WEC 2025 result after Round 7: 6 Hours of Fuji

Toyota Gazoo Racing continued its FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) campaign in a frustrating home race as its podium challenge was struck by misfortune during an action-packed 6 Hours of Fuji. What happened in this penultimate race of the season? Read on for our WEC 2025 review of round seven.

WEC 2025: 6 Hours of Fuji

It was hoped that a home race on the penultimate round of this year’s WEC would give the team an opportunity for a long-awaited podium in front of enthusiastic Japanese fans, partners and Toyota colleagues. This hope wasn’t without substance: the team has an impressive record at Fuji Speedway, with nine victories from the eleven races held there since the series returned in 2012.

Fuji Speedway is located around 60 miles west of Tokyo, close to the Higashi-Fuji Technical Centre where the high-performance GR010 Hybrid powertrain is designed, developed and built. The historic circuit is characterised by a 0.91-mile start-finish straight where cars can reach 200mph, which in turn demands strong braking ability into turn one. From there, the tight and technical third sector requires aerodynamic and mechanical grip, as well as traction out of the corners.

The race saw Mike Conway return to the #7 car line-up after recovering from the training injury that caused him to miss round six in Texas. He was alongside Kamui Kobayashi and Nick de Vries. Meanwhile, the #8 car was piloted by Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa. But in the lead-up to the event, all six drivers took the opportunity to visit supporting businesses and Toyota facilities to show their appreciation and raise excitement for the WEC’s annual visit to Japan.

Free practice 1 and 2

The week’s on-track preparations began with first practice on a hot, sunny morning offering air temperatures of 28°C. With Conway now back in the line-up, the team worked together efficiently and made progress adapting the mechanical and control systems to meet the specific challenges of Fuji Speedway – all without significant interruptions.

Second practice also ran relatively smoothly and was initially used to analyse tyre degredation. The GR010 Hybrids set their fastest lap times on new rubber at the beginning of the session, while the rest of the time saw the team apply some significant set-up changes in order to generate more speed. At this point in the event, there was only one second covering the lap times of the top fifteen cars. The day ended with the #8 car fourth fastest, and the #7 car just a fraction slower in sixth.

Qualifying and Hyperpole

Thanks to his Hyperpole successes in rounds five and six, Hirakawa took the wheel of the #8 GR010 Hybrid for the third consecutive qualifying session. Sat alongside him in the #7 car was de Vries, chosen for the first time since Le Mans in June. Both drivers lined up on new medium tyres for the 12-minute session, focused in the knowledge that the compound could only deliver one quick flying lap before it degraded. Hirakawa put in a strong effort to put the #8 safely through in fifth, while de Vries was only a fraction further back. Intense competition within the 18-strong Hypercar field saw the #7 car miss the top ten by just one tenth of a second.

In the ten-minute Hyperpole session, Hirakawa again recorded his quickest time on his first flying lap, although he appeared likely to improve before he encountered traffic. That left the #8 GR010 Hybrid in eighth place for a fourth-row starting position. Although the team couldn’t repeat last year’s front-row start, every member was determined to contribute to a memorable race-day performance for its enthusiastic Japanese fans to celebrate.

WEC 2025 race: 6 Hours of Fuji

In front of a crowd of more than 66,000 spectators, the team fought its way into a spectacular battle at the front. Unfortunately, troubles began from the outset when Buemi, who had started from eighth on the grid, was hit by another competitor. A full course yellow was raised soon afterwards, which Buemi used to carry out an emergency pit stop to change a punctured rear tyre. This timing minimised his losses but still returned him to the race in 17th position.

Frustrated at this disadvantage, the team didn’t need to stop again when the pit lane opened for the first round of official stops. This, however, was an infringement of the regulations and the #8 car was handed a three-minute stop-go penalty, which dropped them to 18th place, two laps behind. Due to the pace of the rest of the field, this was a position from which it was impossible to fully recover from. So despite the best efforts of Hartley and Hirakawa, the best that could be achieved was 16th place.

Meanwhile, after starting the race from 14th, Conway had a clean opening 45 minutes before de Vries took over the #7 car during a virtual safety car period. He moved into the top ten during an exciting stint, which included taking two cars in quick succession to move into ninth. Further progress was made at the two-hour mark when de Vries was in the pit lane and an accident occurred on-track. A safety car was called and de Vries returned to the track in third place. He then took second place in a brilliant manoeuver just after half distance and even led the race during the next pit stop window. The race was looking promising, until another safety car undid all that good work.

Running low on empty, the #7 was forced to refuel when the pit lane was closed. In order to avoid repeating the mistake committed earlier, this meant that the car had to stop again when the pits officially opened. Suddenly, the gap de Vries had worked so hard to accumulate was erased for Kobayashi’s stint behind the wheel. The Japanese driver returned in 13th place but was so determined to fight back that in the fifth hour he had returned the car to the top ten. A final fuel stop with an hour to go helped Kobayashi make further progress and he finished the race in seventh.

The team will have a final chance to earn its first podium of a difficult year when the season conludes at the 8 Hours of Bahrain in November.