Round7

6 Hours of Fuji

Course: Fuji Speedway

Fuji Speedway
6 hours of Fuji podium

HOME WIN FOR TOYOTA GAZOO Racing

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing earned its first victory of the season on home ground in an epic 6 Hours of Fuji, the seventh round of the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).

In front of an enthusiastic Japanese crowd, all three LMP1 manufacturers showed near identical pace, but the #6 TS050 HYBRID of Stéphane Sarrazin, Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi came out on top after an enthralling battle.

The #6 crossed the line just 1.439secs ahead of the #8 Audi, bringing TOYOTA's 11th WEC win, its fourth in five years at Fuji and its first since Bahrain in November 2014. That result also lifts the #6 crew to second in the drivers' World Championship, 23 points off the lead.

Anthony Davidson, Sébastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima recorded their best result of a troubled season with fourth, within a minute of the winning sister car.

The tone for a tense and closely-fought race was set at the start. Kamui and Kazuki, having slipped to fourth and sixth respectively at turn one, fought back and at the first pit stops the #6 was running second while the #5 was fourth.

Fast work from the pit crew established the pattern for the race, with the #6, now with Mike the wheel, in a very close fight for the lead with the #8 Audi, while Anthony in the #5 was pushing for the podium.

As the race passed the half-distance point, there was no let up as all three LMP1 manufacturers ran flat-out for victory in a tense contest, which got even closer when the Porsche #1 joined the battle.

As the four-hour mark approached, less than two seconds covered the top three while the #5 was less than 30 seconds from the lead in fourth, with Kazuki pushing for the podium positions.

Stéphane enjoyed an exciting stint with wheel-to-wheel battles against the #8 Audi and #1 Porsche, all whilst coping with heavy traffic. When Kamui took over the #6 with just over 90 minutes remaining, he kept up the challenge, valiantly defending second place before targeting the leader.

The final stop for the #6 saw Kamui take only fuel, saving vital time and earning track position but requiring him to maintain the pace on older tyres. Kamui rose to the challenge during the tense final laps, with fine driving through the traffic. He crossed the line to win his first WEC race while Anthony took the flag shortly after in the #5.

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing will return to action next month with the penultimate race of the 2016 season, the 6 Hours of Shanghai on 6 November.

Toshio Sato, Team President

“This was a very tense and exciting race between all three LMP1 manufacturers; it was a six-hour sprint race. We could do no more; everyone in the team performed to the maximum today against such close competition. It was a clean fight, decided by speed on track and in the pits as well as strategy. All credit to Audi and Porsche for their part in this great show. I would like to thank everyone in the team for their great job to perform so strongly in our home race, as well as our colleagues at Higashi-Fuji and Cologne who worked so hard for this. Thank you also to all the fans who came to support us at Fuji Speedway; as always we have enjoyed racing in front of our home crowd.”

TS050 HYBRID #5 (Anthony Davidson, Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima)

Race: 4th, 244 laps, 6 pit stops. Grid: 3rd. Fastest lap: 1min 25.377secs

Anthony Davidson

“That is a fantastic result for the team as a whole; to win on home soil is amazing and it keeps up our impressive record here at Fuji Speedway. Unfortunately for car #5 we couldn't quite match the other car and join the guys on the podium. I had fun while I was out there and it's always a pleasure to race in front of these fans. I hope they enjoyed a well-deserved victory for car #6.”

Sébastien Buemi

“Congratulations to the team for this victory at our home track. The #6 crew drove a really good race and they deserved to win. It was the best result of the season for our car but we were not as strong as we wanted to be; we did our best but we just missed a bit. Still, for the team it's nice to be back to winning ways and this gives a lot of encouragement for the final two races.”

Kazuki Nakajima

“First of all this is a great result for TOYOTA. It is the first victory in a while which is fantastic for everyone. For our car it was a difficult race especially in the beginning when we lost some time, mainly in traffic. After that we had good pace, similar to the leaders but not enough to close the gap. I am quite happy with the team's progress because we stepped up a level here. I am also really pleased for the Japanese fans, our TOYOTA colleagues and our sponsors; they saw a great race.”

