WEC Preview: 6 Hours of Fuji
- Aaron Carroll
- 7 hours ago
- 5 min read
After an action packed wet weather six hours in the US, the World Endurance Championship (WEC) paddock is rolling into Japan this weekend, for the penultimate round of the 2025 championship at the Fuji Speedway.
Championship Picture
Hypercar
At the top of the drivers standings, its still the No.51 Ferrari crew leading the way, coming off the back of a modest fifth place finish for the prancing horse in Austin. They lead the Le Mans winning No.83 crew by 15 points heading into the final two rounds, a very small gap, especially considering Bahrain will be worth points and a half.
The No.6 Porsche guys are a further 21 points back on 79 points. They'll be looking in their mirrors, with the No.50 Ferrari and No.12 Cadillac on 75 and 72 points respectively.
There's then a gap back of 26 points to the No.38 Cadillac. They are the lead of an amalgamation of six cars covered by 12 points. That list includes the No.7 and No.8 Toyotas, No.20 BMW, No.36 Alpine and the No.5 Porsche.
Rounding out the bottom of the table is the No.15 BMW, both Peugeots, the No.99 Proton Porsche and finally both Aston Martins.
With 66 possible points up for grabs in Bahrain for the manufacturers battle, there is a world where Ferrari leave Fuji as world champions. Currently they have a 65 point lead over Porsche in second.
The main battle is between the German marque and their American rivals Cadillac, who are only a further four points back. Toyota are another 35 points back, before we hit BMW 25 behind the Gazoo Racing squads.
A bit further back is the battle for sixth between Peugeot and Alpine, with the latter leading the former by just four points. Finally, Aston Martin round out the table with their two points from Le Mans.
LMGT3
In the GT class it is still the No.92 Manthey Porsche that leads the way, on a solid 95 points. They have a respectable 19 point lead over the No.21 Vista AF Corse guys, who are in turn 10 ahead of the No.33 Corvette. However, in LMGT3 this season it has been all to play for, so any one of these three could be on top coming out of this weekend.
Tied in fourth and fifth place on 57 points is the No.87 Lexus and the No.27 Aston Martin. Just a single point behind those two is the No.81 Corvette. Then the No.54 Ferrari, No.59 McLaren, No.46 BMW and the No.95 McLaren are all only two points back, split themselves by seven points.
Then rounding out the LMGT3 table we have the No.77 Ford, No.10 Aston Martin, No.88 Ford, No.31 BMW, No.85 Iron Dames Porsche, No.61 and the No.60 Mercedes'.
The track
The 4.5km Fuji Speedway situated at the foot of Mt. Fuji in Japan, is a world famous circuit, which has even previously held four Formula One Grands Prix in 1976, 1977, 2007 and 2008.
The lap begins on the massive main straight, with the cars barreling down towards turn 1 at massive speeds. They'll be hard on the brakes for this right handed hairpin, which will also be a prime overtaking opportunity come Sunday's race.
Drivers will then try to get the power down as early as they can without losing traction through the kink that is turn 2, before pulling the car back over to the right hand side of the track for turn 3. This fast left hander is crucial to set up one of the most important corners on the track.
Turns 4 and 5 (AKA 100R) is a double apex long right hander, where tyre grip and downforce is crucial for a quick time in this section. If drivers go wide in the previous left, they will compromise their entry into turn 4 and lose lots of lap time.
As soon as the cars exit turn 5, they will be swung back to the right side of the track for the tricky braking zone into turn 6. Multiple different lines can be run through this corner, with some prioritizing the exit onto the back straight.
This 'straight' compromises of turns 7, 8 and 9, a left handed and two right handed kinks. Drivers will be slip streaming through these, as they head towards the second of the tracks major overtaking opportunities.
Turn 10 - similarly to turn 1 - is a sharp right handed hairpin, which leads into a tight left right chicane. From here we get into a more technical section, which will test drivers' skill to the maximum.
After this chicane comes the left hander of turn 13, which is a relatively simple corner, as much as it can be in some of the fastest cars in the world. The road then curves to the left in turn 14, before a very tricky braking zone for the turn 15 hairpin. Drivers will be braking and turning at the same time here, so expect to see some lockups, especially from the Hypercars which have no ABS (Anti-lock Braking System).
This corner almost repeats itself for turn 16, but this time to the right. The exit out of this one is so important, as it leads on to the monumental main straight. Once the drivers have done all that without spinning off the road, they will have completed a lap of the Fuji Speedway. Now they only have to do it for six more hours!
Weather
Fuji has been know for its wet weather in the past, and we could yet see more of it this weekend. Friday looks like it will be mainly dry for first and second practice, but the rain could hit for Saturday and Sunday. Small thunderstorms could affect qualifying's running on Saturday, with light rain spells set to fall on Sunday.
Schedule
Free Practice 1 will kick off the WEC action at 10:15 local time on Friday, followed by FP2 at 14:30. FP3 will give the teams a final hour of practice on Saturday morning at 9:50, before Qualifying at 14:20. The 6 Hours of Fuji itself will kick off at 11:00 on Sunday morning, running all the way through until 17:00.
Fans at the track will also enjoy action from the Formula Regional Japanese Championship and the Porsche Carrera Cup Japan. Some lucky fans will also get to partake in the circuit safari before FP3, which involves a ride in a bus on the circuit, while the LMGT3 cars and Hypercars circulate on track.
Balance of Performance (BoP)
The biggest change in the Hypercar class is for the Alpine A424, which gets an extra 6 KW of power, and no changes to minimum weight. No other car in the class has had a weight change either, with all eight manufacturers weighing in at the same they did in Texas.
The only other significant changes are an extra 2 KW each for BMW and Porsche, with Cadillac and Toyota losing 1 KW each. The largely unchanged BoP from COTA is likely due to the fact we saw a very rain dominated race last time out for the Lone Star Le Mans.
There are slightly more significant changes in the LMGT3 class. On the power side of things, the only change is for BMW, who get bumped up one position on the power curve. Weight wise, they will also gain 8 KG.
Aston Martin and their Vantage are the only ones losing weight (-5 KG), with Corvette (+3 KG) and Ferrari (+4 KG) also gaining. The biggest change goes to Ford, who gain a sizeable 15 KG minimum weight from COTA
It is also worth noting that all cars have recieved roughly 30 MJ in maximum stint energy (give or take 3 MJ) for the race, so we will likely see all cars in the class go much longer compared to the Hypercars.
