Japan, Fuji - Motorsport, WEC - 6 hours Fuji Fernando Alonso 2nd, TOYOTA wins home race and Porsche victorious - NAANII GLOBAL Luxury/Quality Family Lifestyle MAGAZINE 'en Vogue' - NAANII GLOBAL Quality & Luxury Family Lifestyle - MAGAZINE 'en Vogue'-

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Interviews  before the race - selected 6 DRIVER -

Fernando Alonso
No8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota TS050 Hybrid
“We were a bit concerned about the damp in Free Practice One but we went out on dry tyres immediately and worked on the set-up. We have had no real surprises so far
“I am happy to be back here at Fuji because it is a circuit where I have really good memories from Formula One times and the last time I was here was in 2008 and it was a good race for us so let us see if we can get a nice result here and also some nice weather for the fans as well so they can see six hours full of action.”

Jenson Button
No11 SMP Racing BR Engineering BR1-AER
“It is great to be here and it is definitely my second home. This is where I have been racing all season in Super GT so unlike most of the guys here it is not my first race here this year and it is actually my third time here in 2018.
´I am enjoying being here with an LMP1 car as it is really interesting to have that comparison in terms of the times and where you gain and lose time too.
“We had an issue in first free practice which cut our track time short which was a shame but it looks like we are similar to the Rebellions which is really where our focus is.”

Bruno Senna
No1 Rebellion Racing R13-Gibson
“It was really nice to be back in the car and it felt different from Silverstone straight away but for me it was just a question of getting a feel for it.
“It is really a pleasure to be driving an LMP1 car again and physically it was like nothing had happened and there was no pain, no nothing, so I am looking forward to getting back in the car and doing the race.”

Antonio Felix da Costa
No82 BMW Team MTEK M8 GTE
“I’m a big fan of motorsport in general so I know that the sport is really big over here. I actually raced at Suzuka in the Karting World Cup back in 2007 and now I am back.
“It is an auto BoP adjustment so there is not much we can do but we have been learning as much as we can about the car. We have a really good group of guys and they need to help us out a little bit for the race on Sunday so hopefully we can give the Porsches and Fords a run for their money.”

Nyck de Vries
No29 Racing Team Nederland Dallara P217-Gibson
“If you look at all these guys here then the level of competitiveness in the championship is really high.
“It is going to be tough but I think the practice session went better than we could have expected as it is my first time at the track but we got some good track time.
“Hopefully we can have a good fight but in LMP2 it is always quite tough.”

Giancarlo Fisichella
No54 Spirit of Race Ferrari 488 GTE
“It is nice to be back in Japan and especially Fuji as I raced here in Formula One too.
“We need to find a good set-up and get some consistency. I am quite positive for a good result and like at Le Mans where we got a fantastic second place so I am quite confident.”


Kamui Kobayashi took the chequered flag at the end of a dramatic 6 Hours of Fuji 2018 to take a home win for himself and Toyota, with his teammates Mike Conway and Jose-Maria Lopez joining Kobayashi on the top step of the podium in Japan.
This was the first win for the no7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid crew in the FIA World Endurance Championship and the first for Kobayashi and Conway since the 2016 6 Hours of Fuji.

It was a Toyota 1-2 as the no8 Toyota of Fernando Alonso, Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima finished 11.4 seconds behind after 230 laps on a track that started wet but soon dried out. The no1 Rebellion Racing R13 completed the overall podium with Bruno Senna, Andre Lotterer and Neel Jani finishing the 6 Hours of Fuji as the first non hybrid car four laps behind the Toyota

The no11 SMP Racing BR1-AER of Jenson Button, Mikhail Aleshin and Vitaly Petrov fought back after a long delay caused by a wheel coming loose, with Button crossing the line in fourth place.

The no3 Rebellion Racing R13 was an early casualty after Gustavo Menezes spun off, crashing into the barriers in the wet conditions during the only safety car period of the race, which was declared when the no70 MR Racing Ferrari crashed on the main straight leaving debris on the track that needed to be cleared.

In the FIA World Endurance GTE Championship Porsche took the LMGTE Pro silverware with Kevin Estre taking the chequered flag in the no92 Porsche 911 RSR to stand on the top step of the podium with teammate Michael Christensen.

Porsche finished 12.1 seconds ahead of the no82 BMW Team MTEK M8 of Tom Blomqvist and Antonio Felix Da Costa, who took the German manufacturers first podium finish in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

The no67 Ford GT of Andy Priaulx and Harry Tincknell finished 3rd 25 seconds behind the no92 Porsche to make it three different manufacturers on the LMGTE Pro podium.

It was a debut win for the all Malaysian crew of the no37 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca-Gibson as Jazeman Jaafar, Weiron Tan and Nabil Jeffri took a well deserved and hard fought victory to become the first Malaysians to take a WEC win.

They finished 26 seconds ahead of their teammates Ho-Pin Tung, Gabriel Aubry and Stephane Richelmi in the no38 Oreca, with the newly crowned 24 Hours of Le Mans LMP2 winners Nicolas Lapierre, Pierre Thiriet and Andre Negrao completing the class podium in the no36 Signatech Alpine Matmut A470-Gibson.

The LMGTE Am podium also saw a debut WEC win, with the no56 Team Project 1 Porsche 911 RSR of Jorg Bergmeister, Patrick Lindsey and Egidio Perfetti after a hard fought battle throughout the whole class. The no88 Dempsey-Proton Racing Porsche of Mattteo Cairoli, Satoshi Hoshino and Giorgio Roda took second place after Cairoli passed the no90 TF Sport Aston Martin of Jonny Adam in final 10-minutes of the race.

Fernando Alonso, Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima continue to lead the LMP World Endurance Drivers Championship on 84 points to Conway, Lopez and Kobayashi on 71. Gustavo Menezes, Mathias Beche and Thomas Laurent are still third on 63 points, despite not scoring any points in Japan.

Foto: Copyright FIA, all rights reserved