Alpine controlled the opening two hours of the 6 Hours of Fuji, as the pole-sitting #36 A424 Hypercar held the lead
After a strong start, Jules Gounon handed over to team-mate Victor Martins during the first scheduled stop, and the French rookie was able to build a small advantage after a second hour Safety Car period
Prior to that, an off-strategy Nyck de Vries in the #7 Toyota TR010 Hypercar attempted a move on temporary leader Ferdinand Habsburg in the #35 Alpine, but it failed to come off as the two touched, pitching the Toyota into a spin that cost the Dutchman around 15 seconds; de Vries’ off-strategy decision had earlier been accelerated by a slow left-front puncture
That disadvantage, however, was soon nullified when the Safety Car was summoned again in the second hour, hauling the championship-leading #7 Toyota back into contention in the leading group
With Alpine running one-two, as Martins headed Habsburg throughout the second hour, Aston Martin established a strong third place with the #007 Valkyrie Hypercar driven by Harry Tincknell
The #009 Aston Martin also showed well as Marco Sørensen tried to get onto the sister #007 Valkyrie’s tail; however, the #19 Genesis Magma Racing GMR-001 Hypercar of Daniel Juncadella was the meat in the Aston Martin sandwich and defended his fourth place stoutly
Completing the top six after two hours was the #38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R, as Earl Bamber recovered from early race contact with the #79 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG LMGT3
Home hero TOYOTA RACING runs seventh and eighth, with Sébastien Buemi heading the recovering de Vries as the Japanese manufacturer attempts to build a fightback to challenge for a remarkable tenth home win at Fuji Speedway since 2012
The second Cadillac V-Series.R, driven by Will Stevens, sits ninth but is under threat of losing that position after being placed under investigation for a pit-stop infraction
The #93 Team Peugeot TotalEnergies 9X8 featured inside the top ten in the hands of Paul di Resta, with the Scot surviving a first-hour scare when he had to bypass the chicane after locking up in a battle for position
But just as the third hour arrived, di Resta was forced to pull off the track with a suspected gearbox problem before returning slowly to the pits under the Full Course Yellow the stoppage had triggered
Ferrari endured a challenging first two hours of the race, with the #50 currently running tenth following di Resta’s issue, and the sister #51 499P of James Calado surviving a wild early ride over the grass at Turn Five after being forced wide by the #33 TF Sport Corvette
LMGT3
Finn Gehrsitz was the early star of the LMGT3 category in the #58 Garage 59 McLaren, making the most of first corner chaos and other teams choosing to run Bronze categorised drivers
The young German built up a 54-second lead before the first scheduled pit-stops, whereupon he handed over to team-mate Alexander West who retained the advantage but only temporarily
The second Safety Car midway through the second hour – deployed to retrieve the damaged #23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage, which had beeb in collision with the #94 Peugeot 9X8 – bunched the field back up; the Peugeot was subsequently handed a five-second penalty for the incident
That neutralisation prompted an intense battle between the #91 Manthey DK Engineering Porsche of James Cottingham and the #58 McLaren; remarkably, the Brit came all the way from the rear of the starting grid to lead the category
Just before the third hour came, Cottingham pitted to hand over to team-mate Timur Boguslavskiy, relinquishing the lead to the #88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang piloted by Eric Powell
The Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette driven in the first two stints by Salih Yoluç runs second, after the Turkish ace made several impressive overtaking moves
Team WRT surged through from the tail-end of the LMGT3 category to hold third position with the #69 BMW M4 driven by Anthony McIntosh
Behind the #58 McLaren in fourth place after making an early second stop, it is the #87 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus and points-leading #33 TF Sport Corvette that complete the current top six
The start witnessed a huge mélêe at the first corner, with multiple instances of contact affecting several cars including the #88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang (Stefano Gattuso) and #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG (Martin Berry); both cars were forced to retire with accident damage
Taking the wrap for the carnage was Tom Van Rompuy in the #78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus, as he was given a five-second penalty for triggering the accident when he appeared to out-brake himself into Turn One; several others did likewise, with the #87 Lexus compromised as was the #92 The Bend Manthey Porsche, which pitted for repairs and dropped to the back of the field
Upon the re-start of the race after the early Safety Car, François Hériau survived a lurid spin when battling for fifth position, but the #21 VISTA AF Corse Ferrari driver was able to rejoin albeit at the rear of the remaining 16-car LMGT3 field
Iron Lynx’s Johannes Zelger received a five-second penalty for contact with the Earl Bamber-driven Cadillac; both cars spun but quickly rejoined
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