Toyota's No. 8 car converted pole into victory under the new success handicap, while Racing Team Nederland, Aston Martin and TF Sport took the three class wins.
Toyota's No. 8 car won the 2019 6 Hours of Fuji overall from pole position, finishing 34 seconds clear of its sister car. Racing Team Nederland, Aston Martin and TF Sport took the other three class wins, as the race counted toward round two of the 2019-20 WEC season.
Japan's Fuji Speedway staged the second round of the 2019-20 World Endurance Championship on 6 October 2019. It was the first big test of the success handicap, a balancing system introduced that season to rein in Toyota after its dominant run the year before.
How big was the field at Fuji?
The provisional entry list appeared on 5 September 2019 with 30 cars, one fewer than before, because the No. 3 Rebellion R13 ran only in selected rounds and sat out the flyaway races. A final list followed on 19 September.
Anthony Davidson and Alexandre Coigny were back in the lineup after injuries had kept them out at Silverstone. Oliver Jarvis replaced Paul Di Resta in the No. 22 United Autosports car, because Di Resta was committed to the DTM with R-Motorsport. David Heinemeier Hansson, who had sat out Silverstone while his child was born, came back to the No. 56 Team Project 1 car, which David Kolkmann had driven in the previous round.
A success handicap that slowed the Toyotas by seconds a lap still left the No. 8 car first across the line at Fuji.
What was the success handicap, and how did it reshape the cars?
The success handicap was a formula for the top prototype class. Its 0.008 coefficient was applied to the lap length and to the points gap to the last-placed LMP1 car, which produced a handicap measured in seconds per lap. Teams could feel that handicap as less hybrid power or extra weight.
The No. 7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid, which had won at Silverstone, was made 1.4 seconds slower per lap. Its hybrid deployment and fuel burn were both reduced, though its minimum weight of 932 kg stayed the same. The sister No. 8 car lost one second per lap but received 9.5 per cent more hybrid energy than the No. 7.
The No. 5 Ginetta G60-LT-P1, fourth at Silverstone, was slowed by 0.66 seconds per lap and gained 34 kg, rising from 833 kg to 867 kg. The No. 1 Rebellion lost only 0.03s per lap, and the No. 6 Ginetta carried no handicap because it was the reference car.
In the GTE Am class every car had its base weight cut by 20 kg before the ballast was added. The No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari, which had won at Silverstone, received the heaviest penalty at 30 kg, with 15 kg added for the race win and another 15 kg for championship leadership. The No. 98 Aston Martin carried 20 kg and the No. 70 MR Racing Ferrari 10 kg.
Who took pole for the 2019 race?
Qualifying was held after the third practice session, in two 20-minute sessions. The GTE classes went first, then the Le Mans Prototype cars. Each team had to nominate two drivers, and the grid was set by the average of their two fastest laps.
In the LMP1 session the No. 8 Toyota of Brendon Hartley and Kazuki Nakajima took pole on an average of 1:25.013, with the sister No. 7 car 0.79s slower. Kobayashi's best time was deleted after a red flag, and the No. 6 Ginetta was moved to the back of the class after a spin meant it could not set a lap. The privateer Rebellion of Gustavo Menezes and Norman Nato was third at 1:26.163, and the No. 5 Ginetta of Ben Hanley and Egor Orudzhev was fourth.
In LMP2 the No. 37 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca took its first pole of the season at 1:29.302, with Gabriel Aubry and Ho-Pin Tung driving. It was also the first WEC pole for Goodyear tyres. Filipe Albuquerque then set a late lap that moved the No. 22 United Autosports car up to second, and Anders Fjordbach's late effort brought the No. 33 High Class Racing car to fourth.
The LMGTE Pro class was separated by just half a second. Gianmaria Bruni and Richard Lietz put the No. 91 Porsche 911 RSR-19 on pole at 1:37.320, the car's first pole in only its second race. The No. 51 Ferrari trailed by just 0.041 seconds, and the No. 95 Aston Martin was third.
In LMGTE Am the original pole sitter, the No. 57 Team Project 1 Porsche, was disqualified after post-qualifying scrutineering found that a fastener was absent from one of its side doors. That moved TF Sport's Aston Martin onto pole at 1:38.821, with the No. 83 Ferrari second on the grid.
How did the Toyotas and Rebellion fight early on?
The first hour belonged to Toyota, which ran 1-2 at the front. Bruno Senna in the Rebellion briefly moved ahead of Kamui Kobayashi's No. 7 Toyota and held him off for about 20 minutes, with a late dive into turn three. Kobayashi repeatedly reclaimed the place on the long main straight, only for the Rebellion to draft past again.
