14 October 2016
Oyama, 14 October 2016 - The World Endurance Championship will be back on track at Fuji Speedway. After Austin the constructors and drivers of the world's most important GT championship go to Japan, where Ferrari needs to make up ground on Aston Martin in both the manufacturers and drivers championships. However, the AF Corse team and the 458 Italia still dominate the GTE-Am class.
On the attack. Ferrari will be attack-minded at Fuji, because with three races to go they need to respond to the overwhelming power displayed by Aston Martin in the two US races. The balance of performance should now be more fair with the 488s of AF Corse ready to make up the six points that separate the Maranello brand from the British carmaker. The drivers' championship fight is also very open. Aston Martin's Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim top the standings on 109 points, 12 more than Davide Rigon and Sam Bird in car no. 71. Third place is held by Darren Turner another Aston Martin driver, with 96 points, while Gianmaria "Gimmi" Bruni and James Calado have climbed back into fourth, but are still 29 points behind the leaders.
Careful management. In the GTE-Am class, despite the poor result in Austin the crew of Ferrari no. 83 of AF Corse still tops the standings. Rui Aguas, François Perrodo and Emmanuel Collard are 33 points ahead their nearest rivals, Porsche's Davide Heinemeier-Hansson and Khaled Al-Qubaisi. Qualifying takes place at 2 pm on Saturday (7 am CET) while the 6 Hours of Fuji will start at 11 am on Sunday (4 am CET).