Written by Evan Veer, Edited by Sharifah Zaqreeztrina
After a long summer break, the World Endurance Championship (WEC) makes its way to the land of the rising sun for the 6 Hours of Fuji. The Fuji Speedway is set against a stunning backdrop at the foot of Mount Fuji in southeastern Tokyo and features 16 turns as well as a long straight. The current layout was designed by Hermann Tilke and offers a balanced structure with a mixture of both high speed turns and technical low speed sections.
The circuit is a mainstay on the WEC calendar having hosted the championship nine times before, of which Toyota incredibly managed to win eight. Going off their recent form, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Japanese squad adds another victory to their tally, as other manufacturers are still struggling to find better performance from their cars.
In terms of Balance of Performance (BoP), the LMH manufacturers have been set back slightly whereas Cadillac and especially Porsche have been given a small but significant increase in performance. This boost was desperately needed for the latter as thus far their results have been well below expectations for a brand with such prestige and history in endurance racing.
Despite facing a slight hindrance compared to Toyota in terms of their performance metrics, Ferrari are still within reach of both the manufacturer’s and driver’s titles, though in both cases some misfortune on Toyota’s side will be required to make a title challenge realistically possible.
Stoffel Vandoorne will be making his Hypercar debut in the #94 Peugeot 9X8 as Nico Müller is recovering from a collarbone injury. The Belgian has previously raced top class prototypes in the SMP LMP1 back in 2019.
Like in previous years, Glickenhaus will again be absent from the flyaway races at Fuji and Bahrain. Team owner Jim Glickenhaus previously said that more funding was needed for the team to continue competing in future championships, as their current financial situation does not leave enough funds for the necessary development and testing to stay competitive.
Down in LMP2 just 10 points separate the leading #41 WRT from the #34 Inter Europol in the standings, with the following competitors being more than a win away from the lead. Even the #34 will need some luck to climb to the top spot as its high position in the standings is mostly held up by their surprising victory at Le Mans, whereas in all other rounds it has generally lost out to the other frontrunners. This doesn’t mean WRT can take it easy however, as one bad result in the final two rounds could easily throw either of the United Autosports cars back into the fight.
Despite Corvette having already reeled in the championship, there is still plenty of action expected to come from GTE as always, especially since the several teams fighting for second and third are separated from each other by just a handful of points.
The #56 Project 1 - AO Porsche will be back in its beloved dinosaur livery known as Rexy after its absence at Monza, while its sister car in IMSA will be recoloured to pink as Roxy.
Current Super Formula driver Ritomo Miyata will be making his WEC debut for the #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari in place of Daniel Serra. As part of Toyota’s driver development program, Miyata will undoubtedly be watched with interest at his first home race.