Porsche Has One Hand on the Word Endurance Championship
Porsche in Complete Control, Already GT3 Champions as Toyota, Ferrari Fail at Fuji.Â
Victorious Porsche Penske Racing left Japan one step closer to clinching the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship over the weekend. The dramatic, crunching Fuji 6 Hour also essentially scuppered Toyota and Ferrari’s title chances, as much it was a dream weekend for Porsche, which also clinched the GT3 Driver’s title as a Ferrari won that race.
What started as a maiden pole position for Cadillac with the championship leading number 6 Porsche fifth, soon descended into a chaotic race. Robert Kubica set off a Turn 1 melee when his yellow Ferrari rammed Frederic Makowiecki’s 5 Porsche, which in turn tagged the Giovinazzi 51 Ferrari into Habsburg ‘s Alpine. That left the Cadillac ahead, until number 6 Penske Porsche took over up front.
Porsche Number 6 Commanded Fuji From the Front
In spite of a period when the 50 Ferrari led, the 6 Porsche commanded the race from there as it kept out of trouble while chaos reigned behind. The Cadillac clashed with a BMW before title contender Kamui Kobayashi took his turn to smash the 7 Toyota into Matt Campbell’s 5 Penske. That also ended Kamui, Nyck de Vries and Mike Conway’s title hopes after the Gazoo team was forced to park it. The Cadillac also crashed again.
It was however a safety car period to rescue Daniil Kvyat’s expired Lamborghini early in the hour 4 that would most re-shape the race. It presented the front runners with a free pit stop opportunity to set up a 90-minute dash to the finish. So Kevin Estre led in the 6 Porsche from Dries Vanthoor’s BMW, Ryo Hirakawa in the 8 Toyota and the 50 Ferrari.
Porsche Powered on as Ferrari, Toyota Foundered at Fuji
The Toyota and the Ferrari were however caught out by alternate strategies and penalties, to leave the Vanthoor, Lotterer, Estre and the 6 Porsche 963 LMDh to add a second win to their victory in the 2024 Qatar season-opener, and extend their title advantage. Worse still for Toyota and Ferrari, a combination of strategy blunders and penalties saw both the 50 Ferrari and 8 Toyota tumble down the order in the dash to the finish.
Which left BMW and Alpine to find the WEC podium for the first time as they continued their fight for fourth in the title chase and the rookie team win. The 93 Peugeot 9X8 ended fifth from the Jota Porsches, the second Peugeot and Alpine, and then only the best Ferrari and Toyota in ninth and tenth.
Porsche Drivers are Already WEC LMGT3 Champions
Porsche’s WEC cup flowed even further over when Klaus Bachler, Aliaksandr Malkyhin and Joel Sturm brought their Manthey 911 home second in LMGT3 behind the Rigon Castellacci Flohr Ferrari 296 GT3 to clinch the GT3 drivers’ world title with a round still to race. The combative Moto GP legend Valentino Rossi driving with Martin and Al Harthy, ended third in the 46 BMW M4 GT3.
The 6 Porsche crew now leads the Hypercar World Endurance Driver’s Championship by 27 points over the 50 Ferrari crow, now two points clear of the out of contention 8 Toyota with only the Bahrain finale left to run in November. Porsche has also returned to the top of the maker’s table; ten points clear of Toyota with Ferrari a distant third.
So it’s all said and done? No way! This is motor racing and anything can still happen before the fat lady sings in Bahrain. Bring it on!
Photos: Porsche, WEC