadcast of that event, come to mind, when you think of Mount Fuji, and Fuji Speedway, a place the FIA World Endurance Championship has run in both of its iterations in the 1980s and in the modern era. "Mount Fuji. Sacred symbol of Japan, and the most popular tourist attraction in The Land of the Rising Sun. But the crowds pouring into the national park this weekend have not come to wonder at some of the most stunning scenery in the world. For here, nestling in the mount's foothills, is Fuji Speedway, the scene of the penultimate motor race of the year in the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship."
So, the battle between at least three of the four Hypercar manufacturers resumes in earnest. Toyota vs. Peugeot vs. Alpine. Glickenhaus are not here in Japan, and I don't think they will be racing the finale in Bahrain either to the best of my knowledge. Konichiwa, everyone. Toyota owns this beautiful track. It was the setting of the Formula 1 championship battle in 1976 between Niki Lauda and James Hunt. This is the first trip back to Japan for the FIA WEC for three long years. The fans are ready to see the cars race and the drivers are eager to race too. In the shadow of Mount Fuji, at an ungodly hour of the morning, welcome to Japan. We are going to find out who the runners and riders are during this race to set us up for the finale in Bahrain which is happening in November.
We welcome our commentators, Martin Haven, Graham Goodwin, and Anthony Davidson in the booth and Louise Beckett in the pit lane. It is going to be a hot one today. No rain expected and that will be a pleasant surprise for everyone. A lot of corners, but a long front straightaway. We have become accustomed to Fuji being rainy and cold. It is great to be back at Fuji Speedway. Toyota are leading the championship in Hypercar by 15 points over Alpine. In the driver's standings, Alpine leads Toyota, however.
The Hypercar grid is pretty self-explanatory as the Toyota's lock out the front row followed by the Alpine and the two Peugeot's. This is Peugeot's second race with the 9X8. They are now a race team. They tested and test and tested some more before getting to their first race at Monza which we saw back in July and they became a full-fledged race team there. Peugeot are still learning the car and they don't know the circuit either. Drivers signing autographs for fans young and old alike. Half of the drivers starting the race today have not raced here at Fuji before even though we have been away from this track, because of worldwide circumstances we all know about, for two, maybe now, three years.
The FIA WEC as we know it now has been in existence now for a decade of course. A busy grid with anticipation and nervousness all over. The fans here in Japan are super enthusiastic, getting autographs and meeting their heroes. Everyone loves coming to Fuji to receive the support from the fans here in Japan. They know their sports car racing. Lots of families and kids here, and lots of entertainment to keep the kiddos happy too. The D'station Aston Martin, another home team here in Japan, did not set a respective lap time in qualifying. So, the #777 car to be started by Tomonobu Fujii and shared with him by Satoshi Hoshino, and Charlie Fagg, that team will have work to do.
D'station have a brand-new shop across the road from CarGuy. CarGuy is not on the grid. Takeshi Kimura, the team boss for CarGuy, is standing in for Brendon Iribe at the Project 1 Porsche team. Hello, Brendon. Get well soon, mate. We are thinking of you. We wish you were here. See you at Bahrain for the finale. The sister car for Team Project 1, the #46, has Matteo Cairoli, Mikkel Pedersen, and Nicki Leutwiler. Nicki Leutwiler, ready to go, and he will start the race in that automobile. Fuji is being turned into a place like Silverstone in England, where they allow teams to keep their bases here at the track.
The #54 AF Corse GTE-Am Ferrari is here with Thomas Flohr, the Swiss driver, sharing with Italian Francesco Castellaci, and Davide Rigon of Italy, as a stand-in for Nick Cassidy who is racing elsewhere this weekend. Fuji Speedway will continue to grow. Spirit of Race, next up in GTE-Am starting third in the class with their all-French crewed Ferrari 488 GTE for Frank Dezoteux, Pierre Ragues, and Gabriel Aubry. Another track we should mentioned that is serving manufacturers mostly of street cars, roadgoing cars, is the Nurburgring Nordschleife. You hear about that often when we cover the large, videotaped races of the Nurburgring NLS championship. There's lots of room to test high performance cars at the Nurburgring.
Second in GTE-Am we have the #85 Ferrari for the Iron Dames. Sara Bovy, Michelle Gatting, and Rahel Frey. Great qualifying effort for the three ladies sharing that ever present car. The GTE-Am pole battle came down to the wire in qualifying. Iron Dames, saving fuel on the grid. TF Sport took pole in GTE-Am with the #33 Aston Martin, and Ben Keating, the Texas car dealer/racing driver did the honors and put in the banker lap. Keating sharing with Marco Sorensen of Denmark and Henrique Chaves of Portugal. This is Ben Keating's fifth WEC pole position. Of course, he shares an LMP2 car in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship with Mikkel Jensen, who, of course is driving one of the factory Hypercar Peugeot's in this race.
Let's have a Captain Cook at the GTE-Pro grid in the penultimate event for GTE-Pro in the WEC. We are going to miss these wonderful cars once they are gone, the factory hotrods, the factory GTE cars that have brought us so much thrilling racing over the years. Corvette Racing will start fifth with the #64 Chevrolet Corvette C8.R to be driven by Nick Tandy and Tommy Milner. The Corvette I don't believe has ever been to Japan. Nick Tandy has raced at Fuji before but this is Tommy Milner's first race in Japan. The team's setup sheet is only a piece of A4 8.5x11 paper with Fuji written in Sharpie marker at the top. The only data they have is in the simulator.
