6H Fuji: Pre-Race Paddock Notes

Fuji’s packed fan zone

The fan area behind the main pit straight grandstand is packed with interesting cars, vendors and activities for the fans.

This includes a dedicated Hydrogen Village, displaying the Mission H24 car, Toyota GR H2 Racing Concept and the Hydrogen-fuelled Corolla race car.

A selection of significant historic sportscars are also on display, including a Mazda Z8ZB and an array of Group C and LMP1 Toyotas.

Examples from Toyotoa include a TS030, TS040 and TS050, along with a Toyota GT One, Toyota TS010 and a race-dirty GR010 from Le Mans.

Peugeot also has a presence with a 9X8, as does Goodyear, with a handsomley-liveried Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 promoting its 2024 LMGT3 tyre supply deal.

Qualifying highlights

Catch up with yesterday’s Qualifying session at Fuji with the official highlights package below:

Onboards

Unfamiliar with the layout of the Fuji Speedway? The FIA WEC YouTube Channel has uploaded a selection of onboard laps from various cars on the entry:

Duval repremanded for weaving

Loic Duval, at the start of Hypercar Qualifying yesterday, was seen weaving to warm his tyres at the end of his outlap close to his #50 Ferrari.

The action was deemed potentially dangerous by the stewards. The subsequent decision on the noticeboard following the session noted that the behvaiour, while not intentional and didn’t impeed the Ferrari, was nevertheless not acceptable and Duval was reprimanded.

Peugeot had high hopes for Qualfifying after showing pace in changeable conditions during practice, but struggled in the sessions. Both cars had tyres flatspotted early in the session, which had a significant impact on the final outcome.

Both cars struggled for outright pace, with the #94 9X8 only bettering the pace of the Vanwall and pole-sitting LMP2 at the very end of the session. Indeed the #4 Vanwall will start behind the LMP2 #22 United Autosports ORECA on the grid.

Warmer weather!

Thus far this week at the Fuji Speedway the weather has been grey and overcast at best, and sodden at worst, with periodic rain showers making conditions for the teams, and, it must be said, the fans in the stands, far from ideal.

Raceday has however brought with it clear skies and sunshine this morning. Early signs are that this change in weather has led to a huge turnout of enthusiastic local fans. There were lengthy queues to enter the circuit hours when DSC arrived this morning and the autograph session was extremely well attended.

How to follow…

The 6 Hours of Fuji, which is set to get underway at 11:00am local time in Japan, can be followed with the global live stream on the WEC App, and with live timing on the FIA WEC website.

Global TV broadcast information can be found HERE >>>

The official WEC spotter guide can also be downloaded HERE >>>