The 6 Hours of Fuji, Round 7 of the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship, saw the closest finish of the season so with the no6 Toyota Gazoo Racing TS050 Hybrid of Kamui Kobayashi taking the chequered flag just 1.439 seconds ahead of the no8 Audi Sport Team Joest Audi R18 of Loic Duval, with the no1 Porsche 919 Hybrid of Mark Webber just 15 seconds behind the leading pair after six hours of racing.

The race in Japan was the first win for Toyota since November 2014 and the first uninterrupted race since May 2015 as the 6 Hours of Fuji didn’t feature one safety car or full course yellow.

It was also the first win for Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK, a debut win for the UK arm of the US manufacturers return to endurance racing, with the no67 Ford GT of Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell heading a Ford 1-2. 

It was also the first win of the 2016 for the no26 G-Drive Racing Oreca-Nissan, the Russian team finally getting the victory after four pole positions.  However it wasn’t an easy task as Will Stevens had to battle hard with the no43 RGR Sport Ligier-Nissan of Bruno Senna for the final 30-minutes of the six hour race.

Japan saw Rebellion Racing secure their fifth LMP1 Privateer teams title, with Dominik Kraihamer, Alexandre Imperatori and Matheo Tuscher taking the drivers title after the no4 Bykolles Racing Team CLM retired on lap 79 of the 244 lap race.

The no98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage of Paul Dalla Lana, Mathias Lauda and Pedro Lamy dominated the LMGTE AM class to secure their fourth victory of the 2016 season, one lap ahead of the no83 AF Corse Ferrari.

With the sun shining the weather at Fuji Speedway was perfect for the seventh race of 2016.  At the start of the 6 Hours of Fuji it was the no8 Audi of Oliver Jarvis who led from pole position, with the no1 Porsche of Mark Webber just behind.  Benoit Treluyer in the no7 Audi passed the two Toyotas ahead of him on the grid to end lap 1 in 3rd place.

In the LMGTE Pro class Olivier Pla in the no66 Ford GT held off the challenge from teammate Harry Tincknell but the English driver moved ahead on lap two while the pole position holders in LMP2, the no26 G-Drive Racing Oreca of Will Stevens, and in LMGTE Am, the no98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage of Pedro Lamy, held onto their respective positions.

Twenty minutes into the race the no7 Audi slowed as it lost its hybrid drive and Benoit Treluyer was forced to bring the car into the pits.  Audi were unable to repair the hybrid system so decided to try and get the car working on the diesel engine only by removing the drive shafts from the from axle for the hybrid driver.  However Andrea Lotterer was forced to bring the car back into the pits into retirement after Audi were informed that by removing the drive shafts the car was not in conformity with the homologation papers and it wouldn’t be classified.

Meanwhile second position held by the no36 Signatech Alpine A460 of Nicolas Lapierre was being challenged by no less than four other cars led by the charging Filipe Albuquerque in the no43 RGR Sport Ligier, who in turn had the no30 Extreme Sport Motorsports Ligier of Antonio Giovinazzi, with the no44 Manor Oreca and the no31 ESM Ligier right behind.  This allowed Will Stevens in the no26 G Drive Ligier to open up a 10 second gap.   

Albuquerque overtook the no36 Alpine to take second place before pitting to hand over to Ricardo Gonzalez and Stevens came in to hand over to Roman Rusinov.

Further back the no98 Aston Martin was holding a comfortable 20 second lead when Pedro Lamy handed over to Paul Dalla Lana.  The Canadian was able to increase the gap to the no83 AF Corse Ferrari of Francois Perrodo and the no78 KCMG Porsche in third.  The no83 Ferrari was handed a 35 second stop and go penalty for speeding in the pitlane, dropping the team down the order.  The no30 ESM Ligier were also caught breaking the pitlane speed limit and had to serve a 20 second stop and go penalty.

As the race reached the two hour mark the no4 Bykolles CLM-AER of Simon Trummer stopped on track at turn 3, the Swiss driver managing to reset the electronics and get the car back to the pits.  But it was in vain when the Austrian team became the second retirement of the race.

As the race reached the half way point the no8 Audi of Lucas di Grassi held a six second lead over Stephane Sarrazin in the no6 Toyota, with Mark Webber eight seconds further back.  In LMP2 Alex Brundle, now at the wheel of the no26 G-Drive Oreca was just ahead of Filipe Albuquerque who had returned to the no43 RGR Ligier, with the no36 Signatech Alpine and the no42 Strakka Racing Gibson holding 3rd and 4th respectively.