The front stretch here at Fuji is 1.5 kilometers long, just under a mile. Next up, in third in GTE-Pro we have the first of the venerable factory Porsche 911 RSR-19's. This is Gianmaria Bruni of Italy sharing with Richard Lietz from Austria of course. It will be their penultimate race too before GTE-Pro goes away. A low downforce setup on the car is the trick to racing competitively around this place. Sector three is the bugaboo for everyone no matter if you are driving a prototype or a production sports car. Ferrari are second on the grid with the #51 AF Corse 488 Italia GTE. As usual, it is James Calado of England starting the race and sharing with Italian co-driver Alessandro Pier Guidi.
They are just one point behind their closest rivals, the sister factory Porsche 911 RSR-19, #92. This is the car of Dane Michael Christensen, and Frenchman Kevin Estre. Christensen had the extra oomph, but just 2/10ths of a second. So it was very close at the top of the shop in GTE-Pro. This is a low tire degradation track compared to where we will race the finale, at Bahrain, next month, which eats tires alive. Nico Lapierre for Alpine leads the driver's championship by ten points but they could have some issues around this track once we get into the meat and potatoes of this race, or the tempura and sushi main course if you want to substitute Japanese cuisine. Go easy on the sake, though. These boys and girls have to drive today.
Save the sake for celebrating later on. Now then, right at the bottom of the deck in LMP2 we can see the United Autosports USA #23 Oreca with the familiar trio. Josh Pierson, the 16-year-old American starting the car and sharing it with British drivers Alex Lynn and Oliver Jarvis. Alpine says that they have a good car in qualifying trim on low fuel, but in race conditions, it is going to be a bear for them. Now, we look to the sister United Autosports entry. This is #22, next up in sixth in LMP2 being started by the American Will Owen sharing with Portugal's Filipe Albuquerque, and Englishman, Phil Hanson.
United Autosports, in the ten-minute qualifying, they went out and then came in and changed tires as we have a look on camera at the magnificent Mount Fuji and what a sight it is! Next up in LMP2, Vector Sport. This is the #10 Oreca for Sebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande, and Ryan Cullen. They are fifth on the grid and Seb Bourdais qualified it. Bourdais sharing with Renger van der Zande who races with him in the United States, in IMSA, at Ganassi Racing. Fourth on the grid, the #31 WRT Oreca with Dries Vanthoor in as the guest driver this weekend because of sports car racing clashes with other different championships this weekend. Vanthoor, the Belgian, sharing with Sean Gelael and Robin Frijns. The other drivers were in the DTM race at Spa Francorchamps in Belgium.
Do not fear. We will have a report on those races for you, coming up soon as yours truly is doing his absolute best to try and keep all the different sports car races together. If there are events, I have not been able to get to immediately, I shall get to them when time permits. Next up, the #41 RealTeam by WRT entry in the hands for the start of Rui Andrade of Portugal, sharing with Austrian royalty, (Austro-Hungarian royalty), Ferdinand Habsburg, and Norman Nato of France. Nato will be starting this race. WRT will be in Hypercar in a couple years. They will run LMP2 again next year but watch this space in 2024 because WRT are going to be spearheading the factory BMW Hypercar team in WEC in 2024.
Second place in LMP2, AF Corse, the #83 car, yet another Oreca. Francois Perrodo, the Frenchman, starting the motor race and sharing with Nicklas Nielsen from Denmark and Italian Alessio Rovera. On LMP2 pole, the championship leader. This is the #38 Jota Sport entry at the top of the shop in qualifying for the trio of Antonio Felix Da Costa of Portugal, Mexico's Roberto Gonzalez, and Englishman, Will Stevens. Now, if everything goes according to plan, when the race is done and dusted here at Fuji, these chaps could very well be in the pound seats and win the championship. We're just going to have to wait and find out.
Roberto Gonzalez has really improved as an Am driver. We are going to see Jota in Hypercar as well coming up in the near future as they campaign one of the new Porsche 963's. We observe a moment of silence now, for Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. who recently passed away. God Bless the Queen. Now, the national anthem of Japan as pre-race ceremonies continue. Like so many National Anthems around the world, the Japanese anthem is beautiful and the music for it sounds like something a great classical composer such as Beethoven would have written.
All FIA motor races this weekend are observing Queen Elizabeth II. We are seeing the British teams wearing black armbands and stickers on the cars to honor Her Majesty. We move now into the Hypercar grid. Fifth is the second of the Peugeot 9X8's. This is the #94 car t be started by Englishman James Rossiter sharing with American Gustavo Menezes and Frenchman Loic Duval. Final preparations being made as we have about five minutes before the commencement of the recon lap, the formation lap. The sister Peugeot 9X8 #93 is next on the grid in fourth. Jean-Eric Vergne, another Frenchman starts it and is sharing with Mikkel Jensen of Denmark and Scotland's Paul di Resta.
This is a work in progress for Peugeot recreating a team that was famous for winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the 908 HDI FAP diesel LMP1 car that ran against the might of Audi and their diesel cars in the late 2000s through the beginning of the 2010s. They had some titanic battles back then. Third on the grid is Alpine with the #36 Alpine A480 Gibson, their grandfathered LMP1 car and Alpine will break into Hypercar we believe in 2024 in LMDh/GTP in IMSA. Brazilian Andre Negrao starting the #36 which is also to be driven by two more French drivers, Nicolas Lapierre and Matthieu Vaxiviere. So, a familiar lineup in that car as well.
