Fuji 2 Hour Report: Porsche leads in dramatic opening hours, with McLaren ahead in LMGT3
A four-way fight for victory is brewing in Japan between Porsche, Cadillac, BMW and Ferrari, as home heroes Toyota wait patiently in the wings...
15/09/2024
HYPERCAR
Pole-sitting Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar heads the pack from pole position, while Marco Wittmann in the No.15 BMW M Team WRT surges through to claim second from the No.8 Toyota driven by Sebastien Buemi
Bamber builds impressive lead in the first stint to head Wittmann but then the No.6 Porsche of Laurens Vanthoor takes lead with quicker pit-stop as Cadillac elect to change from Bamber to Lynn
Pole-setter Lynn then tracks the Porsche for majority of second stint but is unable to make a move
Race starts in dramatic fashion as Robert Kubica in No.83 AF Corse Ferrari causes four-car mêlée at Turn 1 after locking up and hitting the No.5 Porsche Penske of Frederic Makowiekci
That in turn causes knock-on incident involving No.51 Ferrari AF Corse of Antonio Giovinazzi and the No.35 Alpine of Ferdinand Habsburg
Kubica is handed a 30-second stop-and-go penalty following an investigation in to the accident
Makowiecki and Giovinazzi pit for repairs, dropping them to the back of the Hypercar field but the No.5 fights back through to seventh position
Race turns on its head midway through second hour when a safety car for track debris sees all but the two leaders pit for a pit stop. This means the No.15 BMW now driven by Raffaele Marciello sits third but having completed one more pit stop than the Porsche and Cadillac
Toyota run fourth and fifth with the No.7 GR010 Hypercar (Mike Conway) leading the sister No.8 car (Sebastien Buemi) but come under pressure from charging Nicklas Nielsen in No.50 Ferrari AF Corse 499P
Dane scythes his way through to fourth position in successive laps with decisive moves on the Toyota pair to latch on to the back of fight for second between Lynn and Marciello in thrilling contest
At 2hrs the top six is: 1. No.6 Porsche; 2. No.2 Cadillac; 3. No.15 BMW; 4. No.50 Ferrari; 5. No.7 Toyota; 6. No.8 Toyota
Titanic battles rage throughout the field as Edoardo Mortara in No.63 Iron Lynx Lamborghini and Mick Schumacher in No,36 Alpine engage in fight of the race with young German eventually winning out
LMGT3
Tom van Rompuy in No.81 TF Sport Corvette dominates the opening two hours as he looks to ensure a first win of the season for the car he shares with Charlie Eastwood and Rui Andrade
But the Belgian is chased down by a flying Nicolas Costa in the final minutes of the second hour as the Brazilian muscles his way through and in to the lead
Earlier there had been drama for the pair of United Autosport McLarens as they collide in early stages while running in second and third position with Joshua Caygill in No.95 car shadowing James Cottingham in No.59 entry
Caygill spun down the order but Cottingham was able to continue and ran in third position before Costa got aboard
That intra-McLaren incident allowed the Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan through in to second place in hands of Sarah Bovy
But a charging Costa made move on Bovy after 1hr45mins to claim second before hunting van Rompuy
In fourth position is the No.46 Team WRT BMW M4 as Ahmed Al Harthy ensures the car he shares with Valentino Rossi and Maxime Martin is well placed in the early running
Heart of Racing run fifth as Ian James does familiar double stint to keep the Aston Martin in touch at front of the field
No.78 Akkodis ASP Lexus tracks the Aston Martin with Arnold Robin aboard the home crowd favourite LMGT3 car
Championship points leading No.92 Manthey PureRxcing Porsche 911 places seventh as it looks to extend lead at top of the table
Christian Ried suffers two early race penalties for pit lane speeding and then a yellow flag infringement respectively
Problem for the No.82 TF Sport Corvette as Hiroshi Koizumi is forced in to lengthy pit stop to fix issues in opening hour and runs several laps down
