Fuji WEC: Buemi, Hartley, Nakajima cruise to victory

After taking an easy pole position with the help of the new LMP1 handicap system, the crew of the #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid took was untouchable en route to a first victory as a trio, with Hartley scoring his first WEC win since the 2017 Austin race.

Saddled by a theoretical time loss of 0.4 seconds a lap under the new system, Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez were powerless to put up a fight.

The arrival of a light rain-shower mid-race did little to change the pecking order, with both Toyotas switching to intermediate tyres and returning to slicks at the same time, meaning that the #7 car ended up 34 seconds adrift at the finish.

That was despite the #8 car earning a drive-through penalty for pitlane speeding with just over two hours to run, which reduced the winning squad's advantage by some 30s.

Completing the podium was Rebellion Racing's sole entry driven by Bruno Senna, Norman Nato and Gustavo Menezes, two laps down.

Senna enjoyed a spirited battle with Kobayashi in the early laps over second place but the advantage of the hybrid-powered Toyota in traffic soon told, and shortly after the two-hour mark the Gibson-powered R-13 had already dropped off the lead lap.

The #5 Ginetta G60-LT-P1 of Egor Orudzhev, Luca Ghiotto and Ben Hanley was on course for fourth place until a late brake failure while Hanley was at the wheel consigned the car to the garage for 16 minutes and left it 16 laps down.

Their misfortune promoted the sister #6 car of Guy Smith, Mike Simpson and Charlie Robertson to fourth in the LMP1 order, albeit 14 laps down after suffering a right-rear puncture and then a six-minute stop-and-hold penalty for exceeding the tyre allocation.

LMP2: De Vries stars as RTN gets first win

#29 Racing Team Nederland Oreca 07 - Gibson: Frits van Eerd, Giedo van der Garde, Job Van Uitert

Photo by: JEP / LAT Images

Racing Team Nederland scored a first LMP2 class win, as newly-crowned Formula 2 champion Nyck de Vries turned in a star performance to take victory in the Oreca 07 he shares with compatriots Giedo van der Garde and Frits van Eerd.

After taking over the car from van Eerd with a little under two hours to go, de Vries overturned a deficit of almost 90s in relation to the Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca, which had spent much of the race vying for the lead with High Class Racing's Oreca.

Toyota protege Kenta Yamashita had just passed Ho-Pin Tung to take the lead before handing over to gentleman driver Mark Patterson with 90 minutes to run, giving Tung a buffer of 10s over Anthony Davidson in the JOTA Sport Oreca.

Davidson caught up Tung and vaulted into what appeared to be the net lead at the final round of pitstops - but de Vries had eroded the RTN's car deficit to such an extent that he was able to make his final splash-and-go with 25 minutes to run and rejoin the track 6s ahead.

The Dutch driver sealed victory for RTN by 26s over the JOTA car shared by Davidson, Roberto Gonzalez and Antonio Felix da Costa, while the Jackie Chan car of Tung, Will Stevens and Gabriel Aubry ended up a lapped third with an engine issue.

High Class ended up fifth as Patterson dropped back late on, behind the United Autosports Oreca that was delayed by a loss of power while Phil Hanson was at the wheel.

Signatech Alpine finished eighth and last in class after an early coming-together between Pierre Ragues and the Red River Sport Ferrari of Bonamy Grimes at Turn 1 left the #36 car needing a trip to the garage - ending a run of nine podiums for the French squad.

GTE: Aston takes first dry-weather win

Aston Martin scored a first GTE Pro win for its new Vantage GTE without the help of bad weather, as Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen took their first victory in almost a year.

The all-Danish duo assumed the lead of the class when Thiim passed Alex Lynn in the sister Aston Martin for the lead at Turn 10 in the second hour, and gained a 20s lead after an off at Turn 1 for Martin when he took over the #97 car towards the end of the third hour.

Porsche finished second with the #92 911 RSR-19 of Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen, helped by making a stop under full-course yellow while the #97 Aston that eventually finished third pitted under green.

Ferrari's pair of works AF Corse-run 488 GTEs were fourth and fifth, struggling for pace early on and losing more time by not pitting under FCY, while the #91 Porsche was sixth and last following a drive-through penalty for track limits abuse and a late misfire.