That leaves only two. The two Toyota's at the top of the shop for their own home race at their home track. Second place, on the outside of the front row, the #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid for Switzerland's Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley from New Zealand, and Ryo Hirakawa of Japan, the trio that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans earlier this year. The short-term bad of these new cars is the rush for development and we've harped on and on about the supply chain bottleneck we've seen worldwide thanks to the cursed pandemic. But that is just how things are currently.
Toyota #7 is the pole sitter. Kamui Kobayashi starting the car, the new team boss at Toyota Gazoo Racing, sharing with Mike Conway and with Jose Maria Lopez. We see a Huey Cobra Gunship helicopter flying overhead. Now that is cool! Any progress we see from Peugeot today at Fuji, we are going to continue to see that go upwards as we head for the 2022 finale in Bahrain. Five minutes before we set off on the recon lap. So, our pre-race coverage is now over and we're set to go racing very soon. James Rossiter is so familiar with racing in Japan having run here at Fuji for the last five, six years in Super GT.
Kevin Magnussen, who was supposed to be racing for Peugeot, was of course drafted back into the Haas Formula 1 team at the start of the 2022 campaign. The JDF, Japanese Defense Force, is bringing in the flag to start the race, much like how it is done by the French army at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Going out of the door of the helicopter is the hard part. Wow. The army officers are bringing the flag. When this track at Fuji was first built there was banking in the first turn which we don't have to use anymore, a lot like what we see with the old banking at Monza in Italy. Fuji was originally designed as an oval. Go to YouTube and check out old footage of Fuji Speedway. Well, well, well. The soldiers are still delivering the flag. Maybe the helicopter pilot should have landed a wee bit closer, eh.
It is a scorcher, hot and humid, today at Fuji. 2020 Olympic gold medalist Keiko Sugiura is the official starter for today's race. She is a cycling World Champion and Olympic champion. Olympic road bicycle racing was done here at Fuji Speedway, believe it or not. So, cars, and bicycles alike, have graced this circuit. Brands Hatch in 2012 it was also done there. One minute before the formation lap gets underway. Toyota #7 on pole for the first time, at home. The engines have fired up. Toyota scored their seventh win in eight starts at the speedway the last time we were here in 2019. It was a Toyota 1-2. Rebellion was third, the same car that the Alpine is.
It is the next to last race for Alpine and their grandfathered LMP1 entry in WEC. What will Peugeot have in the locker? That is the other question. The Japanese flag waves. Next year, we are going to see Alpine in LMP2 before they bring back a new Hypercar in 2024 with a two-car team. 103 drivers but 54 have raced here before. 49 new drivers to this track. Traffic will be crucial. Only two drivers have raced here at Fuji for every event. Christian Ried is a dead giveaway because he has competed in every single WEC event over the last decade of the championship's existence. Richard Lietz, the Austrian, driving for the Porsche factory, is the other driver who has done all the races here at Fuji.
The Peugeot's look great in the sunshine. All the cars do. The battle in LMP2 will be hot and heavy as we are going to see Roberto Gonzalez and Francois Perrodo going at it hammer and tongs, early doors here. The Silver or Bronze rated drivers in LMP2 and GTE-Am are the cornerstone, the backbone of those specific teams. Buemi vs. Kobayashi for Toyota on the front row. Kamui Kobayashi in his home race. Toyota #7, if they are going to stay in the fight, they have to steal the thunder from their sister car today on home soil. Can they do that? We're about to find out. Cinch down those belts. We are going to be ready to bring the action here in a moment.
Can Peugeot get on the podium? Reliability will be a bear. Cold tires and brakes down the long straight and into turn one. Round five of the FIA WEC is underway! A long hold on the red lights for some reason. You can't pass until going across the start/finish line. Kamui Kobayashi leads Sebastien Buemi into the first turn. No brake lockup yet. No spins. Everyone seems to have made it through cleanly as Ben Keating and Satoshi Hposhino scrap and Sean Gelael makes a move in LMP2 on Robert Gonzalez and Francois Perrodo. No contact in the opening lap. Yikes! Spinning off the road, the #28 Jota car and the #45 Algarve Pro entry in LMP2. That was a lockup as Jonathan Aberdein, the South African, tags the #45 started by Steven Thomas, the American driver.
Aberdein sharing the #28 with Ed Jones, now residing in England, or racing under a British license instead of a UAE license, and with Danish driver Oliver Rasmussen. #45, has Thomas sharing with Australian James Allen and Austrian Rene Binder. Aberdein and Thomas get back into the race as Kamui Kobayashi is really extending his lead. The Alpine is lacking straight line speed. It is a happier race car in the twiddly bits in sector three as the lions, the Peugeot's are bearing down on it. Normally aspirated V8 power in the Alpine while like the Toyota's, the Peugeot's rely on hybrid technology and V6 turbo engine power. Francois Perrodo, Roberto Gonzalez, it is critical to get settled in with no argy bargy early doors.
