Toyota Racing finished one-two at the FIA World Endurance Championship Six Hours of Fuji Sunday, with the #8 TS 040 Hybrid carrying drivers Sebastian Buemi and Anthony Davidson into the lead in the manufacturer’s championship and extending their lead in the drivers’ championship.
The #7 TS 040 of Kaz Nakajima and Alex Würz finished second, 26 seconds back but a full lap ahead of the third placed- finisher, the # 20 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Timo Bernhard and Brendan Hartley Mark Webber.
The #14 Porsche of Romain Dumas, Neel Jani, and Mark Lieb finished fourth ahead of the two Audi R18 e-tron quattros.
The Toyotas had the advantage in both speed and reliability. Even though Mark Webber set the race’s fastest lap at 1:27.759 in the #20 Porsche early in the race, both Porsches appeared to lose pace later in the race, possibly due to electrical malfunctions.
The Audis were ten mph down on the Porsches and Toyotas in top speed—though they had no mechanical issues, they also didn’t have the pace to contend.
Toyota’s dominance was unchallenged. Behind them Porsche and Audi battled for the final place on the podium. Tom Kristensen had edged the #1 Audi into third by pitting under yellow. Despite having had problems, both Porsches finished strong, with the #20 finishing a lap down, and the #14 two laps down, 16 seconds ahead of the #1 Audi.
The outcome was the best possible for Toyota—the team absolutely dominated at their home race (Toyota owns the track and its R&D center is right across the road) which will hopefully let the team squeeze a few more dollars out of the tight-fisted corporate management.
The team lost at Le Mans because of a two-dollar part failing, and at Circuit of the Americas were quickest until they were wiped out by the rain. At Fuji Toyota’s cars showed both pace and endurance, and the drivers and crews performed faultlessly.
