Toyota Gazoo Racing continues its run of dominance in the FIA World Endurance Championship by taking a one-two finish in the 6 Hours of Fuji.
The polesitting trio of Sebastien Buemi, Kazuka Nakajima and Brendon Hartley took victory in the #8 TS050 Hybrid, well clear of the #7 sister car of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez in second place.
Aided by the newly added Success Handicaps, the privateers challenged the Toyotas for the lead in the opening laps, with the #1 Rebellion of Bruno Senna, Gustavo Menezes and Norman Nato taking second and holding on until the LMP1 runners began hitting GTE traffic, at which point the hybrids disappeared into the distance not to be seen again.
The #1 Rebellion ran a race without issues afterwards to take its first podium of the 2019/20 season. Ginetta had a more difficult race. The #5 of Ben Hanley, Egor Orudzhev and Luca Ghiotto suffered multiple mechanical issues, while the #6 of Charlie Robertson, Mike Simpson and Guy Smith was handed a six minute stop and hold penalty for using too many tyres.
Racing Team Nederland took their first ever win in the WEC in a thrilling duel. The Dutch squad started down the field, but a superb first stint by Giedo van der Garde put the #29 ORECA up front.
The yellow machine then remained in the mix throughout and when Nyck de Vries jumped in for his final stint, he built up enough of gap to remain in front of the #38 JOTA Sport ORECA of Anthony Davidson, Roberto Gonzalez and Antonio Felix da Costa after their final stop.
The final podium spot was claimed by polesitters Ho-Pin Tung, Gabriel Aubry and Will Stevens in the #37 Jackie Chan DC Racing ORECA.
Aston Martin Racing claimed their first victory since last May's 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps as Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim took the flag in the #95 Aston Martin Vantage AMR ahead of the #92 Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Michael Christensen and Kevin Estre.
The podium was completed by another Aston Martin, as the #97 of Maxime Martin and Alex Lynn took their second straight third place.
TF Sport took a convincing victory in GTE Am, as the #90 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage of Salih Yoluc, Charlie Eastwood and Jonny Adam started from pole and took a commanding win. Silverstone race winners Francois Perrodo, Emmanuel Collard and Nicklas Nielsen took another podium with their #83 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo.
Ben Keating, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Felipe Fraga started from the back of the grid, but put in a strong drive to finish third in the #57 Team Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR.
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