AF Corse lead Porsche in GTE Pro. Ferrari at the top of the shop in class. Stephen Thomas has recovered the #45! A smokescreen, look, and Thomas just lost it under braking and the rear end stepped out. That was a fair thud. He was offline with the brakes locked up on the rears. A half tank slapper and into the garage he goes. Ryan Cullen is being monstered by Josh Pierson and Will Owen in both United Autosport cars. Gonzalez has a crocodile of cars behind him and he has to hold station as best as possible and now, Will Owen is pushing hard against his team mate. The team cars, you can tell them apart because the #22 car has red door mirrors and the #23 has blue ones.
They are going to be bearing down on Sebastien Bourdais in the #10 Vector Sport entry and this will allow Roberto Gonzalez to eke out a gap behind the WRT #31. So, at the top end of town in LMP2, it is a two-car scrap as we get underway here at Fuji Speedway. Esteban Guttierez who started the #34 Inter Europol LMP2 car, he is going to have make hay while the sun shines. So Jota is scrapping and scraping his way through the GTE Pro cars. The incident is under investigation by the stewards. Aberdein is now at the back of the LMP2 queue. Sean Gelael is the man at the wheel of the #31 car for WRT.
Toyota #7 and the rest of the Hypercar field are now making their way through corners 11, 12, and 13. Toyota will have just two more clear laps before they get into traffic for the rest of the race. James Rossiter is being told what strategy the team will go on and is being told already to save energy. James Rossiter is following Jean Eric Vergne. The Peugeots are bouncing up and down on the straightaway but the straightaway here at Fuji seems to be billiard table smooth. It can't be bumps they are dealing with. Guttierez in the Inter Europol car is pased by it looks like the WRT entry. Did the cameras catch a lead change in LM GTE-Am? Ben Keating in the #33 4 Horsemen Aston Martin for TF Sport is the new leader in class.
Turn one and turn ten have seen a lot of overtaking, sweeping downhill and a heavy, heavy braking zone with an easy spot to overtake or to lock the brakes completely. In the background, look, a pass for position as Jonathan Aberdein in the #28 Jota entry passes the #1 Richard Mille Racing Oreca started by Lilou Wadoux. The Richard Mille Racing Team still has an all-French lineup. But of course, Paul-Loup Chatin is the new third driver alongside Wadoux and Charles Milesi. Rallying champion Sebastien Ogier was in the car only for the opening three races of the season. This is a pass for eighth place in class.
The #45 car is leading by just two points in LMP2 Pro-Am. Only three LMP2 Pro-Am entries here in Japan as ARC Bratislava are not competing in this race today. The Peugeots run liner stern, chasing each other and it looks as if James Rossiter in #94 is faster of the two while Jean Eric Vergne in #93 is not quite up to snuff yet. There's porpoising on those cars through turn one and we can see sparks. Meantime, in GTE-Pro, Gianmaria Bruni wants to pass team mate Kevin Estre for the Porsche GT Team. All five Hypercars in this race are within close range in the 1:31 bracket insofar as lap times. An intense race in Hypercar and in GTE Pro as we can see the factory Ferrari's, the factory Porsche's and the sole factory Corvette all within range.
Hard to believe that next year we will not be speaking about factory GTE cars. It is a sad deal really. But sports car racing is moving on now at a very rapid rate. So, savor the memories of GTE Pro while you still can, everybody. This is the good stuff. Top rated drivers in factory prepared hotrods. In replay, we saw that the #41 RealTeam car ran way wide. Then we see that tandem spin on cold tires for #38 and #45. Cold tires and grabbing brakes. Side-by-side Aston Martin battle for second in GTE-Am. Have a go at this! Aston Martin's running second, third, and fourth as Sara Bovy in the Iron Dames Ferrari, car #85, is whistling off into the distance.
David Pittard being harried by Ben Keating and Tomonobu Fujii. Pittard takes a wide entry into the final turn, on the natural racing line. Recall just a few short years ago, Pittard was a beast in a BMW M6 GT3 in NLS competition at the Nurburgring. So, nothing has worn off of him as he continues his GT racing career, now on the world stage for Aston Martin. Ben Keating, we know what he likes to do in these six-hour races. He takes the start of the event and does his drive time completely in a huge slice before handing the car to his co-drivers.
Attention, Peugeot. Please tell your drivers to change positions. James Rossiter is the bloke with more pace right now. Rossiter is reall dipping the nose out from behind JEV, Jean-Eric Vergne. It would be more productive and better for all of you watching at home, to see these Peugeot's take the fight to Alpine up the road instead of scrapping amongst themselves. Rossiter says his tires are getting knackered already and the crew chief tells him, "OK. If you have to ease off on your tires, please do." But there's consternation because Rossiter first says he is experiencing less porpoising than his team mate. Alternately, he then figures out that his tires are going away.
The team says "no, James. Drop back." But he has the turbulence of the car in front to deal with. That's motor racing. Aerodynamics. If you get too close to the car in front of you, the dirty air spilling off the back of that car is going to affect negatively, how your car handles. Play the team game guys. That is what you have to do if you are at Peugeot right now. United Autosport on the attack against Prema. Bingo. The pass is made. Ryan Cullen aboard the #10 Vector Sport car, he made his way cleanly through the shemozzle at the start. They ran really well at Monza back in July, and now, they are continuing that run of form here at Fuji.
