For the second race in a row, VISTA AF Corse took the chequered flag first in the LMGT3 category in the FIA World Endurance Championship at Fuji Speedway – and for the second race in a row, another crew stood atop the podium, as TF Sport’s #81 Corvette benefitted from a post-race penalty for the Ferrari to usurp the win.
In the early stages, McLaren looked to be in the box seats as United Autosports duo Darren Leung and James Cottingham overhauled pole-sitter Anthony McIntosh in Racing Spirit of Léman’s Aston Martin Vantage.
In an immensely impressive display, Cottingham streaked clear of the field in the #59 entry, establishing an advantage of more than half-a-minute before handing over to Sébastien Baud at one-third distance.
The Frenchman initially continued that good work, holding sway until a flying Rahel Frey swept past and into the lead shortly after mid-distance in the Iron Dames Porsche, which benefitted from the first of the race’s three safety car interventions.
Riccardo Pera in the championship-leading Manthey 1st Phorm car followed suit shortly afterwards to make it a Porsche one-two, as a suspected electrical issue dropped the #59 car down the order – its crew’s woes compounded by a late 30-second stop-and-go for overtaking multiple cars behind the safety car.
Notwithstanding a brace of early setbacks – with last year’s Fuji pole-sitter François Hériau finding himself spun round by both Manthey rival Ryan Hardwick and Alpine Hypercar driver Frédéric Makowiecki – the #21 VISTA AF Corse Ferrari gradually worked its way up the order and hauled itself into contention as the race progressed.
With an hour-and-a-quarter left on the clock, Ferrari factory driver Alessio Rovera held an advantage of almost ten seconds as his pursuers squabbled in his wake. Despite the top four needing to make a late splash ‘n’ dash for fuel as the chequered flag approached, the Ferrari still looked set to secure its second victory of 2025 until news filtered through that the car had been hit with a five-second penalty for having had too many team members in the fast lane during its final pit-stop.
Initially, that did not look set to pose too great a problem as Rovera was almost ten seconds clear of closest rival Charlie Eastwood in the #81 TF Sport Corvette, but a slow final lap enabled the Irishman to close to within two seconds of the silver Ferrari – which, with the penalty applied, translated into a first triumph of the season.
“For a long time, I didn’t have a clue what was going on!” joked Eastwood. “Half the grid was on a split-strategy and at one point we were seventh, but we chipped away to move closer to the front. We knew we were able to go the longest on fuel but that it was going to be nip-and-tuck. There was quite a small gap once we came out of the pits, but we had really good pace at the end.
“I came around on the second-to-last lap and they mentioned the gap was 7.2 seconds but that there was a five-second time penalty [for the Ferrari], so I figured I may as well keep pushing to see how we got on. I could see it getting closer and closer on the last lap, and to take the win was unbelievable.
“It was right place, right time but also you have to execute and everything went right towards the end. We’ve been pretty unlucky the last couple of years to say the least, so it’s great to get my first win in FIA WEC with these guys (Andrade and Van Rompuy) and my first win in the championship since moving to Corvette. I’m super-pleased.”
The #21 VISTA Ferrari held on to claim second from Team WRT’s twin BMW M4 Evos – the #31 reaching the bottom step of the rostrum ahead of the #46 – representing a welcome fillip for the Belgian team, which has endured a challenging campaign in the category.
Manthey finished fifth, which means the battle for title glory will go down to the wire in the Bahrain finale, where four crews will fight it out for overall honours.
The Bapco Energies 8 Hours of Bahrain will take place from 6-8 November.
Check out the full race results from the 6 Hours of Fuji.
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