FIA WEC back on track at Fuji with four Ferrari 488 GTEs

Two months after the Monza round, the FIA WEC returns to the spotlight with round six of the season, the 6 Hours of Fuji, featuring four Ferrari 488 GTEs in the LMGTE Am class for production-based cars. Four of the Maranello manufacturer’s official drivers are expected at the Japanese track: Davide Rigon with the AF Corse team, Daniel Serra with Kessel Racing, and Lilou Wadoux and Alessio Rovera sharing the 488 GTE of Richard Mille AF Corse. The weekend will open on Friday 8 September, with the first free practice sessions and culminate with the endurance race on Sunday 10, at 11 a.m. (all times are local).

After a sixth place at the Italian Temple of Speed in July, the Ferrari 488 GTE number 83 crew heads to the historic Japanese venue aiming to chalk up yet another noteworthy result. Victory with Richard Mille AF Corse in round four, the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, and the runner-up place in the previous round at Portimão, stand out in the season of the 22-year-old Frenchwoman Wadoux, in her first year as a Ferrari official driver, the Italian Rovera and the Argentine gentleman driver Luis Perez Companc.

In Japan, the crew of Thomas Flohr, Francesco Castellacci and Davide Rigon, in the AF Corse 488 GTE number 54, will try to collect valuable championship points after an excellent start to the year, which saw the VistaJet-liveried car come fifth and fourth at Sebring and Portimão, before finishing fifth at Le Mans. Rigon returns to the cockpit at Fuji after celebrating his 37th birthday on 26 August with victory in the Kessel Racing’s Ferrari 488 GTE at the 4 Hours of Aragon in the ELMS series.

The Prancing Horse drivers also include AF Corse’s Ferrari number 21 and Kessel Racing’s number 57, crewed respectively by Hiroshi Koizumi, Simon Mann and Kei Cozzolino, who took points in their first three outings of the season, and Takeshi Kimura, Scott Huffaker and Daniel Serra, whose best result this year was third place on their debut in Florida.

The track. Built on the slopes of the eponymous volcano, Fuji International Speedway opened in 1965, becoming one of Japan’s best-known motor racing tracks alongside Suzuka. Aside from 2021, the current 4.563-kilometre circuit, with its 16 corners, has regularly hosted a world championship leg since the FIA World Endurance Championship's founding in 2012. The Maranello manufacturer has claimed five victories in the LMGTE Pro and AM classes over this period. In 2022, Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado came first in the 488 GTE number 51 ahead of teammates Antonio Fuoco and Miguel Molina, both in AF Corse cars.

The standings. After the 1000 Miles of Sebring, the 6 Hours of Portimão and Spa-Francorchamps, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Monza 6 Hours, Wadoux-Rovera-Perez Companc sit sixth in the drivers’ standings on 51 points, ahead of Rigon-Flohr-Castellacci on 48; Mann and de Pauw are eighth, with Serra-Huffaker-Kimura tenth.

The programme. Two free practice sessions will run on Friday 8 September, from 11 a.m. and 3.30 p.m. On Saturday 9, after the third free practice session from 10.20 a.m., the LMGTE Am class qualifying session from 2.40 p.m. will decide the grid for the 6 Hours of Fuji, starting Sunday 10 September at 11 a.m. (all times are local).