A late lunge by Kevin Estre on James Calado, but the Frenchman gets the door slammed in his face. Gelael has four odd seconds over Gonzalez in their scrap in LMP2. It's all turning on right here right now, folks. GTE-Am land meanwhile sees Tomononbu Fujii passing Ben Keating. Uh, Ben. Is everything peachy? Or is there trouble in paradise for TF Sport? Keep in mind, the other two Aston Martin's that have gone by Keating, started caboose on the field in GTE-Am with Silver ranked drivers in the cockpits. Jeepers creepers! It's all shuffling around like a deck of cards for the Aston Martin boys. Man, oh man.
Fujii knows this track like the back of his hand. LMP2, the battle is on. Josh Pierson just had the #9 Prema Orlen Oreca all over him like a cheap suit and got passed. The overall leaders have nearly caught the GTE-Am traffic. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, in GTE-Pro, look, it is still Calado for Ferrari vs. Estre for Porsche. Estre is winding it up. He's looking, probing, trying to get by. Teammate Michael Christensen looking on. He's going to make the move. Bish, bash, bosh. Right 'round the outside. Turn one is the overtaking place. Choose your line. It is almost like a DTM track for the GT3 cars or almost like the Ulmann straightaway at Sebring International Raceway in Florida where you can pick your line before having to dive into turn one here at Fuji, or in the case of Sebring, the final turn, Sunset Bend, turn 17.
One of the Iron Lynx Ferrari's spins. That is the yellow #60 with Claudio Schiavoni at the wheel of it. An all-Italian team in that car. Schiavoni sharing with Matteo Cressoni and Formula 1 and sports car veteran Giancarlo Fisichella. Algarve Pro and driver Steven Thomas have run into a spot of bother as that car is still in the garage. My first thought is (and I agree with Martin Haven, lead WEC commentator), he's probably pinged the suspension and that will need fixing. Broken suspension on race car, that ain't workin', as the Dire Straits song would say.
I wonder if the pickup points will be OK. Ferrari #54 for AF Corse in GTE-Am is making his way to the side to let the two factory Peugeot Hypercars go by. Vergne is the cork in the bottle behind the Ferrari and this might give Rossiter a Captain Cook to try and make a pass. Rossiter tries going to the inside but has to back off. You just don't want to bang wheels with your teammate. Rossiter needs to say he is quicker than Vergne. He is the new boy on the block and is being told what to do, being calm. He is, as Pink Floyd sing in their song "Time", "hanging on in quiet desperation", which in the next line of the verse is said to be "the English way."
He is being senisble. Meanwhile, in GTE-Am, David Pittard goes to the lead as Tomonobu Fujii is closing up on Sara Bovy. James Rossiter is very experienced here at Fuji Speedway. Peugeot are compromising their motor race. Loic Duval is calmly checking things out but he should be bending the team manager's ear saying, "let our car by please!" There is going to be contact. Listen, just give JEV the spot. Criminy. Oh dear. Warning flags for Gianmaria Bruni and Nick Tandy for Porsche and Corvette in GTE-Pro. Meanwhile, two LMP2 cars are having to split a GTE-Am Porsche! That is indeed Louis Deletraz in the #9 Prema car and then Will Owen in the #22 United Autosport car, it is indeed Will Owen, and both of them want past the recalcitrant GR Racing Porsche #86.
That is the Ben Barker, Mike Wainwright, Ricardo Pera car. Not sure who is driving right now. Is it one of the two Brits? Is it the Italian? We're not sure. They had to do a split on that GTE-Am Porsche and made it work, look. The #45 Algarve Pro LMP2 car is in the garage right now and being rebuilt. So maybe, just maybe, they can get back out and try salvaging some points before the final race of the season in Bahrain in November. Tandy in the Corvette, even with track limits warnings, he is looking racy and you know darn well he wants by Calado's Ferrari. He cannot stand seeing that Prancing Horse in front of him.
The balance on the Corvette looks good and he has been taking care of the tires. The leaders are just behind the GTE-Pro scrap. The Ferrari looks to the inside of the Porsche. This is #52 on #91. Who's the last of the late brakers? Squeeze play! Yikes! Making a lunge in turn one is too risky! Gently, boys. It's still early doors in the motor race. These chaps are very professional and giving each other racing room at the very least. That was a lockup. I agree with WEC commentator and former driver Anthony Davidson. That shallow turn-in under braking scares the everliving daylights out of me because you know that someone is going to have argy bargy and ruin another driver's race.
Louis Deletraz has eked out a gap on both United Autosport cars and he is now doing all he knows to close up on the tail of Ryan Cullen in the #10 Vector Sport car. There must be a headwind into turn one as the leaders are close to GTE-Pro cars. Sebastien Buemi can make a move on Kamui Kobayashi. The remaining LMP2 Pro-Am battle sees the Francois and Francois show. Francois Heriau vs. Francois Perrodo. Never thought in a million years I'd be saying that. Jeepers. So, AF Corse vs. Ultimate. If AF Corse were to win this race because of the delay for the Algarve Pro entry, that would manna from heaven for that team going into the finale.
The Toyota's are carving their way through lapped cars and #7 is putting daylight between itself and the #8 sister car. Kamui Kobayashi is asked by the team how the car is handling and he says he has understeer right now. Just a touch of understeer. In Free Practice, through turns four and five, the Toyota was plowing through those turns. Deletraz locks the rear brakes as he is chasing Ryan Cullen for third in class in LMP2. Deletraz tries a lunge on Cullen. That isn't going to work, sunshine. Please try again. More lead swapping in GTE-Am as the Aston Martin scrum continues and Tomonobu Fujii bests David Pittard for the time being.
