2 Hours: No.8 Toyota Leads at Fuji; Ferrari hold advantage in LMGTE Pro

Brendon Hartley leads the 6 Hours of Fuji after two hours as Toyota Gazoo Racing run 1-2 at home circuit. 

AF Corse Ferrari run 1-2 in LMGTE Pro after mighty early race battle with No.92 Porsche.  

No.28 JOTA go from the rear after first lap incident to the front in LMP2, while D’Station start in LMGTE Am category. 

Headlines from the first two hours of the 6 Hours of Fuji……

Hypercar – Led by No.8 Toyota Gazoo Racing 

• Kamui Kobayashi driving No.7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid Hypercar’s leads for the first two stints of the race but is shadowed by No.8 Toyota driven by Sebastien Buemi 
• The pair are separated by just a few seconds throughout, although Buemi drops back a little further after first stop when tyres take time to come up to temperature. Both cars had taken left-side Michelins only 
• But Buemi ups the pace and catches Kobayashi after 90-seconds and the two lap nose-to-tail before team orders kick in and Kobayashi is told to allow Buemi through after 96-minutes 
• The lead for No.8 extends after second scheduled stop when Brendon Hartley replaces Buemi and Jose-Maria Lopez takes over from Kobayashi 
• Alpine ELF Team run in third place as Andre Negrao starts the race with a double stint 
• No.94 Peugeot TotalEnergies car driven by James Rossiter claims the position from Negrao though after first scheduled stop as new 9X8 shows strong pace 
• No.93 Peugeot is fifth as Jean-Eric Vergne struggles with pace of his car and slips to 90-seconds from leader 

LMGTE Pro – Led by No.51 AF Corse Ferrari 

• Expected grand battle between Porsche and Ferrari plays out in opening hour as No.51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE EVO driven by James Calado snatches lead at the start from Kevin Estre’s No.92 Porsche 911 RSR-19 
• The pair fight for supremacy with Estre taking back the lead briefly before Calado fights back to grab the LMGTE Pro initiative  
• The No.52 AF Corse of Miguel Molina makes it a 1-2 for Prancing Horse a 
• Calado leads Molina as the third hour arrives by 7.2 seconds 
• No.92 Porsche runs third but is 14-seconds off the lead in LMGTE Pro 
• There is further disappointment for Porsche as the No.91 Porsche driven by Gimmi Bruni is handed a drive-through penalty and drops him down to fourth in class 
• Richard Lietz is then in contact with the No.88 Dempsey Proton LMGTE Am entry driven by Patrick Lindsey and loses further time 
• Corvette Racing lose time after Nick Tandy runs out of fuel on second scheduled stop. The No.64 car had gone off sequence with an early first stop  

LMP2 – Led by No.28 JOTA 

• No.31 WRT driven by Sean Gelael takes lead from pole sitting No.38 JOTA of Roberto Gonzalez 
• Gelael leads through first stint but is then challenged by No.28 JOTA driven by Jonathan Aberdein 
• Aberdein surges through the field after being hit in a first lap incident by an out-of-control Steven Thomas in Algarve Pro Racing entry 
• South African driver Aberdein then comes under pressure from a resurgent Gelael as two engage in thrilling battle for the lead. The JOTA Oreca-Gibson holds on however until the first driver change swap in second hour 
• Ed Jones takes over the cockpit from Aberdein and re-joins in lead but is hunted down by flying Robin Frijns in car he took over from Gelael 
• Frijns though is unable to make a move for the lead before the third hour arrives 
• Third in LMP2 is the Prema Orlen Team car with Lorenzo Colombo at the wheel after Louis Deletraz started the race 
• Title leading No.38 JOTA entry is fourth as Will Stevens shows strong pace after solid early stints from Roberto Gonzalez who completes his drive time 
• The Vector Sport car of Ryan Cullen places well in third place in opening exchanges but then loses time after collision with No.54 AF Corse LMGTE Am entry driven by Thomas Flohr 

LMGTE Am – Led by No.777 D’Station Aston Martin  

• Ben Keating leads from pole position but loses lead to Sarah Bovy in Iron Dames Ferrari 
• But Aston Martins come to the fore in first hour as Tomonobu Fujii drives stellar opening stint to push to the front 
• He takes the lead from David Pittard driven No.98 Northwest AMR entry after British driver locks up at chicane 
• Fujii hands over to Satoshi Hoshino at the first scheduled stop, while Northwest entry sees Paul Dalla Lana take over cockpit from Pittard 
• Dalla Lana exits pits in lead at start of second hour in lead but Hoshino makes his way by and establishes a handy lead  
• The No.98 Aston Martin is handed a drive-through penalty for track limits violation and drops down to fifth 
• TF Sport place second as Ben Keating closes on Hoshino and gap is 2.5 seconds after two-hour mark is reached 
• No.54 AF Corse is third as Francesco Castellacci but hunting down the leading Aston pair  

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