The World Endurance Championship would join many global racing series battling with Mother Nature this weekend, with their return to Asia in the Six Hours of Fuji starting out in the wet. Mixed conditions would continue to prevail for much of the race, all the way to the checkered flag.
In the leading LMP1 class, Audi and Porsche entered the race in a close battle for the drivers’ title. At the start, the #18 Porsche driven by Mark Webber would slide off course, handing the lead to the #7 Audi of Marcel Fassler. However, Audi’s time at the front would be short lived, as Porsche’s other entry, the #17 car driven by Marc Lieb, would move from fifth to first in just over ninety minutes.
From there, Lieb along with teammates Romain Dumas and Neel Jani would build up a thirty second lead for the car, only to have team orders come into play. Porsche would order the #17 car to slow to allow the #18 Porsche to score maximum points and close within one point of the drivers’ title lead. With that, it would be Webber, Brendon Hartley, and Timo Bernhard claiming the win in the Six Hours of Fuji.
Meanwhile, in LMP2, it was the KCMG Oreca Nissan’s race to lose, with the #47 car piloted by Richard Bradley out front. However, after tangling with both the G-Drive machines, the #47 Nissan would be forced to retire, handing over the class win to the G-Drive trio of Sam Bird, Julien Canal, and Roman Rusinov.
The GTE-Pro class would be controlled by the AF Corse duo of Toni Vilander and Gianmaria Bruni, who made one set of wet tires last for more than three hours at one point in the race. Patrick Pilet, known for his many successes in IMSA this season, would help drive one of the Manthey Porsches to second in class.
Finally, GTE-Am would have a big class victory for America, with race car driver and actor Patrick Dempsey winning for the first time in class, along with teammates Patrick Long and Marco Seefried in their Porsche.
The next race for the World Endurance Championship will be the Six Hours of Shanghai, coming up on November 1st.
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