D'station becomes the fourth leader in GTE-Am and we are still only working the opening hour. What did I say about bringing the action? That's what is happening in spades right now, ladies and gentlemen. Warning to Will Owen in turn three for abusing track limits. Through turn ten, in replay, we can see a massive lockup of the rear brakes for David Pittard and so that was the written invitation for Tomonobu Fujii to go by. He didn't need a signed invitation. He just sent it. Hardy har har. Vector Sport in LMP2 have dropped back behind Prema now because the #10, Ryan Cullen, has argy bargy with the #54 the AF Corse GTE-Am Ferrari!
That impact rattled the electronics. He lost drive for a wee moment there. That was a head scratcher. Now maybe he hit the gas pedal and the brake at the same time. That doesn't work because it stalls the car. Penalty for Corvette Racing #64. Track limits. Kobayashi still leading Buemi. But the battle at hand is in LMP2. Jota vs. United Autosport. Owen reeling in Aberdein hand over fist. Aberdein though, he could run off like a scalded cat because he's just flown by both United Autosport cars. Deary me. Drive through penalty for Corvette #64. That will rub salt in their wounds, and they'll have to recover.
So, in replay in LMP2 land, Aberdein is carving through the field after that early shemozzle with the #45 car, the delayed Algarve Pro entry with Steven Thomas at the controls. Aberdein had to be muttering curse words under his breath and driving like a madman to be making moves like we've just seen. Algarve Pro team boss Stuart Cox says that Steven Thomas got overenthusiastic on cold tires, locked the rear brakes and spun sideways hitting the rear wheel square, shearing the bolts attaching the wishbones to the upright, to the control arm. Oh man! That's a massive fix. They will be playing catch up for the whole rest of the motor race.
They can come back at Bahrain. It is higher scoring because it is an eight-hour event as opposed to a six hour one. Toyota remain 1-2, #7 ahead of #8. In the meantime, a lead change as Kevin Estre has gone by James Calado. Porsche, Ferrari, Porsche, Ferrari. Nick Tandy has done his drive through penalty. Race Director Edoardo Freitas is really taking a hard look at track limits because it was required that the baguette or sausage curbs here at Fuji were removed for the Formula 4 support race for the open wheel cars. Egad! Speaking of track limits, the CarGuy Ferrari chops right across the AF Corse Ferrari and the Corvette! Mama Mia! That was a close shave! Poor old Tandy just got snookered. He was taking avoiding action. That was not using runoff room to maintain speed.
Okie dokie then. We take a look back at the 11th place battle in LMP2. It is still the Francois and Francois show. Francois Heriau for Ultimate running ahead of Francois Perrodo for AF Corse. One car in chrome red and one car in true chrome. A couple pretty looking LMP2 cars starting with their Bronze rated drivers who must keep up speed against their peers and not against the higher rated chaps in the other cars, but in the same grading class as you are. Being a Silver driver is a slippery slope because a lot of great drivers who are rated Silver and some others are in Am, in that section of the GTE cars.
We are trying to get in touch with Louise Beckett in the lane. Now, we have her on the mic. She says that Ryan Cullen stalled after making said contact. So, that clears up any confusion. Now, speaking of confusion, this is going to get spicy! Estre vs. Calado, round two! Ding, ding, ding. Cue the boxing bell and Michael Buffer yelling "let's get ready to rumble!" Estre forcing Calado all the way to the outside! Estre locks up! The Ferrari runs wide! What next? What next? Estre tries the cutback on the inside! It's time for the rough end of the pineapple here, ladies and gentlemen! The chrome horn is in use! Estre tries the slingshot. Calado throws the block. Calado toughed it out hanging on by his fingernails. Early to the inside, run to the edge of the road. Just barely enough space to make that work!
Estre locks up, smoking the tires. Man, oh man! No love lost between Ferrari and Porsche. Yikes! Estre being told to just stick to the plan. Cool, calm, and collected, just like their late, great team boss from the Group C days, Norbert Singer. Learn from your guru. That's what they've done. No need to worry. But the slipstream is so powerful down the straight. Team boss on the radio "don't do anything silly." Racing driver inside his helmet. "No! I will pass him!" You see. That's the clash. That's the clash between the icy cool race engineer and the red-hot racing driver channeling his spirit animal. By dint of this battle, Gianmaria Bruni in the second factory Porsche is beginning to make inroads of his own. The weathervane tells us we have a mild headwind.
There was a lot yesterday during qualifying. So, James Calado gets away for a wee while as Josh Pierson is warned to not abuse track limits. The black and white warning flag is your last warning before the marshals penalize you. Watch your screen that shows the flags in the cockpit of the car. Race Control sends a black and white flag signal at a given turn wherever it is that you are being warned about. You cannot flip to the page in the racing driver's book of excuses that says, "I didn't know the flag was there." Yes, you did. Throw away that book. It's not going to help you, sunbeam. The team managers and Edoardo Freitas are all on a Discord channel online. The warnings are per driver and not per car.