TS050 HYBRID #6 (Stéphane Sarrazin, Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi)

Race: 1st, 244 laps, 6 pit stops. Grid: 4th. Fastest lap: 1min 25.320secs

Stéphane Sarrazin

“It's an amazing result for us in our home race. After Le Mans this is the most important event for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing and we gave everything. It was an incredible race from the whole team; Mike did really well and Kamui was just flying. I had some traffic issues on my two stints so it wasn't perfect but overall we had the pace which is very positive. We hoped to be competitive here and I am so happy for my team and our fans with this result.”

Mike Conway

“This feels really good. We came into the weekend feeling optimistic and thought we had a chance. In the race it was so close all the way through with barely a 10th of a second between the cars each lap. It was so tense and the last hour felt like six! Kamui was a star with the double stint at the end. We were not sure how it would go but he did really well. The team also did a brilliant job and made up time in the pits and with our strategy; that was a big part of this win today.”

Kamui Kobayashi

“Everyone in the team performed so well; they really deserve this. After qualifying we had a positive feeling and we did everything to get a win in our home race. So to get this result in front of our local fans and our colleagues from TOYOTA makes us very happy; I would like to say thanks for their big support. Actually, it is still difficult to believe we did it; we worked so hard for this. It was a really tough race. The double stint at the end was a risk but we were only focused on the victory and now this feels great, just perfect.”

  • Start
  • TS050 HYBRID #6 vs Porsche #1
  • Finish
  • Kamui Kobayashi and Kazuki Nakajima and Alex Wurz
  • Kazuki Nakajima
  • Kamui Kobayashi

