The 6 Hours of Fuji is round seven of eight this year and gives the team an opportunity for a long-awaited first podium of a challenging season in front of its enthusiastic Japanese fans, partners and Toyota colleagues.
The team has an impressive record at Fuji Speedway, with nine victories contributing to 15 podiums from the 11 WEC races there since the series returned in 2012. Another podium was a possibility last year when the #8 crew started from second and ran at the front for most of the race, until a late penalty intervened.
Against a field of 18 Hypercars from eight manufacturers, the two GR010 HYBRIDs face a tough task to return to the podium for the first time since the 2024 season finale in Bahrain. This was highlighted in Austin two weeks ago, when challenging conditions saw neither car able to fight at the front.
Mike Conway returns to the #7 GR010 HYBRID line-up alongside Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries after recovering from the training injury which caused him to miss the Austin race. In the #8 car, Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa will aim for a strong home result.
Fuji Speedway, located around 100km west of Tokyo, is truly the home circuit for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing. It is located close to the Higashi-Fuji Technical Center, where the high-performance hybrid powertrain in the GR010 HYBRIDs is designed, developed and built. Many staff from Higashi-Fuji will join a large contingent of Toyota employees to show their support for the team throughout the weekend.
The historic circuit is characterised by a 1.475km start-finish straight where cars exceed 320km/h, and this demands strong top speed and braking stability into turn one. In contrast, the tight and technical third sector requires aerodynamic and mechanical grip, as well as traction out of the corners.
To meet Fuji Speedway’s complex set-up challenges, the team and drivers already conducted simulator sessions at its facility in Cologne, Germany prior to travelling to Japan. The first on-track opportunity to optimise car settings for the 4.563km circuit comes in Friday’s two free practice sessions. Hypercar qualifying begins at 3pm local time (8am CEST) on Saturday, setting the grid for Sunday’s race, which gets underway at 11am (4am CEST).
