FIA-WEC Six Hours of Fuji 2014 Hybrid Race Action

Toyota extends driver point lead and takes over Manufacturer point lead, Porsche finishes on the podium, while Audi has disappointing results.

Wayne Gerdes - CleanMPG - Oct. 12, 2014



Toyota at the 2014 6 Hours of Fuji – Eventual second place finisher, #7 Toyota TS040 Hybrid driven by (Alex Wurz, Stéphane Sarrazin, Kazuki Nakajima) completed 236 laps with 6 pit stops. Fastest lap: 1min 27.887 secs.



Oyama, Suntō District, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan -- The Fuji Speedway is located in the foothills of iconic Mount Fuji. It was built in the early 1960s and hosted the first Formula One race in Japan back in 1976. In 2000, the track was acquired by Toyota. Its claim to fame? Not only is its location beneath a global attraction in the form of Mount Fuji, it is known for the longest straights in racing at 0.93 miles in length, almost a third of its 2.835 total length.



Six Hours of Fuji Qualifying



Toyota Racing scored its third consecutive pole position thanks to an exciting climax to qualifying for the Six Hours of Fuji, earning a vital FIA World Endurance Championship point in the process.



Anthony Davidson and Sébastien Buemi, in the #8 TS040 Hybrid, grabbed pole by 0.043secs in the final moments of qualifying to extend their advantage in the Drivers’ World Championship to 12 points.



The #7 car has won this race for each of the last two seasons and will be battling for the title. Alex Wurz and Kazuki Nakajima, who share the car with Stéphane Sarrazin, earned fourth in qualifying.



The WEC qualifying format requires two drivers from each car to set a minimum of two flying laps each. The grid is decided by the combined average of each driver’s fastest two laps.



Alex and Anthony both delayed their start of qualifying in order to find a clear track and that decision paid off as they battled for top position, with Anthony ultimately setting the fastest lap of the session on his first flying lap.



On the very last lap of qualifying, Sébastien overturned a slight deficit to take Toyota Racing’s fourth pole in five races this season.



A trouble free session saw Anthony set the fastest lap of the session, while Stéphane put the #7 in fourth.



Porsche and the 919 Hybrid earned a front row position for the fourth time this year.



The two Porsche 919 Hybrids started the Six Hours of Fuji from second and third place on the grid. This means the Porsche Team has managed to get onto the front row for the fourth time in what is only its fifth race with the innovative Le Mans Prototype.



Neel Jani and Marc Lieb took over qualifying duties in car number 14, while Timo Bernhard and Mark Webber shared the number 20 Porsche 919 Hybrid for the session. In the end the average lap time of car number 20 (1:26.929 minutes) was only 0.043 seconds away from the #8 Toyota Hybrid on the pole. The average lap time of the third placed number 14 Porsche Hybrid car was 1:27.306 minutes.



Earlier in the morning, free practice three had also been a smooth session for the Porsche Team seeing car number 20 coming second (1:27.300) and car number 14 finishing third (1:27.764), covering 26 and 31 laps respectively.



Audi was not as fortunate as it achieved grid positions five and six in qualifying at Fuji.



Audi knew that a challenging task had to be mastered in qualifying on the 2.835 mile track. The shortfall was especially felt on that 0.9 mile straightaway where the gasoline hybrid powered Toyota and Porsche race cars simply had more HP and higher top speeds.



The #2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro driven by André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer achieved an average time of 1m 28.118s. As a result, the Le Mans winners were slotted in fifth on the starting grid. Their team-mates Loïc Duval and Tom Kristensen in the sister car were 0.047 of a second slower on the average of their four best laps. Consequently, #1 car began the race from the sixth slot. The fastest single lap of an Audi driver was achieved by André Lotterer setting a time of 1m 27.605s.

6 Hours of Fuji Racing Action

Toyota Racing maintained its unbeaten record on home ground with a dominant one lap margin one-two victory in the Six Hours of Fuji during the fifth round of the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship.



The team scored a third consecutive win in the event thanks to the #8 TS040 Hybrid of Anthony Davidson and Sébastien Buemi, who extend their lead in the drivers’ World Championship.



A perfect day for the team saw the #7, winner in Fuji for the past two seasons, finish close behind in second, with Alex Wurz, Stéphane Sarrazin and Kazuki Nakajima at the wheel.



