The number 7 Toyota GR010 of Kobayashi, Conway and Lopez and number 8 of Hartley, Buemi and Hirakawa scored a double on Sunday at the 6 Hours of Fuji, Japan, allowing the Japanese brand to win the manufacturers’ title in the world championship. endurance (WEC), while the victory of the Finnish Kalle Rovanperä at the Greece rally brings the Japanese brand closer to a third consecutive manufacturers’ world title in the WRC. This is the fourth victory of the WEC season for the number 7 Toyota, after the 1000 Miles of Sebring, the 6 Hours of Spa and the 6 Hours of Monza, illustrating the hegemony in the WEC of the Japanese manufacturer, which takes the sixth title in its history, the fifth in a row.

The number 6 Porsche, qualified behind the two Toyotas on the grid, took the third step of the podium, less than a minute after the 229 laps completed by the winners. Its experienced European crew (Kevin Estre, André Lotterer, Laurens Vanthoor) spiced up the first hours of the race, taking the lead and fighting to keep it, before letting go to the Toyotas. The number 50 and number 51 Ferraris finished in that order at the foot of the podium, one lap behind. The Peugeot 9x8s suffered and finished far from third place at the 6 Hours of Monza at the beginning of July: the number 94 was relegated to one lap and the number 93 to two laps. The next race, the 7th and final of the season, will take place on November 4 during the 8 Hours of Bahrain. It will make it possible to decide between the crews of the number 7 and number 8 Toyotas, practically tied in the drivers’ world championship.

Classification of the Six Hours of Fuji, 6th round of the WEC World Endurance Championship

1. Toyota Gazoo Racing number 7 (Kamui Kobayashi/Mike Conway/José Maria Lopez), 229 laps in 6h01min17sec551/1000th

2. Toyota Gazoo Racing number 8 (Sébastien Buemi/Brendon Hartley/Rio Harakawa) at 39 sec 119/1,000th

3. Porsche-Penske number 6 (André Lotterer/Kevin Estre/Laurens Vanthoor) at 47 sec 768/1,000

4. Ferrari AF Corse number 50 (Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen) at one lap

5. Ferrari AF Corse number 51 (Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi) one lap away