That duel cost both drivers time against the leader, Sebastien Buemi in the No. 8 Toyota, who had built a clear lead on the opening stint. By the end of the first hour he led Kobayashi by 23 seconds, while the TS050s stayed clear of everyone else.
In GTE Pro the lead changed three times in the opening hour. Alessandro Pier Guidi took the lead on lap one, and Bruni re-passed him in the first half-hour. Marco Sorensen then moved the No. 95 Aston Martin to the front, with Maxime Martin and the Ferrari pair following close behind.
In GTE Am, Salih Yoluc of TF Sport built a near half-minute lead in the first hour. A safety car was needed on the first lap when Satoshi Hoshino made contact with the No. 98 Aston Martin at the chicane.
In LMP2 Giedo van der Garde took the Racing Team Nederland Oreca from seventh on the grid to the class lead. By the end of the hour he had a 23-second advantage over the High Class Racing car in second.
What changed the order in the middle hours?
In the fourth hour the leading No. 8 Toyota was handed a drive-through for speeding in the pit lane, cutting its lead over the No. 7 from 50 seconds to 24 seconds. The Toyota still won by 34 seconds, so the penalty did not change the result.
The impact of the success ballast was visible throughout. The No. 8 kept posting quicker laps than the No. 7, which had won at Silverstone. The No. 1 Rebellion, which had a much smaller handicap after its Silverstone finish, pressed the Toyotas early before fading to finish two laps behind the winner.
In LMP2 Racing Team Nederland took its first WEC class win. Frits van Eerd, Giedo van der Garde and Nyck de Vries came through a four-way fight against the Goodyear-shod Orecas of Jackie Chan DC Racing, Jota and High Class Racing. The team went to a different strategy in the last hour, and de Vries built up a 25-second gap over Anthony Davidson in the No. 38 Jota car.
Jackie Chan DC Racing finished third, High Class Racing fourth and the No. 22 United Autosports Oreca fifth. Both Ginetta G60s finished behind the LMP2 leaders: the No. 5 car fell 16 laps behind once its left-front brake gave out approaching the first-corner hairpin, and the No. 6 car received a six-minute stop-and-hold penalty.
How did the GTE classes finish?
In LMGTE Pro the No. 95 Aston Martin of Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim won, about 18 seconds ahead of the No. 92 Porsche after a controlled second half. In LMGTE Am, TF Sport's trio won by 33 seconds from the No. 83 AF Corse Ferrari.
Thiim had pushed the Aston Martin into the lead in the second hour with a clean pass on his teammate Alex Lynn in the other Aston Martin. The Aston Martins ran first and second in the middle stint until Maxime Martin lost 20 seconds in a gravel trap at turn one, which let the Porsche of Kevin Estre close the gap.
The AF Corse Ferraris struggled throughout. Pier Guidi and Calado finished fourth, one place ahead of their team-mates Rigon and Molina in the sister car, which had spent much of the race at the back. The No. 91 Porsche, which had started on pole, was given a drive-through for track limits and dropped behind the Ferraris at the flag.
In LMGTE Am the TF Sport car of Yoluc, Eastwood and Adam was virtually untouchable, often 50 seconds clear of second place. Keating worked his way up from the back of the field in the No. 57 Porsche, briefly taking second, before the order settled with the No. 83 Ferrari second and the No. 57 third.
What were the class results?
| Class | Winning car | Drivers | Margin or note |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMP1 | No. 8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid | Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima | Pole and win; 34 seconds ahead of the No. 7 |
| LMP2 | No. 29 Oreca 07, Racing Team Nederland | Nyck de Vries, Frits van Eerd, Giedo van der Garde | First WEC LMP2 class win for the team |
| LMGTE Pro | No. 95 Aston Martin Vantage GTE | Marco Sorensen, Nicki Thiim | About 18 seconds ahead of the No. 92 Porsche |
| LMGTE Am | No. 90 Aston Martin Vantage GTE, TF Sport | Jonathan Adam, Charlie Eastwood, Salih Yoluc | 33 seconds ahead of the No. 83 Ferrari |
What did the result mean for the teams?
The win gave Toyota a strong start to the title race. TF Sport recorded its first WEC race win, and Racing Team Nederland took its first class victory in the series.
Aston Martin's LMGTE Pro win was its first since the previous year's Shanghai race. De Vries, 24 years old, had recently been crowned FIA Formula 2 champion.
The race also showed how penalties could reshape results. The No. 57 Porsche started at the back after its disqualification, yet still finished third in its class, while the No. 91 Porsche lost ground for track limits.
