After two action packed races in North and Central America, the 7th round of the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship will take place in Asia on Sunday 15 October at Fuji International Speedway in Japan. 

With a dramatic backdrop of the iconic Mount Fuji the teams and drivers will take on the challenge of the fast-flowing 2.835-mile (4.583 kilometres) circuit near Oyama in the 6^th edition of the 6 Hours of Fuji.

Toyota Aims to Return to Winning Ways

Toyota have won four of the five previous encounters at their home track and will be looking to return to the top step of the podium for the first since May at Spa-Francorchamps.  The Japanese team showed strong pace in Texas and will looking to take the next step in taking the challenge to Porsche on home ground.

Toyota Gazoo Racing will be back to its regular line up, which includes the two Japanese stars Kamui Kobayashi and Kazuki Nakajima, the latter once again supported by Anthony Davidson in the No.8 TS050 HYBRID.  The whole team will be working flat out to secure maximum points in front of the passionate Japanese endurance racing fans. 

Porsche has been in dominant form since Le Mans, and will be looking to seal the FIA World Endurance Manufacturers’ Championship as early as possible.  Will they succeed in Japan?

GT World Championship – Advantage Ferrari

All four of the GT Manufacturers have won in Japan with Ferrari having taken two wins in 2014 and 2015, with Porsche, Aston Martin and, most recently Ford, having taken one victory each.

Porsche GT came tantalisingly close to its first LMGTE Pro victory of 2017, and the fight for the 2017 FIA World Endurance GT Manufacturers Championship is closer than ever.  Ferrari has a 40-point lead, which is by no means insurmountable over the course of the remaining three races, and behind it Ford, Aston Martin and Porsche GT are separated by only 6 points.

AF Corse Ferrari’s James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi are the only GTE Pro duo to have won twice so far this season, but any of the driver line ups from the eight cars in the class could climb on the top step of the podium in Fuji.  The no97 Aston Martin Racing entry falls in line with its competitors and will run just two drivers – Darren Turner and Jonny Adam.

Open Season in LMP2

There have been three different winners in LMP2 from the last three races which is an indication of how competitive the category is after the successful introduction of the new technical regulations at the start of the 2017 season. 

Jackie Chan DC Racing’s No.38 crew of Ho-Pin Tung, Oliver Jarvis and Thomas Laurent still hold a 20-point lead over No.31 Vaillante Rebellion’s Julien Canal, Nicolas Prost and Bruno Senna but the Swiss team and victors in the USA, Signatech Alpine Matmut, are chasing hard.

LMGTE Am: Aston Martin Take Control

A win from pole position propelled the no98 Aston Martin Racing crew into the championship lead with a four point advantage over the Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche. Another Japanese driver will be competing on home ground at Fuji International Speedway, Clearwater Racing’s Keita Sawa in the No.61 Ferrari 488 GTE.  The Singaporean team is just six points away from the head of the LMGTE Am championship lead. 

The full provisional entry list for the 6 Hours of Fuji on 13-15 October is available