Both cars finished one lap ahead of the opposition as Toyota regained the lead of the manufacturers’ World Championship. Its third win of the season puts the team eight points ahead of Audi.



In the drivers’ standings, Anthony and Sébastien lead the FIA-WEC season by 26 points over team-mate Nicolas Lapierre, who missed the Fuji race, with the third-placed crew of Audi #2 now trailing by 29 points.



Unlike last year’s heavy rain, this year’s event started in dry but cool weather, with air temperature just 57°F.



Starting from pole, Sébastien in the #8 initially slipped to third in the first corners before hitting back and, helped by the 1,000 HP four-wheel-drive Toyota Hybrid System retook the lead on the opening lap.

Toyota TS040 Hybrid #8 in early race action





Eventual race winner after 6-hours of race action at Fuji.

Kazuki was also involved in the battle and ultimately gained a position to move into third. Following an early pit stop for Porsche #20, the #7 took second and the two TS040 Hybrids ran together at the front, stretching their lead.



At the first pit stops, just before the hour mark, Stéphane took over the #7 while Anthony got in the #8, with both using their new tires to pull clear of the chasing pack.



After a clean double stint, during which they had to fight through plenty of traffic, the pair was separated by just three seconds and had pulled out a gap of almost a lap on third place.



Sébastien returned to the cockpit of the #8 just before half distance while Alex took the wheel of the #7 to continue the TS040 Hybrid dominance.



With a one-lap advantage, the Toyota team and drivers adopted a cautious approach to tire strategy and traffic with the target of ensuring maximum points from the weekend.



Anthony and Kazuki returned for further stints, with Stéphane taking over the #7 in the last hour as Anthony remained in the cockpit to take the checkered flag and a very popular one-two in front of 51,000 Japanese fans over the weekend.



Porsche



The Porsche Team celebrated its second podium finish of the season for the Porsche 919 Hybrid, while the sister car finished fourth. Drivers Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber finished third with car number 20. They were followed by their teammates Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb in car number 14.



Mark Webber set the fastest overall race lap at 1:27.759 minutes on lap 12.



After the opening lap, Marc Lieb in the #14 car settled into fourth, He had climbed one spot to third before handing off to Neel Jani on lap 36. Jani changed tires after lap 73 and handed over to Romain Dumas at the end of lap 110. Dumas stopped for tires and fuel on lap 147. The car was in third when Marc Lieb took over for the final stint at the end of lap 184. He came in for another splash-and-dash after 220 laps and brought the car home in fourth.

Porsche #20 during early pit stop

Mark Webber in the #20 car was fighting for the lead when he had to come in for an early pit stop after ten laps because of a tire puncture. Afterwards he did a double stint on a single set of tires before he handed the car over to Timo Bernhard at the end of lap 84. Bernhard did a double stint with a tire change and refuelling stop after 122 laps. On lap 160 Brendon Hartley took over driving duties. He had his last stop for fuel and tires at the end of his 197th lap before bringing the Porsche 919 Hybrid home in third.



Audi



The squad from Ingolstadt scored 18 points in Japan in difficult conditions and remain within striking distance of the Toyota team.



Car #1 driven by Lucas di Grassi/Loïc Duval/Tom Kristensen managed to improve from their initial sixth grid position to fifth. A well-balanced driving performance and third pit stop during a yellow period helped.



Car #2 opted for a different race strategy. Following a good run during the initial laps, André Lotterer extended his first set of tires beyond the first refueling stop. With lap times soon falling, they abandoned this tactic soon after. Consequently, the German pitted again after just 17 instead of 35 laps. It did save him an additional stop. According to Audi, the tires of the R-18 e-tron Quattro turbo diesel hybrid kept picking up rubber from the track on lapping other participants, which caused the lap times to increase.

Audi e-tron quattros





Early race action with eventual disappointing results.

In spite of this, Audi scored 18 points in the manufacturers’ classification on a higher speed track that did not suit the R18 e-tron quattros high torque output well.



Racing resumes for WEC next month on 2 November with the Six Hours of Shanghai prior to the season-closing races in Bahrain and Sao Paulo.

FIA-WEC Six Hours of Fuji 2014 Hybrid Race Action