Toyota Gazoo Racing took a memorable 1-2 finish at their home race this afternoon after a dramatic seventh round of the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship at Fuji Speedway.
In challenging wet and foggy conditions Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Anthony Davidson took the No.8 Toyota TS 050 Hybrid to victory. They headed home the sister No.7 Toyota driven by Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose-Maria Lopez.
Toyota seemed to have a tyre performance throughout the weather affected race which saw six Safety Car periods, one Full Course Yellow and two red flag periods in an eventful race.
The result means that the destination of this year’s drivers’ title is still not known as the leading No.2 Posrche trio of Brendon Hartley, Earl Bamber and Timo Bernhard finished in fourth place. The gap between them and the No.8 Toyota crew is now 39 points with 52 to play for in the last two races of the season.
Rounding out the podium was the No.1 Porsche 919 Hybrid driven by Andre Lotterer, Neel Jani and Nick Tandy.
Andre Lotterer started the race but suffered contact with the back of Buemi’s Toyota. A broken dive plane from his 919 Hybrid affected his pace and he soon fell back to fourth position. However, after taking a new front bodywork section Neel Jani and Nick Tandy fought back and were in contention to challenge for the win before the multiple stoppages for rain and fog came.
