TOYOTA GAZOO Racing takes its battle for the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) titles to Japan when the season moves on to the finishing stretch with the 6 Hours of Fuji.
An epic contest for the World Championships between Ferrari, Porsche and TOYOTA GAZOO Racing arrives in Japan for the penultimate race of 2024 on Sunday 15 September, when a competitive field of 18 Hypercars takes on the challenge of Fuji Speedway.
Second place in the Lone Star Le Mans in Austin earlier this month moved the team to the top of the manufacturers’ standings as it targets its sixth consecutive crown. Porsche is 11 points behind and Ferrari eight further back, with only the Fuji race and a season finale in Bahrain on 2 November remaining.
Last year’s Fuji winners Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi, alongside Nyck de Vries, aim for a second win of 2024 to strengthen their World Championship chances. The #7 GR010 HYBRID finished a close second in Austin following a late penalty and those points brought Kamui and Nyck back into world title contention, just 12 points behind the #6 Porsche crew. Mike is playing a supporting role after missing Le Mans.
World Champions Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa won at Fuji in 2022 in their #8 GR010 HYBRID and they look to recover from their first non-scoring race of the year, after an accident and subsequent penalties ruined their chances last time out.
As reigning World Champions, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing has won nine of the ten WEC races in Japan since returning to top-level endurance racing in 2012, including a run of six consecutive victories since 2016, making Fuji Speedway the team’s most successful circuit.
The historic circuit, located around 100km west of Tokyo, is TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s home race, and the hybrid powertrain used in the GR010 HYBRID is designed, developed and built at the nearby Higashi-Fuji Technical Center,
The 2024-specification GR010 HYBRIDs get their first taste of Fuji Speedway on Friday 13 September when free practice begins with two 90-minute sessions, prior to a one-hour third practice on Saturday morning. The starting grid will be decided in qualifying and Hyperpole, which starts at 3pm local time (8am CEST) on Saturday. The Six Hours of Fuji starts at 11am (4am CEST) on Sunday.