Your teammate does not inherit any transgressions you made. It is a clean slate, and it is the next driver's responsibility to also keep the car clean and keep the damn thing between the hedges, namely, on the blacktop. Gianmaria Bruni is told to go an extra lap over the sister car at Porsche AG, Porsche GT Team. Car #45 is back in the race. But there will be a one-minute penalty assessed to the Algarve Pro LMP2 car for causing a collision. The #60 all-Italian crewed Ferrari for Iron Lynx is now in the pit lane in GTE-Am. It seems they are ready for a driver to a driver change. Information to the pit lane, just what we said about the stop and go for the #45 for causing a collision.
Gianmaria Bruni now reported for breaching track limits. One minute penalty for Porsche. So, a contrast in GTE Pro as we speak because the Ferrari is getting far better traction under braking off the final corner. However, the Porsche has the power. Through traffic... egad! They almost made contact with a GTE-Am Porsche! That is the #88 car, the Dempsey-Proton Porsche 911 RSR-19 being shared by Fred Poordad, Patrick Lindsey, and Jan Heylen. The Ferrari has not made good it's escape. We talked at the top of the show, the top of the blog, that track limits would be a massive deal.
Porsche #91 pinged with a drive through penalty for track limits. Tee hee. OK. Now, the leading LMP2 car is bearing down on the GTE Pro boys. That is the #9 Prema Orlen car. So, once again, "information to the pit lane, drive through penalty to car #91 for continuously abusing track limits." Attentjon, Porsche factory. Please bring your driver to the pit lane. Thank you. Gianmaria Bruni also got a warning in Free Practice. Bruni will be at the bottom of the deck before long and Frank Dezoteux is also given a penalty in the leading Ferrari in GTE-Am. Adding insult to injury, Dezoteux spins the car in the chicane, in the S curve. A fraught race so far for the all-French crew for Spirit of Race, the Swiss team.
Dezoteux, Aubry, and Ragues, will have a long road to hoe for the rest of this race. We are about to see the LMP2 cars hit the pit lane while Kamui Kobayashi in Toyota #7, continues on his merry way in the lead. Toyota fans, very happy, as we have seen a Toyota 1-2. At their home track, Toyota have won every race bar one. Seven victories in eight events here at Fuji Speedway in the modern era of the World Endurance Championship, not counting participation in the Group C era in the 1980s. Bruni flying into the lane for his drive through. Don't make it worse than it already is. You can tell he's steamed.
Bruni argues he did not disobey track limits. Jonathan Aberdein too, making a scheduled pit stop in the #28 Jota Sport car in LMP2. Bruni has taken his penalty. So, #28 is in a lap earlier than the sister car and everyone else in LMP2. It will be as crowded as Tokyo next time by. My eyes are correct. The rest of the LMP2s are in the lane now. So, Gonzalez is now running ahead of Deletraz. That's fascinating. Did not expect to see such a turn of events. Check that. It's Sean Gelael I believe and not Louis Deletraz. The battle is on between Jota and Prema. Gonzalez will stay in the car for a double stint as fuel goes in, the windscreen is cleaned and so is the front nose section.
Some of the professional drivers are still buried in the LMP2 battle pack. The Prema car comes out first. Jota is now back behind. Ooh. That's a pit lane drag race. Meanwhile, it appears Jota were avoiding an unsafe release penalty. That's sensible. Gonzalez actually had a hiccup on exit. Car #28 has also made the pass. Wow. Jonathan Aberdein makes up a place. Ben Keating in GTE-Am, has his hands full with Sara Bovy, and these two have been battling like crazy. Blimey! How much was track limits in play there for Gonzalez?! He was right bang on the sausage curbs! The visibility in these cars is so bad because they are so low to the ground.
You can barely see out the front of the car. So, it is very difficult to see out of the GTE car from the windscreen. Sean Gelael in the #31 WRT car leads LMP2 four seconds up on Jonathan Aberdein in the #28, the green Jota entry. Third place is the #9 Prema Oreca with Louis Deletraz at the wheel of it, and he is two and a half seconds down. Roberto Gonzalez is a further 1.2 seconds behind Deletraz. That is your revised top four runners in LMP2 currently. Jiminy Cricket! Another car reported to the stewards for track limits and guess who it is? It's our old buddy at the wheel of the #71 automobile. The Ferrari for Spirit of Race and Monsieur Frank Dezoteux. Aye. Kevin Estre, too, is on the cusp of a violation as Francois Perrodo runs wide.
We've missed another Hypercar battle, and that is, James Rossiter has gone around Jean Eric Vergne in the battle of the Peugeot's. We don't know how it happened, but it has. Penalty now for the #71 of Dezoteux, confirmed. Francois Perrodo has clear sailing in LMP2 Pro-Am as Francois Heriau has dropped back in the Ultimate LMP2 car, into the clutches of the GTE scrap. Meanwhile, in Hypercar, the Alpine is third overall and currently in a cluster of GTE traffic. James Rossiter in the Peugeot has been let off the leash and is chasing the aforementioned #36. Rossiter is now shown 12 and a half seconds ahead of Jean Eric Vergne.
Rossiter is faster than Vergne, clearly. Rossiter tells the team the tires are good and the car balance is good, but the brakes have had some locking. He seems to be in his happy place and he is scything his way through the GTE-Pro. Rossiter, and our pal in the commentary box, Anthony Davidson, they were both test drivers for the British American Racing Formula 1 team back in the day, about 15-16 odd years ago. Rossiter is being smooth and that is paying dividends. Jean Eric Vergne is not happu though that the other car is being treated more fairly. You have to start learning from each other as a team. Testing, that happens. But it has to happen in race trim as well.
