6 Hours of Fuji: the prospects before the race

A 7th different winner in seven races?

In Austin, two weeks ago, the Toyota No.7 came close to becoming the first team (Kobayashi/De Vries/Conway) to win two races this season. But the “private” Ferrari No.63 stole the show. The trio Kubica/Ye/Shwartzman thus claimed their first overall victory, becoming the 6th winner in as many rounds.

Necessarily, the candidates are not lacking to try to maintain this historic variety: the Porsches, whether official or Jota, are capable of playing leading roles; Ferrari No. 51 is the only one of the three Maranello machines that has not yet won; and Cadillac, on a good day, can threaten the headliners.

The two BMWs appeared in good shape in Austin, even though they eventually couldn’t keep up with the leaders’ pace. It is difficult to imagine Alpine achieving a feat, let alone Peugeot, in a fair manner. However, the former showed that beautiful things were possible.

Alpine on its way?

The Top 5 achieved in Austin by the Alpine No. 35 (Habsburg/Milesi/Chatin) was a breath of fresh air, after the huge disappointment of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The car seems to be performing better and better and still needs to find more performance to keep up with the pace.

Fuji Speedway has several similarities with the Texan circuit: a long straight, fast corners, and a very twisty section. But beware of the weather: the Mount Fuji region is very mountainous and the weather can change from sunny to rainy in no time.

Numbers 36 and 35 could finally succeed in making a double entry into the Top 10, to materialize their efforts. But Paul-Loup Chatin, on the number 35, will not be part of the journey: the Dieppe brand has replaced him with the very satisfactory Jules Gounon, who had driven at Imola and Spa. Who knows?

LMGT3: a title that could possibly be awarded

The LMGT3 championship is also very lively and confirms that this formula is a worthy replacement for the LMGTE.

The battle for the driver’s title concerns the two Porsche from Manthey Racing in particular: car N°92 from Pure Racing is in the lead with 118 points, while EMA’s car, N°91, has 90 points. Mathematically, there are still four crews who can potentially become champions this season.

Besides the two Porsches, the WRT BMW #31 is 3rd with a 34-point gap, followed by the Heart of Racing Aston Martin #27, which has 37 points. Before Fuji, there are 65 points to be awarded: 25 points for the 6 Hours victory, 38 for the 8 Hours of Bahrain, plus the point for the pole position each time.

This means that Porsche N°92 will have to have at least a 40-point lead over N°91 at the end of the Japanese meeting. Because if, in Bahrain, the latter gets pole position and wins, it would not be enough to tie points, which would apparently be in its favor. The reason being: it won Le Mans this year and has, like N°92, two victories. This scenario does not rule out a complete turnaround. For the others.

An Hypercar championship that is intensifying

Porsche N°6 has never left the top of the championship since the first round in Losail. And it was not for lack of trying for its rivals to dethrone it.

Before reaching Fuji, the trio Estre/Lotterer/Laurens Vanthoor has 125 points. With a very small lead of twelve points over Toyota No. 7 and Ferrari No. 50, winner of Le Mans. And everyone is hoping for a dream finale in Bahrain!

The title, whatever happens, will not be decided at Fuji: even with a perfect score (pole position and victory, 25+1) and an abandonment of its rivals, Porsche No. 6 would have “only” 38 points ahead. This would be insufficient, as pole position and victory in Bahrain would bring 39 points.

Note that Mike Conway, in the Toyota No. 7, will not be able to be world champion among drivers: he missed Le Mans this year and, as a result, does not have the same number of points as his teammates.