Ford were still holding the top two places ahead of Ferrari in LMGTE Pro, Any Priaulx in the no67 Ford GT ahead of Stefan Mucke in the no66 Ford, with James Calado in the no51 AF Corse Ferrari further back.

The fight for the overall lead continued after the next set of pitstops with the no8 Audi managing to hold a determined challenge from Sarrazin’s Toyota.  Sarrazin was also under pressure from Timo Bernhard in the no1 Porsche after the German team managed to get the car back out right on the tail of the battle for the lead.  Bernhard managed to pass the Toyota into the first corner for second but lost the place again two corners later. 

The last hour of the race and there was no let up in the battles for the lead in LMP1 and LMP2.  The battle between the two Fords in LMGTE Pro had diminished when Olivier Pla spun at T6 and rejoined but last 10 seconds to the leading Ford GT of Harry Tincknell but the French driver still held a comfortable 40 second lead over Gimmi Bruni in the no51 Ferrari. 

Loic Duval pitted for the final time in the no8 Audi, changing onto fresh Michelins for the final stint.  Kamui Kobayashi pitted the no6 Toyota for the final time and gambled on winning the race by just taking fuel.  This got the Japanese driver back out on track 14 seconds ahead of the no8 Audi, with the no1 Porsche of Mark Webber another 7 seconds behind them after the final stop for the Stuttgart manufacturer.  This set up a 45 minute sprint to the flag with Duval setting the fastest lap of the race on lap 212, posting a 1m24.645, smashing the previous lap record by nearly a second.

Duval was closing on Kobayashi as Webber was unable to keep pace with the Toyota and the Audi.  However the Audi was only gaining a few tenths each lap which wasn’t going to be enough if Kobayashi could stay out of trouble.

In the LMP2 battle it was Bruno Senna in the no43 RGR Sport Ligier leading from Will Stevens in the no26 G Drive Oreca after the final stops.  Stevens was closing and with 27 minutes left on the clock the English driver went to the inside of the Brazilian as they crossed the line but Stevens was forced up against the pitwall with all four wheels beyond track limits to make the move.

The decision was taken that Stevens had gained an advantage and was ordered by the race director to give the place back, which he duly with 17 minutes remaining.  Senna and Stevens then had a close battle for the next 12 minutes when Stevens swept back into the lead into Turn 1 and then went on to take the chequered flag.

Back at the front Duval was pushing the Audi to the limit trying to get on terms with the leading Toyota but the traffic was proving to be a factor when the no8 Audi locked up going into Turn 10 when Duval passed the no51 Ferrari F488.  As the clock counted down to zero the gap had come down to 1.6 seconds and the Toyota team were collectively holding their breath until Kobayashi swept through the final corner and took the chequered flag with a backdrop of a sunset behind Mount Fuji.  Mark Webber brought the no1 Porsche home for the final podium place.

Third place for the no36 Signatech Alpine has enabled the French team to hold a 35 point advantage in the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMP2 Teams and Drivers with 171 points compared to 136 for the no43 RGR Sport team and 114 points for the no26 G-Drive Racing team.

The two Ford GTs took the chequered flag to the delight of the team ahead of the two Ferrari 488s, with the no51 Ferrari of Gimmi Bruni and James Calado securing the final podium place.  Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim finished in 5th place but maintain their lead in the FIA World Endurance Cup for GT Drivers on 119 points to 109 points for Davide Rigon and Sam Bird who finished 4th in the no71 AF Corse Ferrari.  Ferrari still lead the Manufacturers Championship by just 3 points to Aston Martin.

The no98 Aston Martin Racing Vantage completed a dominant victory finishing one lap ahead of the rest of the field with Paul Dalla Lana, Pedro Lamy and Mathias Lauda standing on the top step of the podium for the fourth time in 2016. Emmanuel Collard, Francois Perrodo and Rui Aguas finished second in the no83 AF Corse Ferrari and now hold a 33 point championship lead with 52 points still available.

The FIA World Endurance Drivers Championship is still led by the no2 Porsche 919 crew of Marc Lieb, Neel Jani and Romain Dumas after they finished the 6 Hours of Fuji in fifth.  They now have 140 points, 23 ahead of the no6 Toyota crew of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Stephane Sarrazin with 52 points still available from the final two races of the 2016 season.

Porsche are still leading the FIA World Enduranec Manufacturers’ Championship with 263 points to Audi on 204 and Toyota on 174 ponts.

The next round of the 2016 FIA World Endurance Championship will be the 6 Hours of Shanghai on Sunday 6 November, with the season finale in Bahrain two weeks later.

CLICK HERE for the result from the 6 Hours of Fuji