#94 has a far different setup than the #93 does. There must be something wrong with the handling on the #93 and so, Vergne does have a right to gripe about it to his pit crew and ask, "why on earth isn't my car working like the sister car is?" Vergne sawing the wheel. He is a multiple champion in Formula E but for years also raced for G-Drive in the LMP2 class, so he knows darn well how to get the best performance out of a prototype race car. There's no question of that. Time penalty marked for the #10 Vector Sport LMP2 car for the kerfuffle with the GTE cars we saw earlier on.
Meanwhile, the second place GTE Pro fight rages on. Kevin Estre is now falling into the clutches of Miguel Molina, the Spaniard in the sister #52 AF Corse Ferrari. #10 did not cause the collision. It was a racing incident. Why the penalty? That's bogus. It was a 50/50 deal. Harumph. Marshals, what are you thinking? It takes two to tango with these moves. Racing drivers must trust each other and they are not amateurs. You have to know, at a World Championship level, if and when a car comes up behind you. Sean Gelael, meanwhile, nearly has the #31 WRT Oreca LMP2 off the road! He continues to lead LMP2 over Jonathan Aberdein.
Gelael leads LMP2 by 2.2 seconds. The Calado, Estre, Molina battle, also sees Nick Tandy just a second behind these three blokes. Check that. It is the sister #91 Porsche that is behind with Bruni at the controls and then Nick Tandy is behind Gianmaria Bruni, so that bit of housekeeping is now taken care of. Speaking of housekeeping, Estre is on a final warning for track limits while Miguel Molina has indeed now made his way past the Frenchman. Here's it all again, in replay. Molina goes to the inside of the white line, right up against the pit wall. This is a copybook move that we saw from #51 on #92 resulting in all that shemozzle earlier.
Molina is not giving it up and nor is Estre. There was a wee bit of contact into the first turn. He really sent it early. It was almost a return to sender on that deal. Meanwhile, Porsche vs. Corvette in GTE Pro for fourth place. Bruni vs. Tandy. Tandy, remember, used to be a Porsche factory driver before switching camps and going to the Corvette team and General Motors. Hello, mate. Now, he had all four wheels right off the road. Can you say, track limits? Tandy losing ground going in a tad too hot into turn 13. The battle between Porsche and Corvette as we saw with Porsche and Ferrari means two very different cars making their lap times in different ways.
It is that tired old horses for courses mantra. But these two motorcars seem fairly evenly matched. Toyota still top of the shop in Hypercar although the lead has now decreased to a second and a half between Kamui Kobayashi and Sebastien Buemi. #8 can typically go longer on fuel than #7 and they might be going easier on their tires as well. Sean Gelael, meanwhile, coming up on the aforementioned GTE Pro battle, is going to have his hands full with Jonathan Aberdein. You know the South African driver is going to want a bite of the cherry before too long.
The other LMP2 battle is Will Owen, fending off the challenge of Rui Andrade, the Angolan driver. Hypercar pit stops coming soon as James Rossiter is now within two seconds of Andre Negrao. Peugeot closing in on Alpine, in a battle of the French brands, but I haven't the foggiest idea why the Peugeot team are not turning Rossiter loose to chase down the Brazilian in the blue car. Peugeot are still in this testing mindset. They are testing the car and not thinking of racing at all. Well, that's all fine and dandy. But when you are in the heat of competition, you still have to push. You still have to step up your game. Peugeot have not gotten that message, or, if they have, they are clearly ignoring it.
Rossiter was very polite about his team mate. Rossiter is not losing his patience. If it were me as a driver I would be on the horn to the team, screaming, "I've tried to be polite about this, but for God's sake, let me pass!" Maybe it is a part of the reserved British character compared to the in-your-face nature of the French drivers as we see the #36 Alpine in the lane. Rossiter was the late comer to the team but he might need to get his elbows out a bit more and be more assertive on the radio like his French co-drivers are. Now, could Rossiter have spoken to the team with a French accent? In "Frenglish" as it were? That is possible. We cannot confirm it.
But that would be a way to be more assertive. Alpine released from the lane. If Peugeot #94 ends up on the podium, James Rossiter will have been a key part of that effort. Kobayashi to the lane and so #8 goes longer. This is part of their strategy plan. The garages are not as long or wide as the car so the teams cannot double stack their cars. Kobayashi is in in the #7 Toyota and Vergne is in the lane in Peugeot #93 wondering how on earth his teammate is pulling away from his so much. Buemi will stop now. If Rossiter goes another lap, well, never mind. Rossiter is into the lane as we speak. Toyota #8 is in now and they are fueled differently as one will stop before the other.
Fuel and tires, cleaning the windscreen. No driver changes. The Peugeot is really close to the top even in just their second race as #94 is in the lane from third. The speeds with the Balance of Performance must be pretty comparable. Toyota #8 takes only two tires as you hear on track audio, the air line come out and release the car down off the air jacks. #7 is in the lead of the motor race with #8 second and this means it is Peugeot #94 in third, Alpine fourth, and Peugeot #93 in fifth place. Did Peugeot do a full four-tire change? No. No tires on the Peugeot as they are babying their tires right now and closing the gap.
So it is Toyota #7 ahead of Toyota #8 and Peugeot #94 with James Rossiter at the controls, your top three as one hour of the motor race here at Fuji Speedway is indeed in the bag.
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