TOYOTA, Japan, Sept. 12, 2022–(JCN Newswire)–TOYOTA GAZOO Racing celebrates with a perfect 1-2 win at the 6 Hours of Fuji Returning to the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) Heading to Japan in impressive fashion.
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Fuji Speedway Hosts WEC Since 2019, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing has stepped up its World Championship challenge and passed Celebrate an unforgettable homecoming with a win at the GR010 HYBRID Hypercar’s debut in Japan. Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa performed flawlessly in the No. 8 GR010 HYBRID to earn their second win of the season, adding to their Le Mans 24 Hours and nine races at Fuji Speedway achieved the team’s eighth victory.
World Champions Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez finished second in their #7 GR010 HYBRID race, 1m8.382s behind , completed a hard-earned cleanup in the penultimate round of the 2022 WEC season.
Home race top score puts TOYOTA GAZOO Racing one step closer to retaining its manufacturer’s world title, extending its lead to 26 points, ahead of Alpine, who finished third at Fuji, while the No. 8 team is now number one in the drivers’ standings heading into the final.
Another enthusiastic spectator packed the stands at Fuji Speedway to see the pole 7 Kamui on a hot, sunny day lead the field. Kamui built a small gap with Sebastien in #8 as the GR010 HYBRID was in the lead from the start, setting the tone for the race.
In the first hour, the two were only a few seconds apart, and finally both pitted for two new tires and more more fuel. Kamui held the lead in 7th, but Sebastien gradually closed the gap and moved into the lead on lap 64. As the two-hour mark approached, Kamui handed the second-place #7 to Jose. A lap later, Brendon was driving the No. 8 car and restarted with a 6-second lead, with Alpine in third 50 seconds behind.
Brendon starts to build a comfortable advantage up front and extends his advantage over Jose to 10 seconds on the next pit stop, which is in half distance. With less than two hours to go by the next driver change, Brendon had a decisive 30-second lead.
Ryo has already won the Fuji Speedway in this season’s Super Formula, with Mike in 7th in the final leg Replacing Jose, won the 8th championship. The GR010 HYBRID was one lap ahead of third-placed Alpine and dominated the rest of the race without taking unnecessary risks.
After 232 laps with no safety car or full yellow, Ryo took down the checkered flag to ensure TOYOTA GAZOO Racing won the season , and the 37th victory in 75 hybrid WEC races since 2012. Mike followed with 1 minute 8.382 seconds to complete the team’s second win of the season 12.
So the battle for both World Championships goes into the final race of the season, the Bahrain International Circuit on November 12 An 8-hour championship battle. Fuji 6 Hours – Result:
1st #8 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing 232 laps
2nd #7 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing +1min 8.382secs
3rd #36 Alpine Elf Team (Negrao/Lapierre/Vaxiviere) +2 laps
4th #93 Peugeot TotalEnergies (Di Resta/Jensen/Vergne) +7 laps
5th #31 WRT (Galael/Frijns/Vanthoor) +7 laps
6th #38 JOTA (Gonzalez/Da Costa/Stevens) + 8 laps For more info visit https://toyotagazooracing. com/wec/release/2022/rd05-race/. Copyright © 2022 JCN Newswire. all rights reserved. A division of the Nippon Enterprise News Network.
