The Headlines after 4 Hours
- Aston Martin took the lead of the 6 Hours of Fuji as clocked approached the four hours of racing mark in the sixth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship. But it was actually Alpine that re-asserted its authority at the front of the field as the clocked ticked over in to the fifth hour of racing
- The #007 Aston Martin Valkyrie of Harry Tincknell and Tom Gamble moved to the front in th fourth hour as Gamble re-emerged from the pits ahead of the Alpines that had led from the start of the race
- But there was disaster for Gamble when he dived in for his pit stop and crossed the pit entry line and received a drive-through penalty effectively ending the chance of victory
- The lead had changed in the fourth hour when Victor Martins started to suffer with overall grip on on a soft set of the Hypercar Michelins
- That allowed the #35 sister A424 Hypercar to take the lead in Turn 1, although Martins was confident that the pace would come back to the Alpine he shares with Jules Gounon
- It was Gounon who re-emerged after the scheduled pit stop just ahead of the now Charles Milesi driven #35 car as the pair ran nose-to-tail in second and third behind the #007 Aston Martin
- But when Gamble served his drive-through penalty the Alpines benefitted and re-took the lead with Gounon and Martins running 1-2 as the fifth hour arrived
- The #007 Aston Martin was shuffled back to seventh position but the similar Aston Martin Valkyrie of Alex Riberas was able to move up to third position albeit 18-seconds adrift of the Alpines
- The #38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA car, with Sebastien Bourdais at the wheel, ran in fourth position just ahead of the leading Toyota, the #8 TR010 Hypercar driven by Brendon Hartley
- The Kiwi had engaged in an antertaining battle with Riberas’ Aston Martin in the third hour as the two duelled for fourth position
- Completing the top six was the #19 Genssis Magma entry as Paul-Loup Chatin continued the Korean manufacturers best showing of its rookie season so far
- Further down the field the championship points leading BMW of Robin Frijns, Sheldon van der Linde and Rene Rast ran at the tail of the Hypercar fied after Rene Rast suffered a puncture after contact with the #51 Ferrari AF Corse 499P at Turn 1
- There was further despondency for the Prancing Horse when the #50 car lost a lap with a problematic pit stop. A suspected issue with its air jack saw the car’s tyres unable to be changed before the team found a tempiorary solution
LMGT3
- A thrilling and undulating battle played out in LMGT3 between McLaren, BMW, Porsche and Corvette across the mid-portion phase of the 6 Hours of Fuji
- After the #91 Manthey DKR Porsche and #58 Garage 59 McLaren had led in the first fewe hours, it was the #33 TF Sport Corvette that led for the majority of the third hour as Jonny Edgar converted some solid early work by Ben Keating
- But the championship points leading car fell behind the #10 Garage 59 McLaren in the fourth hour as differing tyre strategies started to play out
- With Marvin Kirchoffer taking up the lead in the Papaya McLaren LMGT3 car, Edgar led the chase as he looked to add to his drivers points lead
- In third position emerged the #78 Akkodis ASP Lexus of Hadrien David, as that car fought back from an early race penalty for triggering the first corner accident that brought the first of the two Safety Cars of the race
- The top six was rounded out by the #69 Team WRT BMW driven by Parker Thompson and the #91 Manthey DKR Porsche that was compromised by a penalty given to Timur Boguslavskiy for a yellow flag infringement
- The Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette looked to be in good contention at the mid-phase section but was ultimately compromised by two penalties, the first of which was issued for contact and the second for not serving that penalty in the correct manner
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