TOYOTA GAZOO Racing faced a challenging home race in the penultimate round of the WEC season. The 6 Hours of Fuji, held in Japan on Sunday, October 27, ended with the Toyota GR010 HYBRID number 7, driven by Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway, and Nyck de Vries, finishing in eighth place, while the hypercar number 8, driven by Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, and Ryo Hirakawa, closed the competition in 16th place.
In front of a crowd of 66,400 people at the Fuji circuit, the team of car number 7 even took the lead halfway through the competition in their home race, but a Safety Car entry came at a high cost for the trio composed of Kobayashi, Conway, and De Vries, who still had time to advance in the pack and finish in eighth place.
Buemi, Hartley, and Hirakawa had a more complicated race. In the early minutes, a touch from a competitor caused a pit stop under a yellow flag, changing the right rear tire and dropping to 17th place. Later, an infraction cost an additional three minutes in the pits, causing the team of car number 8 to lose two laps compared to the leaders.
“This wasn’t what we wanted from our home race. We gave it our best, but unfortunately, the Safety Car hurt us a lot. We were fighting at the front until that moment. I tried to recover positions after that, and I think eighth place was the best we could achieve from there,” said Kamui Kobayashi, driver and chief of TOYOTA GAZOO Racing in the WEC.
“As a team, we did everything we could. We had difficulties in terms of performance, so we need to learn from this experience. The final race of the season is next, and I want to get on the podium. I sincerely hope we can win to end this difficult year on a positive note. We will do our best to achieve that,” added Kobayashi.
The final round of the 2025 WEC season will take place on November 8, with the 8 Hours of Bahrain, a race scheduled for the Sakhir circuit.
