Fun Facts and Stats Ahead of Fuji

• Firsts and lasts! The 2016 Fuji round saw Kamui Kobayashi become a WEC race-winner, whilst his then team-mate Stephane Sarrazin scored his most recent win to date. In 2018, Kobayashi won again, helping current team-mate Jose Maria Lopez achieve his first win.
• A full green-flag running in Fuji 2016 meant it became the 3rd-longest WEC 6 hour race ever, in terms of laps completed by the winner, with the first four cars home all covering 244 laps – equivalent to 692 miles, or 1,113 km.
• TF Sport’s Aston Martin would dominate GTE Am at Fuji in 2019 from pole position, becoming the 3rd car in class to win from pole. The previous two were both Aston Martins too, in 2013 and 2016.
• Fuji 2019 saw Toyota score a stunning 7th win from eight trips to the Speedway. The team achieved a 1-2 finish, ahead of Rebellion, marking the 5th time ever this podium order had occurred. It became the joint most-common overall podium in WEC, level with Toyota’s five 1-2 finishes when Porsche rounded out the rostrum.
• Scoring 12 wins with Porsche, and joining Toyota for 2019/20, Brendon Hartley achieved his first victory with the Japanese marque at Fuji 2019. In doing so, Hartley joined only 2016 World Champion and former Porsche team-mate Romain Dumas as drivers to win outright with two marques (Audi). Current Hypercar points-leader Nico Lapierre joined this elite group at Sebring 2022 (Toyota, Alpine).
• At Fuji 2019, Britons Jonny Adam and Charlie Eastwood were victorious in GTE Am for the first time. The pair became the first Brits to win in the class at a WEC 6 hour race since fellow Aston Martin drivers Jamie Campbell-Walter and Stuart Hall, at COTA 2013 – 2,206 days prior.
• Toyota’s final LMP1 win at Fuji with the TS050 HYBRID meant they became the first outfit to win one race outright in four consecutive years.
• In 2022, the Fuji round occurs outside of October for the first time as a WEC event, with previous races offering the shortest-ever WEC race (2013), a full green-flag running (2016), and a rained-out affair (2017).
• After initially qualifying on pole position in 2018, the #7 Toyota was penalised for a pitlane infringement and required to start from the back of the LMP1 bunch. Its 8th-place start is the record lowest position any outright victory has started from.
• Fuji 2014 marked the first-ever win for a closed-cockpit LMP2 car in WEC competition, with G-Drive Racing’s Ligier JS P2 beating its four previous-gen open-top rivals.
• Only 15 of the 39 LMP2 drivers at Fuji have raced at the circuit in the WEC previously, or 38%. Prema #9, Vector Sport #10 and Jota #28 all comprise a trio of Fuji rookies, whilst Jota #38 is the only trio who have all raced there before.
• 20 of the 39 GTE Am drivers are making their WEC Fuji debuts in 2022. Eight of the 19 drivers who have competed in Japan before have won at the circuit, including the current top three Platinum-rated drivers Marco Sorensen, Nicki Thiim and Harry Tincknell.
• Just 54 of the 103 drivers at Fuji have competed there before in the series, with 49 individuals new to the track.
• Only two drivers on the 2022 entry list have competed at the eight 6 Hours of Fuji to date, Porsche stalwarts Richard Lietz, and Christian Ried, all in GTE Pro and GTE Am respectively.
• 36 cars on the entry list is both the biggest-ever WEC field at Fuji, or six more than the 2019 running, and the joint-smallest grid of 2022, level with Sebring’s total participants. Before the 2022 season, only two races outside of Le Mans had featured 36 or more cars.
• The eight Fuji races to date have a combined 92.8% finish rate, or just 17 non-scores from 236 entries. This percentage is bettered by only Portimao’s 93.7% rate, and COTA’s 94.3%.
• Great Britain is the most represented nation on the Fuji 2022 grid, with 20 drivers across the classes. These include WEC Fuji debutants di Resta, Cullen, Jones, Millroy, Barnicoat, Priaulx, Pittard and Fagg.

With thanks to 'Magic Alex' WECData