-
Home
- TV Shows
-
TV Schedule
-
SPEED Showcase
-
- NASCAR
-
Formula 1
- Auto Racing
- Moto Racing
- Cars
- Bikes
- Store
- Social
- Games
- Mobile
- Deals
- Videos
- Photos
- Home
- TV Shows
-
TV Schedule
-
SPEED Showcase
-
- NASCAR
- Formula 1
- Auto Racing
- Moto Racing
- Cars
- Bikes
- Store
- Social
- Mobile
- Deals
- Videos
- Photos
Le Mans / ALMS
LE MANS: Toyota Scores Home Win At Fuji
Toyota take monumental home win; Starworks Motorsport clinches FIA WEC LMP2 championship...
Toyota scored a huge home victory in Sunday's Six Hours of Fuji. (Photo: John Dagys)
Despite not having the fuel mileage to match its factory rival, Toyota broke through to take a home victory in Sunday’s Six Hours of Fuji.
The second-to-last round of the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship season also saw history being made in LMP2, with American squad Starworks Motorsport clinching the teams' championship.
In LMP1, Toyota scored its second overall win in three races following a down-to-the-wire battle with the No. 1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro of Andre Lotterer.
A late-race splash for fuel with less than 20 minutes remaining saw Kaz Nakajima’s lead shrink to less than six seconds over Lotterer, who fought tooth-and-nail with the lone Toyota TS030 Hybrid throughout the six-hour enduro.
Showing the performance of the gasoline-powered prototype, Nakajima stretched his lead in the closing laps to a 11.223-second margin at the line over the No. 1 Audi.
It marked the 27-year-old's first win in FIA WEC competition in the car he shared with Nicolas Lapierre and Alex Wurz, who scored Toyota's maiden LMP1 victory last month in Brazil.
"I was so excited in the last few laps," Nakajima said. "I was getting the message from my engineer to push hard because I had to make a gap for our last pit stop, so it was quite challenging. I was pushing like crazy and finally we just made it.”
The No. 1 Audi of Lotterer and co-drivers Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler inched closer to the Drivers’ World Championship with a second place finish, ahead of the sister No. 2 Audi of Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish.
However, their result came as a bitter disappointment after having lost time in the fourth hour due to avoidable contact with the No. 97 Aston Martin, which resulted in Treluyer serving a drive-through penalty.
The car also had to pit to replace its nose due to damage from the incident.
"We were close but there's not a lot of math to do. For sure, this really harsh penalty simply put us behind," Lotterer said. "That's how we lost this race because I think all three of us were doing a great job staying in the fight.
"With the extra stop they had to do, it was pretty much a victory for us. But that's racing. We win together and we lose together."
Lotterer, Treluyer and Fassler now hold a 16.5-point lead over teammates McNish and Kristensen heading into the season finale in Shanghai in two weeks' time.
Both Audis ended up losing time to accidents on Sunday, as McNish collided with the No. 44 Starworks Motorsport HPD ARX-03b of Ryan Dalziel with just over two hours remaining. The incident, unlike the No. 1 car's, was deemed a racing incident, and both cars continued without major drama.
The No. 12 Rebellion Racing Lola B12/60 Toyota of Neel Jani and Nicolas Prost finished the best of the LMP1 Privateers in fourth, which was enough to lock up the teams’ championship for the Anglo-Swiss squad.
While LMP2 saw ADR-Delta score its second class victory of the season, it was Starworks Motorsport that clinched the class championship.
A steady second-place run by Stephane Sarrazin, Ryan Dalziel and Enzo Potolicchio saw the Peter Baron-owned squad seal up the title one race early.
It marked the first FIA World Championship by an American team in decades, in what's been a dream season for Starworks, having won the Twelve Hours of Sebring and 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The team's U.S.-based operation also won the GRAND-AM North American Endurance Championship and finished runner-up in the Rolex Series Daytona Prototype Championship.
"It's been an unbelievable year," Potolicchio said. "We've always had high hopes because we're competitors, but nothing like this. This is over the top. I'm just so proud of the guys. We're a small team but we have really, really good people. They've worked an unbelievable amount of hours to do this."
Starworks’ closest championship contenders, the No. 49 Pecom Racing Oreca 03 Nissan, put up a strong fight in the closing stages of a race but a fire during the car’s final stop dropped them to a fourth place result in class.
It gave the final spot on the LMP2 podium to OAK Racing, with its No. 24 Morgan-Nissan of Olivier Pla, Matthieu Lahaye and Jacques Nicolet.
ADR-Delta team regulars John Martin and Tor Graves were joined by Japanese star Shinji Nakano in the team’s class-winning Oreca 03 Nissan.
"It was quite entertaining for us," Martin said. "Tor and Shinji did an awesome job in the middle of the race and I had to keep Starworks behind. It was going on, but after their last stop, I think they came out of the pits only three seconds behind us.
"They double-stinted tires and we changed to new ones. I tried to push hard for a few laps and pulled a little bit of a gap and maintained it around 12-15 seconds for a while. The last few laps were OK and we still had reasonable tires."
PHOTOS: FIA WEC Six Hours of Fuji
The second-to-last round of the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship season also saw history being made in LMP2, with American squad Starworks Motorsport clinching the teams' championship.