TF Sport secured its first WEC class win with a dominant run in GTE Am thanks to the efforts of Salih Yoluc, Charlie Eastwood and Jonathan Adam in the #90 Aston Martin.

The trio ended up 42s clear of the Silverstone-winning AF Corse Ferrari crew of Francois Perrodo, Emmanuel Collard and Nicklas Nielsen, while the Project 1 Porsche shared by Ben Keating, Felipe Fraga and Jeroen Bleekemolen recovered from being sent to the back of the grid to secure third.

Aston Martin's works Am car was 22 laps down after being clouted by the Dempsey-Proton Porsche of local driver Satoshi Hoshino at Turn 10 on the opening lap.

Session results:

Cla	#	Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Time
1	8	Sébastien Buemi Kazuki Nakajima Brendon Hartley	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	232	-
2	7	Mike Conway Kamui Kobayashi Jose Maria Lopez	Toyota TS050 Hybrid	LMP1	232	33.955
3	1	Bruno Senna Gustavo Menezes Norman Nato	Rebellion R13	LMP1	230	2 laps
4	29	Frits van Eerd Giedo van der Garde Nyck de Vries	Oreca 07	LMP2	222	10 laps
5	38	Roberto Gonzalez Antonio Felix da Costa Anthony Davidson	Oreca 07	LMP2	222	10 laps
6	37	Ho-Pin Tung Gabriel Aubry Will Stevens	Oreca 07	LMP2	221	11 laps
7	22	Philip Hanson Filipe Albuquerque Oliver Jarvis	Oreca 07	LMP2	220	12 laps
8	33	Mark Patterson Kenta Yamashita Anders Fjordbach	Oreca 07	LMP2	219	13 laps
9	42	Nicolas Lapierre Antonin Borga Alexandre Coigny	Oreca 07	LMP2	219	13 laps
10	6	Charles Robertson Michael Simpson Guy Smith	Ginetta G60-LT-P1	LMP1	218	14 laps
11	36	Thomas Laurent Andre Negrao Pierre Ragues	Alpine A470	LMP2	217	15 laps
12	5	Luca Ghiotto Ben Hanley Egor Orudzhev	Ginetta G60-LT-P1	LMP1	216	16 laps
13	47	Roberto Lacorte Andrea Belicchi Giorgio Sernagiotto	Dallara P217	LMP2	216	16 laps
14	95	Marco Sorensen Nicki Thiim	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE PRO	211	21 laps
15	92	Michael Christensen Kevin Estre	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	210	22 laps
16	97	Alex Lynn Maxime Martin	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE PRO	210	22 laps
17	51	James Calado Alessandro Pier Guidi	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	210	22 laps
18	71	Davide Rigon Miguel Molina	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE PRO	209	23 laps
19	91	Gianmaria Bruni Richard Lietz	Porsche 911 RSR - 19	LMGTE PRO	208	24 laps
20	90	Salih Yoluc Charles Eastwood Jonathan Adam	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	208	24 laps
21	83	François Perrodo Emmanuel Collard Nicklas Nielsen	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	207	25 laps
22	57	Ben Keating Felipe Fraga Jeroen Bleekemolen	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	207	25 laps
23	70	Motoaki Ishikawa Olivier Beretta Kei Cozzolino	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	207	25 laps
24	77	Christian Ried Riccardo Pera Matt Campbell	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	207	25 laps
25	54	Thomas Flohr Francesco Castellacci Giancarlo Fisichella	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	206	26 laps
26	56	Egidio Perfetti David Heinemeier Hansson Matteo Cairoli	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	206	26 laps
27	86	Michael Wainwright Andrew Watson Benjamin Barker	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	204	28 laps
28	88	Satoshi Hoshino Adrien de Leener Thomas Preining	Porsche 911 RSR	LMGTE AM	198	34 laps
29	62	Bonamy Grimes Johnny Mowlem Charles Hollings	Ferrari 488 GTE EVO	LMGTE AM	197	35 laps
30	98	Paul Dalla Lana Darren Turner Ross Gunn	Aston Martin Vantage AMR	LMGTE AM	186	46 laps
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