This weekend, the FIA WEC reaches a major milestone, as the 2025 6 Hours of Fuji is the championship’s 100th race. And it’s a race that comes at a significant time for both the present and future of the ACO’s globetrotting series.
Held with key discussions concerning the future of the Hypercar ruleset ongoing in the background, Sunday’s encounter is set to be critical for the championship fights in both categories.
Looking at the top class, for the first time since Toyota began its six-year reign, the balance of power in the Manufacturers’ standings looks set to change hands. Ferrari’s consistent form with the 499P through the first half of the campaign has given the Prancing Horse a clear advantage, and mathematically, the title could be sealed in the shadow of Mount Fuji.
Yet Porsche’s revival in Texas – with Kévin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Matt Campbell steering the #6 Penske 963 to its first victory of 2025 – keeps the fight alive. The German marque is aiming to repeat its 2024 Fuji triumph to delay Ferrari’s coronation, while Toyota, winless in six races and desperate to deliver for its home crowd, knows it must break its longest-ever podium drought to salvage pride from a difficult season.
The Hypercar Drivers’ Championship, meanwhile, has essentially narrowed into a duel between two Ferrari crews. The factory #51 AF Corse crew of James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi lead, but the privately-entered #83 499P is just 15 points adrift.
However, with 65 points still on the table, Porsche’s Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor cannot be ignored, as they are 36 points back following their Lone Star Le Mans Triumph and Ferrari’s #50 crew and Cadillac’s #12 trio are a further four and seven points back, respectively. If there is major drama for the leading cars, then a window of opportunity will open up.
What impact will the BoP have on the formbook in Japan? The changes for this race are pretty minor across the board. For Porsche, its 963s have been granted a 2 KW power increase below 250 kph, and Ferrari (and Toyota) will race with the heaviest cars, at 1069 Kg.
And there will be plenty of eyes on Toyota for its home race. The Japanese team, off the back of another dismal display, this time in Austin, will be desperate to claim its first win of 2025. And what better place to do it than on home turf, on a circuit which it has won at nine times since the WEC’s first season in 2012.
As it stands, the team is set to welcome Mike Conway back in the fold after the Briton missed out on the CoTA weekend due to injury. There, he was replaced by José María López in the #7 GR010, who is due to move back to LMGT3 and retake his seat in AKKODIS ASP’s #87 Lexus.
Elsewhere on the driver news front, the #5 Porsche line-up sees Mathieu Jaminet team up with Julien Andlauer for his fifth start of the season.
The Frenchman is racing in place of Michael Christensen, who has clashing testing commitments with AO Racing in the USA this week ahead of the IMSA finale. It will be the first time the Dane has been absent from a WEC meeting since 2021.
And at Peugeot, it’s a farewell event for Stoffel Vandoorne, who will depart the team following Sunday’s race.
In Bahrain, Theo Pourchaire will take his place for his Hypercar debut in the #94 9X8. That’s a story for the future. For now, Peugeot and Vandoorne will be eyeing a strong result, following a highly encouraging outing for the team at CoTA, in which its cars finished third and fourth overall.
Peugeot’s rivals at Alpine will too. CoTA proved a tough nut to crack for the A424s this year, with neither car finishing in the top 10 after a treacherous six hours of racing in tough conditions. However, a six KW increase in power below 250 kph and a 0.6 per cent gain in power above 250 kph may serve as a welcome boost for Les Bleus as they look to master the Fuji Speedway circuit and its 1.5 km pit straight and seize some late-season momentum.
Shifting focus to LMGT3 and it’s a fight that looks open, as four different marques – Ferrari, Porsche, Lexus and most recently, McLaren – have taken wins in the past four races. Should another brand strike at Fuji, it would mark the first time in FIA WEC history that five different manufacturers have won consecutively in GT competition.
The #54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari, which lost its victory at CoTA with a post-race penalty, returns eager for redemption, while Manthey will look to repeat the Porsche squad’s championship-clinching performance at Fuji last year with its 1st Phorm #92 car.
Aston Martin, tied with Ferrari as the most successful GT brand at the track, will hope to tilt the balance back in its favour, while Marino Sato carries the hopes of the home fans fresh from his maiden FIA WEC win with United Autosports and McLaren.
In the points standings, Ryan Hardwick, Richard Lietz, and Riccardo Pera still lead the way despite finishing seventh in Texas, in part because their title rivals endured miserable outings, scoring zero points.
Vista AF Corse’s #21 crew are 19 points back, while TF Sport’s hopefuls in the #33 Corvette are 29 off the lead and in desperate need of a strong finish, having failed to finish on the podium since the first round of the season, which they won.
In terms of BoP, there’s a handful of changes to note across the field, including a 15 kg weight increase for the Ford Mustangs and an additional eight kilos for the BMWs. As for the success handicap table, the #92 Manthey Porsche, #87 AKKODIS ASP Lexus, and #95 United Autosports McLaren will carry the most additional ballast, 18 kilograms each.
Also of note is the tyre selection for this race in the class, as Goodyear welcomes back the Eagle Medium (yellow labelled) compound for its final appearance of the season, following two outings for the new-for-2025 Eagle Hard (red labelled).
Sunday’s race is scheduled to begin at 11:00 local time in Japan.