In LMP1, Toyota scored its second overall win in three races following a down-to-the-wire battle with the No. 1 Audi R18 e-tron quattro of Andre Lotterer.
A late-race splash for fuel with less than 20 minutes remaining saw Kaz Nakajima’s lead shrink to less than six seconds over Lotterer, who fought tooth-and-nail with the lone Toyota TS030 Hybrid throughout the six-hour enduro.
Showing the performance of the gasoline-powered prototype, Nakajima stretched his lead in the closing laps to a 11.223-second margin at the line over the No. 1 Audi.
It marked the 27-year-old's first win in FIA WEC competition in the car he shared with Nicolas Lapierre and Alex Wurz, who scored Toyota's maiden LMP1 victory last month in Brazil.
"I was so excited in the last few laps," Nakajima said. "I was getting the message from my engineer to push hard because I had to make a gap for our last pit stop, so it was quite challenging. I was pushing like crazy and finally we just made it.”
The No. 1 Audi of Lotterer and co-drivers Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler inched closer to the Drivers’ World Championship with a second place finish, ahead of the sister No. 2 Audi of Tom Kristensen and Allan McNish.
However, their result came as a bitter disappointment after having lost time in the fourth hour due to avoidable contact with the No. 97 Aston Martin, which resulted in Treluyer serving a drive-through penalty.
The car also had to pit to replace its nose due to damage from the incident.
"We were close but there's not a lot of math to do. For sure, this really harsh penalty simply put us behind," Lotterer said. "That's how we lost this race because I think all three of us were doing a great job staying in the fight.
"With the extra stop they had to do, it was pretty much a victory for us. But that's racing. We win together and we lose together."
Lotterer, Treluyer and Fassler now hold a 16.5-point lead over teammates McNish and Kristensen heading into the season finale in Shanghai in two weeks' time.
Both Audis ended up losing time to accidents on Sunday, as McNish collided with the No. 44 Starworks Motorsport HPD ARX-03b of Ryan Dalziel with just over two hours remaining. The incident, unlike the No. 1 car's, was deemed a racing incident, and both cars continued without major drama.
The No. 12 Rebellion Racing Lola B12/60 Toyota of Neel Jani and Nicolas Prost finished the best of the LMP1 Privateers in fourth, which was enough to lock up the teams’ championship for the Anglo-Swiss squad.
While LMP2 saw ADR-Delta score its second class victory of the season, it was Starworks Motorsport that clinched the class championship.
A steady second-place run by Stephane Sarrazin, Ryan Dalziel and Enzo Potolicchio saw the Peter Baron-owned squad seal up the title one race early.
It marked the first FIA World Championship by an American team in decades, in what's been a dream season for Starworks, having won the Twelve Hours of Sebring and 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The team's U.S.-based operation also won the GRAND-AM North American Endurance Championship and finished runner-up in the Rolex Series Daytona Prototype Championship.
"It's been an unbelievable year," Potolicchio said. "We've always had high hopes because we're competitors, but nothing like this. This is over the top. I'm just so proud of the guys. We're a small team but we have really, really good people. They've worked an unbelievable amount of hours to do this."
Starworks’ closest championship contenders, the No. 49 Pecom Racing Oreca 03 Nissan, put up a strong fight in the closing stages of a race but a fire during the car’s final stop dropped them to a fourth place result in class.
It gave the final spot on the LMP2 podium to OAK Racing, with its No. 24 Morgan-Nissan of Olivier Pla, Matthieu Lahaye and Jacques Nicolet.
ADR-Delta team regulars John Martin and Tor Graves were joined by Japanese star Shinji Nakano in the team’s class-winning Oreca 03 Nissan.
"It was quite entertaining for us," Martin said. "Tor and Shinji did an awesome job in the middle of the race and I had to keep Starworks behind. It was going on, but after their last stop, I think they came out of the pits only three seconds behind us.
"They double-stinted tires and we changed to new ones. I tried to push hard for a few laps and pulled a little bit of a gap and maintained it around 12-15 seconds for a while. The last few laps were OK and we still had reasonable tires."
PHOTOS: FIA WEC Six Hours of Fuji
Monterey
LATEST HEADLINES: AUTO-RACING
-
INDYCAR: HIPPINO.com To Sponsor Kanaan At Detroit
Just a few weeks after announcing the KV Racing-SH Racing entry of… -
PHOTOS: Indy 500 Practice & Qualifying 2013
Enjoy a huge collection of photos from practice and qualifying while… -
LE MANS: BoP Adjustments For GTE Announced
GTE-Pro Aston Martins handed extra weight, larger restrictor for… -
LE MANS: Jim France Named LM24 Starter
GRAND-AM founder and NASCAR Vice Chairman to wave tri-colour flag… -
INDYCAR: 49ers Coach Jim Harbaugh To Pace The Indy 500
Jim Harbaugh, head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, will drive the… -
MILLER: Dinner With Legends
It’s become an annual event and, as my pal and longtime Indy… -
VIDEO: Dyson Tech Talk - Tires 101
The art of going fast: what kind of feedback does a driver want from… - More News