RACE RESULTS

Pos Cat Driver Car T Laps Total Time Gap Gap Prev. Best lap Best time Best speed
1 6 LMP1 Stéphane SARRAZIN, Mike CONWAY, Kamui KOBAYASHI Toyota TS050 - Hybrid M 244 6:00'37.284 3 1'25.320 192.5
2 8 LMP1 Lucas DI GRASSI, Loïc DUVAL, Oliver JARVIS Audi R18 M 244 6:00'38.723 1.439 1.439 212 1'24.645 194.1
3 1 LMP1 Timo BERNHARD, Mark WEBBER, Brendon HARTLEY Porsche 919 Hybrid M 244 6:00'54.623 17.339 15.900 6 1'25.311 192.6
4 5 LMP1 Anthony DAVIDSON, Sébastien BUEMI, Kazuki NAKAJIMA Toyota TS050 - Hybrid M 244 6:01'31.063 53.779 36.440 4 1'25.377 192.4
5 2 LMP1 Romain DUMAS, Neel JANI, Marc LIEB Porsche 919 Hybrid M 243 6:00'47.939 1 Laps 1 Laps 204 1'25.473 192.2
6 13 LMP1 Mathéo TUSCHER, Dominik KRAIHAMER, Alexandre IMPERATORI Rebellion R-One - AER D 229 6:00'51.150 15 Laps 14 Laps 111 1'29.901 182.7
7 26 LMP2 Roman RUSINOV, Alex BRUNDLE, Will STEVENS Oreca 05 - Nissan D 223 6:00'54.127 21 Laps 6 Laps 4 1'33.011 176.6
8 43 LMP2 Ricardo GONZALEZ, Filipe ALBUQUERQUE, Bruno SENNA LIGIER JS P2 - Nissan D 223 6:00'55.525 21 Laps 1.398 5 1'32.968 176.7
9 36 LMP2 Gustavo MENEZES, Nicolas LAPIERRE, Stéphane RICHELMI Alpine A460 - Nissan D 223 6:01'21.750 21 Laps 26.225 3 1'33.361 175.9
10 30 LMP2 Antonio GIOVINAZZI, Giedo VAN DER GARDE, Sean GELAEL LIGIER JS P2 - Nissan D 223 6:01'45.443 21 Laps 23.693 10 1'33.245 176.2
11 31 LMP2 Ryan DALZIEL, Luis Felipe DERANI, Christopher CUMMING LIGIER JS P2 - Nissan D 222 6:00'38.760 22 Laps 1 Laps 194 1'33.354 176.0
12 42 LMP2 Jonny KANE, Lewis WILLIAMSON, Gibson 015S - Nissan D 222 6:00'45.600 22 Laps 6.840 9 1'33.910 174.9
13 44 LMP2 Matthew RAO, Richard BRADLEY, Roberto MERHI Oreca 05 - Nissan D 222 6:01'05.157 22 Laps 19.557 135 1'33.450 175.8
14 27 LMP2 Nicolas MINASSIAN, Maurizio MEDIANI, Mikhail ALESHIN BR01 - Nissan D 222 6:01'45.418 22 Laps 40.261 8 1'34.159 174.5
15 35 LMP2 David CHENG, Ho-Pin TUNG, Paul Loup CHATIN Alpine A460 - Nissan D 221 6:01'58.848 23 Laps 1 Laps 214 1'33.214 176.2
16 37 LMP2 Vitaly PETROV, Kirill LADYGIN, Victor SHAITAR BR01 - Nissan D 220 6:01'33.739 24 Laps 1 Laps 8 1'34.002 174.7
17 67 LMGTE Pro Andy PRIAULX, Harry TINCKNELL, Ford GT M 212 6:00'54.068 32 Laps 8 Laps 5 1'38.575 166.6
18 66 LMGTE Pro Stefan MÜCKE, Olivier PLA, Ford GT M 212 6:01'09.574 32 Laps 15.506 6 1'38.712 166.4
19 51 LMGTE Pro Gianmaria BRUNI, James CALADO, Ferrari 488 GTE M 212 6:01'35.208 32 Laps 25.634 5 1'39.096 165.8
20 71 LMGTE Pro Davide RIGON, Sam BIRD, Ferrari 488 GTE M 212 6:01'43.343 32 Laps 8.135 192 1'38.994 165.9
21 95 LMGTE Pro Nicki THIIM, Marco SØRENSEN, Aston Martin Vantage V8 D 211 6:00'40.553 33 Laps 1 Laps 5 1'39.169 165.6
22 97 LMGTE Pro Richie STANAWAY, Darren TURNER, Aston Martin Vantage V8 D 211 6:01'42.967 33 Laps 1'02.414 188 1'39.463 165.2
23 77 LMGTE Pro Richard LIETZ, Michael CHRISTENSEN, Porsche 911 RSR (2016) M 210 6:00'39.697 34 Laps 1 Laps 4 1'39.672 164.8
24 98 LMGTE Am Paul DALLA LANA, Pedro LAMY, Mathias LAUDA Aston Martin Vantage V8 M 208 6:00'52.206 36 Laps 2 Laps 5 1'40.052 164.2
25 83 LMGTE Am François PERRODO, Emmanuel COLLARD, Rui AGUAS Ferrari F458 Italia M 207 6:01'15.242 37 Laps 1 Laps 5 1'40.427 163.6
26 78 LMGTE Am Christian RIED, Wolf HENZLER, Joël CAMATHIAS Porsche 911 RSR M 206 6:01'02.238 38 Laps 1 Laps 175 1'40.910 162.8
27 86 LMGTE Am Michael WAINWRIGHT, Adam CARROLL, Ben BARKER Porsche 911 RSR M 205 6:01'08.259 39 Laps 1 Laps 3 1'40.722 163.1
28 88 LMGTE Am Khaled AL QUBAISI, David HEINEMEIER HANSSON, Patrick LONG Porsche 911 RSR M 200 6:02'08.554 44 Laps 5 Laps 169 1'41.589 161.7
29 45 LMP2 Tor GRAVES, Alex LYNN, Shinji NAKANO Oreca 05 - Nissan D 190 6:00'56.348 54 Laps 10 Laps 164 1'32.948 176.7
30 50 LMGTE Am Yutaka YAMAGISHI, Pierre RAGUES, Ricky TAYLOR Chevrolet Corvette C7-Z06 M 172 6:01'58.170 72 Laps 18 Laps 4 1'40.340 163.7
31 4 LMP1 Simon TRUMMER, Oliver WEBB, Pierre KAFFER CLM P1/01 - AER D 79 2:06'47.385 165 Laps 93 Laps 3 1'30.658 181.2
32 7 LMP1 Marcel FÄSSLER, André LOTTERER, Benoît TRÉLUYER Audi R18 M 36 2:14'59.874 208 Laps 43 Laps 4 1'25.476 192.2

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