WEC
Porsche wins ahead of BMW in Fuji, Alpine on the podium!
L'Alpine A424 takes its first podium in WEC! - Photo: Javier Jimenez / DPPI
- The 6 Hours of Fuji offered quite a spectacle this Sunday in Japan. Known for being calm, the Japanese round of the World ChampionshipEndurance The FIA has had its share of twists and turns and surprises.
- The biggest incident of the race occurred at 15:41 p.m., less than an hour and a half before the checkered flag. While Charles Milesi (Alpine) erased Ryo Hirakawa (Toyota) to take third place, Matt Campbell (Porsche) and Kamui Kobayahsi (Toyota) collided, causing both cars to retire. An accident that will cause a stir since it involves one of the three cars contending for the Drivers' title with the sister car of one of its rivals.
- Meanwhile, the #6 Porsche flew to victory at the end of a race perfectly led by the trio of Kévin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and André Lotterer. Already leading the championship before this meeting, the crew of the #6 car is breaking away in the standings before the 8 Hours of Bahrain, the finale of the 2024 season on November 2.
- Behind the prototype of the German manufacturer, another brand from across the Rhine can celebrate. Confirming its progress seen in Austin, BMW has indeed won its first podium in the Hypercar category through the n°15 of Dries Vanthoor, Raffaele Marciello and Marco Wittmann. Alpine also thought they would get on the box with the n°35 of Charles Milesi, Ferdinand Habsburg and Jules Gounon, but a drive through, following contact with a Corvette, paid 22 minutes from the checkered flag put an end to the trio's hopes.
- Third place on the podium went to the No. 8 Toyota of Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa, but this car was also penalized with a drive through at the end of the race for not respecting the blue flags. Consequence: Alpine returned to the podium race with the n°36 of Mick Schumacher, Matthieu Vaxiviere and Nicolas lapierre, since the German found himself in the wake of the Porsche Hertz Team JOTA n°12 of Norman Nato.
- Schumacher managed to overtake the Frenchman to allow Alpine to get on the box! Peugeot finished just off the podium with No. 93 thanks to Mikkel Jensen!
- Ferrari had a complicated weekend. The #51 and #83 lost all hope at the start of the second lap when Robert Kubica misbraked, while the #50 only finished ninth.
- In GT3, the #54 Ferrari of the Vista AF Corse team won with Thomas Flohr, Davide Rigon and Francesco Castellacci.
Fuji 6 Hours Ranking:
Valentin GLO
Journalist. Endurance reporter (WEC, IMSA, ELMS, ALMS) and sometimes F1 or IndyCar.
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Hardouin
15/09/2024 at 11:13 a.m.
Congratulations to Alpine, already on the podium for this first year of competition. What is Peugeot doing, which is in its third year and which is accumulating poor performances. Clearly there is a problem of skills at the highest level, I am surprised by Tavarès' non-reaction, it is becoming untenable