Toyotas lead 6 Hours of Fuji 1-2 at halfway mark

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Sebastien Buemi (SUI) / Brendon Hartley (NZL) / Ryo Hirakawa (JPN) #08 Toyota Gazoo Racing, Toyota GR010, Hybrid. 10.09.2022. FIA World Endurance Championship, Round 5, Six Hours of Fuji, Fuji, Japan, Saturday. – www.xpbimages.com, EMail: [email protected] © Copyright: Moy / XPB Images

The Toyotas lead 1-2, #8 from #7, at the halfway mark in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s 6 Hours of Fuji.

Kamui Kobayashi started the #7 Toyota GR010 from pole and kept the lead from Sebastien Buemi in the #8 Toyota, but mid way through the second hour, the two cars swapped places under team orders. Brendon Hartley now leads in the #8, while Jose Maria Lopez is in the #7, around six seconds back.

In third is the #36 Alpine, currently the championship leaders, with Nicolas Lappiere at the wheel. Andre Negrao started the car, and while he temporarily lost third to the #94 Peugeot 9X8, driven by James Rossiter, Alpine gained the position back in the pitstops.

However, the #94 is now sitting in the pits with suspected turbo issues, occurring midway through the third hour of the race, while Loic Duval was at the wheel. The car is now fifth in class and laps down, although is back out on track.

That means the #93 Peugeot 9X8, currently with Mikkel Jensen piloting the car, is fourth. Jean-Eric Vergne struggled for pace early on in the race but after stopping the #93 has had solid pace, although is making no noticeable gains on the Alpine in third.

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In LMP2, Robin Frijns leads in the #31 WRT Oreca 07-Gibson, after taking the lead through pitstops from the #28 Jota Oreca 07-Gibson, currently driven by Ed Jones. That car was previously driven by Jonathan Aberdein, who had a spin on the first lap, but the South African managed to make the time back up and lead by the end of his stint, before Frijns took the lead.

Third in LMP2 is the #9 Prema Oreca 07-Gibson, currently driven by Lorenzo Colombo.

In GTE-Pro, it’s a Ferrari 1-2, #51 Ferrari 488 GTE EVO in front of the sister #52, with Alessandro Pier Guidi leading countryman Antonio Fucuo. While the #92 Porsche 911 RSR-19 of Kevin Estre and Michael Christiansen took pole yesterday, the Porsches have not had the longevity on tyre life and have dropped back, with Christiansen currently around 16 seconds off Fucuo.

Finally, in GTE-Am, Henrique Chaves leads for #33 TF Sport Aston Martin Vantage AMR, the #85 Iron Dames Ferrari 488 GTE EVO of Rahal Frey in second. In third is the #98 Northwest Aston Martin Vantage AMR of Nicki Thiiim, fighting for the position with Satoshi Hoshino in the #777 D’Station Aston Martin Vantage AMR.

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