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The Toyota TS030 Hybrid driven by Wurz, Lapierre and Nakajima defeated both Audi R18 e-trons at Six Hours of Fuji.
The Japanese prototype, which started the race the pole position, took its second victory of the season after a thrilling finish during this Japanese round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
The leading cars ran in close formation during the early part of the race, until the Audi driven by Benoît Treluyer had a contact with a GT car.
As a result, the R18 had to stop to get a new nose, and then was forced to pit again for a drive through penalty. When Treluyer took over the Audi, he was 50 seconds behind the TS030.
But, in the last hour, Audi thought to be able to take the lead back, considering that the Toyota had to stop for a last splash and dash.
The German team even decided not to change the tires of the R18 in order to gain time, but the Toyota managed to stop and get back onthe track still in the lead, by just five seconds.
Eventually, the gap between the Toyota and the Audi was around 11 seconds at the finish.
The best private LMP1 car was the Rebellion's Lola-Toyota driven by Neel Jani and Nicolas Prost, as the LMP2 victory went to ADR Delta's Oreca-Nissan driven by Martin, Graves and Nakano.
Felbermayr Proton's Porsche 997 GT3 RSR took GTE Pro win, while the best GTE Am car was the Larbre's Corvette C6-ZR1.
Six Hours of Fuji - Classification:
1 - Wurz-Nakajima (Toyota TS030 Hybrid) - Toyota - 233 laps in 6h00'42''920 (1st LMP1)
2 - Fassler-Lotterer-Treluyer (Audi R18 e-tron) - Audi - 11"223
3 - Kristensen-McNish (Audi R18 e-tron) - Audi - 1'32"565
4 - Prost-Jani (Lola B12/60-Toyota) - Rebellion - 6 laps
5 - Brabham-Chandhok-Dumbreck (HPD ARX3a-Honda) - JRM - 7 laps
6 - Leventis-Watts-Kane (HPD ARX3a-Honda) - Strakka - 7 laps
7 - Belicchi-Primat (Lola B12/80-Toyota) - Rebellion - 8 laps
8 - Martin-Graves-Nakano (Oreca 03-Nissan) - ADR Delta - 13 laps (1st LMP2)
9 - Potolicchio- Dalziel-Sarrazin (HPD ARX3a-Honda) - Starworks - 14 laps
10 - Nicolet-Lahaye-Pla (Morgan-Nissan) - Oak - 14 laps
(...)
18 - Lieb-Lietz (Porsche 997) - Felbermayr Proton - 26 laps (1st GTE Pro)
(...)
22 - Bornhauser-Canal-Lamy (Chevrolet Corvette C6) - Larbre - 29 laps (1st GTE Am)
Etc.
The Japanese prototype, which started the race the pole position, took its second victory of the season after a thrilling finish during this Japanese round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
The leading cars ran in close formation during the early part of the race, until the Audi driven by Benoît Treluyer had a contact with a GT car.
As a result, the R18 had to stop to get a new nose, and then was forced to pit again for a drive through penalty. When Treluyer took over the Audi, he was 50 seconds behind the TS030.
 |
| Start of the 2012 6 Hours of Fuji. (Photo: Audi Motorsport) |
But, in the last hour, Audi thought to be able to take the lead back, considering that the Toyota had to stop for a last splash and dash.
The German team even decided not to change the tires of the R18 in order to gain time, but the Toyota managed to stop and get back onthe track still in the lead, by just five seconds.
Eventually, the gap between the Toyota and the Audi was around 11 seconds at the finish.
The best private LMP1 car was the Rebellion's Lola-Toyota driven by Neel Jani and Nicolas Prost, as the LMP2 victory went to ADR Delta's Oreca-Nissan driven by Martin, Graves and Nakano.
Felbermayr Proton's Porsche 997 GT3 RSR took GTE Pro win, while the best GTE Am car was the Larbre's Corvette C6-ZR1.
Six Hours of Fuji - Classification:
1 - Wurz-Nakajima (Toyota TS030 Hybrid) - Toyota - 233 laps in 6h00'42''920 (1st LMP1)
2 - Fassler-Lotterer-Treluyer (Audi R18 e-tron) - Audi - 11"223
3 - Kristensen-McNish (Audi R18 e-tron) - Audi - 1'32"565
4 - Prost-Jani (Lola B12/60-Toyota) - Rebellion - 6 laps
5 - Brabham-Chandhok-Dumbreck (HPD ARX3a-Honda) - JRM - 7 laps
6 - Leventis-Watts-Kane (HPD ARX3a-Honda) - Strakka - 7 laps
7 - Belicchi-Primat (Lola B12/80-Toyota) - Rebellion - 8 laps
8 - Martin-Graves-Nakano (Oreca 03-Nissan) - ADR Delta - 13 laps (1st LMP2)
9 - Potolicchio- Dalziel-Sarrazin (HPD ARX3a-Honda) - Starworks - 14 laps
10 - Nicolet-Lahaye-Pla (Morgan-Nissan) - Oak - 14 laps
(...)
18 - Lieb-Lietz (Porsche 997) - Felbermayr Proton - 26 laps (1st GTE Pro)
(...)
22 - Bornhauser-Canal-Lamy (Chevrolet Corvette C6) - Larbre - 29 laps (1st GTE Am)
Etc.