Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi, and Ryo Hirakawa have claimed victory in the 6 Hours of Fuji.
A victory that has seen them draw level for the lead in the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship crown with one round to go in this year’s championship.
The Toyota Gazoo Racing drivers took the chequered flag over a minute ahead of team-mates Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, and Jose Maria Lopez, while the Alpine ELF Team entry of Andre Negaro, Nicolas Lapierre, and Matthieu Vaxiviere rounded out the podium.
Pole-sitter Kobayashi led the way in the #7 and set about building a gap over Buemi in the sister entry in the opening stanza.
The two Toyota teams were separated by seconds during the first hour before Buemi took the lead on Lap 64 after the first pit cycle was completed.
Buemi then handed over to Hartley, who set about extending a six-second advantage over Lopez, in the sister entry, with the Alpine ELF Team entry close to a minute behind in third.
The New Zealander found his rhythm, going on to build a 30-second lead by the time he handed over to Hirakawa with two hours on the clock. Racing in front of his home fans, Hirakawa drove into the distance to claim victory.
“We went in a different direction in set-up to car #7 as we saw the track temperatures were much higher than the rest of the weekend,” said Hartley after the race. “Clearly it worked.
“I drove in the hottest part of the race and had a big advantage over the other car. Everything was flowing; I was actually kind of surprised with the gap I was able to build.”
“It was one of those races where everything just worked out. We were very strong as a crew today and I don’t think we could have done much better.”
The next race of the season is the 8 Hours of Bahrain, on November 12.
