Toyota Wins Without the Pace to Win
Toyota completed a tenth home victory at Fuji Speedway on Sunday, with Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa taking the #8 GR010 to the flag just 0.591 seconds ahead of the Alpine of Victor Martins and Jules Gounon after six hours of changeable conditions and a nerve-shredding late restart. It was a result built on strategy rather than raw speed. "When you looked at our averages in the race, I think we were the fifth-fastest car. And yet we managed to win," Buemi said afterwards. "It's a massive achievement for us because we didn't have the pace. We won on strategy and no mistakes, so you cannot dream of a better result."
Hirakawa, who took the chequered flag, described the closing stages as some of the toughest of his career, with the restart complicated by cold tyres on a track that was still drying in patches. He credited the pit wall for guiding him through the defensive laps as Martins closed in behind, unable to find a way past before the flag.
BMW Finally Breaks Through
Behind the top two, BMW M Team WRT delivered the biggest story of the weekend away from the win itself. The #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 of Kevin Magnussen, Raffaele Marciello and Dries Vanthoor crossed the line third, securing BMW's first-ever Hypercar podium in FIA WEC history in the manufacturer's debut season with the car. Before Fuji, BMW's best finish had been sixth at Imola, making the result a genuine breakthrough rather than an incremental step.
"It is a great result for us," Magnussen said. "We didn't have the pace to finish on the podium, but we still did. We kept it clean all race. So it was a great job by the team today and congrats to everyone." Marciello added that the milestone mattered beyond the drivers themselves, singling out team principal Vincent Vosse and BMW M Motorsport boss Andreas Roos "who pushed so hard" to get the project to this point. Team WRT completed a strong day for BMW by also winning the LMGT3 class with the #32 M4 GT3 Evo of Darren Leung, Sean Gelael and Augusto Farfus, who charged from seventh under a late safety car to pass the Racing Team Turkey Corvette of Charlie Eastwood in the closing minutes.
Championship Picture Before the Final Two Rounds
Toyota's win stretched its lead in the Hypercar manufacturers' standings to 23 points over BMW, 169 to 146, after collecting 29 points at Fuji against BMW's 15. Ferrari endured its worst weekend of the season, scoring just a single point and slipping to third on 115, while Alpine's runner-up finish lifted the French manufacturer to fourth with 96 points, level with Cadillac. In the drivers' standings, Buemi, Hartley and Hirakawa lead their Toyota teammates Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries by ten points, 89 to 79.
Two rounds remain to settle both titles: the inaugural 6 Hours of Barcelona on 16-18 October, followed by the season finale at Monza on 8 November.