Toyota wins a new team championship
Thanks to its victory at the 6 Hours of Fuji, Toyota secures the manufacturers' title for the fifth consecutive year, with one more round remaining on the calendar.
They are unbeatable at Fuji. The Toyota drivers have achieved a new victory on the Japanese track. Since 2012 and the manufacturer’s return to WEC, the Aichi brand has garnered nine wins out of ten events here.
However, this victory was hard-fought to obtain. Despite locking out the front row in qualifying, the GR010s were caught out. Mike Conway (Number 7) was pushed back to third place by the official Porsche Number 6 and Sébastien Buémi (Number 8) dropped to sixth place after being hit by Ferrari Number 50 in the chaotic first corner.
Takeover after five hours
After a long neutralization period, the two Japanese cars started their comeback. After five hours of racing, Brendon Harley, in car number 8, finally took the lead, at the expense of Porsche number 6. Kamui Kobayashi, in the second Hypercar, followed suit before overtaking the New Zealander as well.
The comeback of the two Toyotas resulted in another one-two finish, at home.
« The race was challenging, especially after the start where we lost a few positions. It is very difficult to overtake Hypercars here and it was also hard to pass the other cars, but we managed the situation well, we did what we had to do and the team really helped the drivers. We are very happy to win the home title », says Kamui Kobayashi, driver of number 7.
Focused on the drivers title
From now on, it’s a battle for the drivers’ title that will be played between the two Japanese teams. At the moment, the advantage is in favor of team number 8.
“It’s fantastic to win the constructors’ title and our result is also good for the drivers’ championship. There’s only one race left to compete and I hope we can achieve the same result in Bahrain,” says Ryo Hirakawa, on board number 8.
This will be decided during the 8 hours of Bahrain, on November 5th.
