The sixth round of the Endurance World Championship, held this Sunday (28), in Fuji, made history. In a race full of twists and turns, Alpine achieved its first victory in the Hypercar era, while TF Sport shone in LMGT3 after a dramatic finish in the last lap.
The start was dominated by Cadillac, which had made a one-two finish in qualifying with Team JOTA. Will Stevens started strong with car #12 and opened a consistent gap over the competition, maintaining control until the first safety car intervention.
After the restart, the balance began to appear. The Peugeot #93, driven by Paul di Resta, and the Ferrari #51, with Antonio Giovinazzi, overtook the Cadillac #38 of Bourdais, showing the strength of different manufacturers at the beginning of the test.
But the turning point came still in the second hour, when Raffaele Marciello lost control of his BMW #15 and crashed hard into the guardrail. Although he emerged unscathed, the accident generated a period of virtual safety car that completely shuffled the order.
Proton Competition benefited from this, with the Porsche #99 taking the lead with Nico Varrone after the pit stop round. However, the car did not resist the pressure and was overtaken by Jean-Éric Vergne in the Peugeot #93, who took the lead with a firm move in Fuji.
The race remained unpredictable. In the fourth hour, an accident between the Aston Martin Valkyrie #007 of Tom Gamble and the Aston Martin LMGT3 of Heart of Racing brought a new neutralization. Once again, the strategy in the pits changed the landscape, leaving Peugeot and Alpine in a position of prominence.
While Vergne continued strong, the Alpine #35, then with Charles Milesi, took advantage of the sequence of pit stops under the yellow flag to position itself for an attack. The Frenchman took over the car after a relay with Paul-Loup Chatin and Ferdinand Habsburg, maintaining a competitive pace.
Toyota, the traditional favorite at home, failed to impose itself. Car #7, with Kamui Kobayashi, even managed to figure in the leading pack, but strategic problems and penalties pushed it out of the running for the top positions.
The same applied to Ferrari. The #51, leader of the championship, suffered from penalties for exceeding track limits and lost ground, finishing outside the points zone and seeing its advantage in the standings significantly reduced.
In the final part, the battle for victory was restricted to Alpine, Peugeot, and Porsche Penske. The #6 of the German team even threatened, but suffered from a drive-through and then opted to change only two tires in the last pit stop. This strategy opened the door for Milesi to take the lead.
With more balanced tires, the Frenchman took off in the lead and was not caught again. The victory was secured with a 7.6-second advantage over the Peugeot #93, guaranteeing Alpine the first triumph in the history of the A424 prototype in the WEC.
The podium was completed by the Porsche #6 of Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor, an important result in the title fight, as Ferrari let precious points slip away. The championship now heads to Bahrain with only 21 points separating the leaders.
Among the LMGT3, the dispute was just as exciting. The United Autosports McLaren dominated the initial part, but the test changed course with the various neutralizations. In the end, the victory fell to TF Sport, with the Corvette #81 inheriting the triumph after a five-second penalty for the Ferrari #21 of AF Corse.
The outcome was dramatic: the Ferrari crossed the finish line in first, but the addition of the penalty relegated it, allowing Charlie Eastwood, Rui Andrade, and Tom van Rompuy to celebrate TF Sport’s second victory of the season.
For Brazil, the race also brought reasons to highlight. Augusto Farfus, alongside Yasser Shahin and Timur Boguslavskiy, took the BMW #31 of WRT to the podium in LMGT3, finishing third even after a collision at the end with the winning Corvette. The consistency of the crew kept the car in the fight.
Dudu Barrichello, on the other hand, had an important learning weekend in Fuji, but with a bitter ending. The young driver, who started from pole position for the second time in his first complete season in international endurance racing, had engine problems and was unable to complete the test with the Aston Martin #10 of Racing Spirit of Leman.
