Fuji often throws up the unexpected, whether in on-track action, paddock rumour, or just the weather! It remains one of the favourite venues of the season for the WEC family, a large and passionate fanbase, racing tradition and a stage of the season where Championships will be defined.
LMP1: 9 Cars
1 Toyota Racing Anthony Davidson Sébastien Buemi Kazuki Nakajima Toyota TS 040 Hybrid
2 Toyota Racing Alexander Wurz Stéphane Sarrazin Mike Conway Toyota TS 040 Hybrid
4 ByKolles Racing Simon Trummer Pierre Kaffer CLM P1/01 AER
7 Audi Sport Team Joest Marcel Fässler André Lotterer Benoît Tréluyer Audi R18 e-tron quattro
8 Audi Sport Team Joest Lucas Di Grassi Loïc Duval Oliver Jarvis Audi R18 e-tron quattro
12 Rebellion Racing Nicolas Prost Nick Heidfeld Mathias Beche Rebellion R-One AER
13 Rebellion Racing Daniel Abt Alexander Imperatori Dominik Kraihamer Rebellion R-One AER
17 Porsche AG Timo Bernhard Mark Webber Brendon Hartley Porsche 919 Hybrid
18 Porsche AG Romain Dumas Neel Jani Marc Lieb Porsche 919 Hybrid
No change to the LMP1 field since CoTA aside from the Formula E cup-tied Nick Heidfeld being absent in Japan and China.
We wait to see in which configuration the Porsche in particular appears.
We wait too to see whether the long, long straight of Fuji International Speedway might play a part in proceedings. The Audis have been closer in such circumstances at Spa and Le Mans but the Porsches have taken a step forward since then.
Either way the result could be a defining moment for the 2016 Championships with the topsy turvy nature of Porsche’s season still seeing the #7 Audi crew holding a points advantage, albeit clawed back now to just ten points from the #17 Porsche crew after their recent run of race winning form with the #18 Porsche crew a way further back 35.5 points back from the Championship leaders.
The Manufacturers title battle by contrast has Porsche 36 points ahead, this courtesy of both cars scoring good points regularly whilst the #8 Audi has, frankly, thus far underperformed.
Toyota are way back, 119 points from Porsche and racing for development time and pride.
Bizarrely we have a battle on in LMP1 Privateer, poor reliability for both Rebellions and a pair of wins for ByKolles see the three cars separated by just 19 points, and the rebellions by just a single point with the #12 crew just ahead of its sister R-One. It genuinely is all to play for here with reliability again likely to be the defining factor.
ByKolles will be hoping for no return to the dramas here with the car, then still under its previous Lotus moniker, suffering a terrible fire from which Christophe Bouchut was lucky to lose only his eyebrows!
LMP2: 8 Cars
26 G-Drive Racing Roman Rusinov Julien Canal Sam Bird Ligier JS P2 Nissan
28 G-Drive Racing Gustavo Yacaman Luis Felipe Derani Ricardo Gonzalez Ligier JS P2 Nissan
30 Extreme Speed Motorsports Scott Sharp Ryan Dalziel David Heinemeier-Hansson Ligier JS P2 Honda
31 Extreme Speed Motorsports Ed Brown Jon Fogarty Johannes van Overbeek Ligier JS P2 Honda
36 Signatech Alpine Nelson Panciatici Paul Loup Chatin Vincent Capillaire Alpine A450B Nissan
42 Strakka Racing Nick Leventis Danny Watts Jonny Kane Gibson 015S Nissan
43 SARD Morand Racing Oliver Webb Pierre Ragues Chris Cumming Morgan Evo Nissan
47 KCMG Matthew Howson Richard Bradley Nick Tandy Oreca 05 Nissan
A couple of changes in the LMP2 driver line-ups – Chris Cumming steps in to replace Archie Hamilton in the SARD Morand Morgan and after winning at Petit Le Mans last week, Nick Tandy will be looking for yet another win this year as he rejoins the Championship leading KCMG Oreca Nissan crew.
The result in Texas saw the Championship battle close up with the #26 G-Drive Ligier finally finding form, a fighting second place for the KCMG boys though see them still ahead, 14 points the gap.
Just 4 points behind the #26 is the sister #28 G-Drive Ligier Nissan and the intra-team fight has been great to watch this season – There will be NO team orders here unless and until this fight goes to the wire.
The mark of the supremacy of this trio atop the order means that there is mathematically already no possibility of a Championship win for almost all of the rest of the class field, a combination of front of the field pace and middle order incident and unreliability have taken their toll.
There are though several cars that are long overdue a good result including the usually quick Signatech Alpine, Strakka’s rapid but unfortunate Gibson Nissan and the #30 Tequila Patron ESM Ligier HPD, always worth a look, particularly when in the hands of Ryan Dalziel.
The #43 SARD Morand Morgan Judd has been in the mix on occasion, but the addition of a new and untried team-mate and a circuit that should suit the coupes means they’ll need some good fortune to get to the podium here.
