Toyota Wins in Weird Fuji Race, But Audi Takes Championship

The Six Hours of Fuji on October 20 was nothing short of a fiasco. There was good news for both ToyotaToyotaJapan, 1937 > present155 models
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and AudiAudiGermany, 1909 > present83 models
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. Toyota scored its first win of the season, and Audi scored enough points to guarantee the manufacturers’ championship with two races to go in the season.

With the remnants of Typhoon Wipha hitting the country during the race, the six-hour race completed just 16 laps, all behind the safety car, and was red-flagged twice. It was finally stopped completely after 3 hours and 46 minutes.

The #2 AudiAudi R18 e-tron quattroGermany, 2012 > present8 photos
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of Loïc Duval, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish started from pole but after the first red flag, the team ducked into the pits, which seceded the lead to the #7 ToyotaToyota TS030 HYBRIDJapan, 2012 > present5 photos
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of Kazuki Nakajima, Nicolas Lapierre and Alexander Wurz.

The significantly shortened race meant that the teams received half points for the race. Still, it was enough to give Audi a 66.5-point advantage to make them the de facto champions.

The #1 Audi of Loïc Duval, Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish have a 40.75-point lead in the drivers’ championship over the #2 car. With two races to go, it is close to clinching the drivers’ championship but has not won it yet, but it could be done at the next race in Shanghai.

“That the race was ultimately stopped was the only reasonable decision – safety always takes top priority. We’re happy about the World Championship title even though we’d have liked to have clinched it under different circumstances,” said Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich, Head of Audi Motorsport.

In GTE-Pro, the #97 Aston MartinAston Martin Vantage GTEUnited Kingdom, 2012 > present4 photos
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of Darren Turner, Stefan Mücke and Frédéric Makowiecki took the win over the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 458 ItaliaFerrari 458 Italia GTCItaly, 2011 > present5 photos
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of Jean Carlo Fisichella and Gianmaria Bruni, and the #91 Team Manthey 911 RSRPorsche 911 RSRGermany, 2013 > present6 photos
of Jörg Bergmeister and Patrick Pilet was third. It sets up an exciting end of the season with 6.5-point separating the three cars in the teams’ championship with AF Corse leading with 108 points, Team Manthey with 105 points and Aston Martin with 102.5 points.