Fuji Thursday Notebook

***As has been the case at all regular FIA World Endurance Championship rounds this year, 35 cars will contest this weekend’s 6 Hours of Fuji, with only minimal changes compared to the previous round at the Circuit of The Americas earlier this month.

***Alpine’s unexpected decision to bench Antonio Felix da Costa and Frederic Makowiecki means five cars in the Hypercar class will have two-driver lineups at Fuji, including the two Aston Martin Valkyries and the No. 12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA entry, where Will Stevens and Norman Nato return to driving as a duo after Ricky Taylor’s one-off outing in the Lone Star Le Mans earlier this month. Click here to view the latest entry list.

***Writing on his personal Instagram page, da Costa said: “For strategic reasons Alpine have decided to race with two drivers in [the] 6 Hours of Fuji. I wish the whole Alpine team and the No. 35 all the best in Fuji. I’m proud to have worked and helped the team achieve success with the highlight of a podium at the last round.”

***Da Costa was already at the airport in Lisbon about to board his flight to Tokyo when he received notification from the French manufacturer that he would not be needed.

***Ten drivers will be completing a Japanese double-header this weekend after partaking in the Suzuka 1000km this month: Nicky Catsburg, Ayhancan Guven, Maxime Martin, Mathieu Jaminet, Anthony McIntosh, Parker Thompson, Dan Harper, Alessio Rovera, Augusto Farfus and Johannes Zelger. Manthey Porsche factory driver Guven is making his third outing on Japanese soil in the space of a month as he also contested the most recent GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS round at Okayama.

***Team WRT’s McIntosh is known to have tested a BMW M4 GT3 EVO on loan from regular GTWC Asia squad Team Studie on Goodyear tires at Fuji in late August in preparation for this weekend’s race. The Wisconsin native scored LMGT3 pole position at Fuji last year driving an Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo for Racing Spirit of Leman.

***Cadillac driver Alex Lynn has revealed on social media that he has returned to the wheel of a racing car following the injuries that have left him sidelined all year. Last week, he posted images of himself preparing to test a Team RJN-prepared McLaren 720S GT3 Evo at Monza, before he ran in another test at Barcelona this week. Lynn is due to return to the crew of the No. 12 Cadillac for next month’s 6 Hours of Barcelona.

***Toyota assembled this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans-winning TR010 Hybrid, last year’s GR010 Hybrid and a 1998 GT-One, all in red-and-white ‘Shimofuri’ livery, for a special photoshoot at Warp Station Edo, a detailed replica of a traditional​ Edo-period town in Ibaraki Prefecture, in the run-up to its home race. All three cars will be on display at Fuji this weekend together with a GR GT road car and the soon-to-debut GR GT3.

***The GT-One also appeared in a WEC-organized ‘car meet’ in the Tokyo suburb of Daikanyama on Wednesday, along with a Ferrari 499P and a Bentley 4½ litre ‘Blower’.

***Ryo Hirakawa says he is still waiting for Haas to communicate its decision on the 2027 Formula 1 seat that Esteban Ocon is set to vacate. Since the COTA WEC round, the Japanese driver was in action for another TPC (Testing of Previous Cars) outing at Jerez, alongside SUPER GT champion Sho Tsuboi and Jack Doohan, who until recently was a part of Nielsen Racing’s European Le Mans Series LMP2 lineup.

***Asked for an update on his chances, Hirakawa told Sportscar365: “From my side, I think did the best I could. I am confident about what I did [in the tests] and now it’s up to the team to decide. There is nothing more I can do. The situation is unchanged. Maybe the answer comes soon, but now my focus is on this weekend at Fuji.”

***Toyota Racing vice-president Kazuki Nakajima told Japanese media on Thursday that the team has introduced a new component in the TR010 Hybrid’s hydraulic system aimed at preventing a repeat of the failure that cost the marque a likely victory at the Lone Star Le Mans with its No. 7 car. “There was limited time before Fuji, but we have taken the countermeasures that we could,” Nakajima said. “The most important thing is the same thing doesn’t happen again, and that we learn something from it.”

***Peugeot driver Nick Cassidy is making his first appearance at Fuji since December 2020, having previously won at the Toyota-owned venue in both Super Formula and SUPER GT. Cassidy skipped the Japanese round when he contested a WEC season in LMGTE-Am for AF Corse in 2022 due to a clash with the DTM.

***Cassidy told Sportscar365: “It’s awesome to be back. Some of my best memories are at Fuji. It was my very first test in Japan, and I lived quite close to here, in Gotemba, for a year. I won the ‘Dream Race’ [joint event between DTM and SUPER GT in 2019] and my first Super Formula win was here too as well. It makes a difference returning to a track I know — Interlagos and Austin were both new for me, and Le Mans was my first time in a Hypercar. So coming back to a familiar track is always nice.”

***Michelin’s white-marked Soft compound Pilot Sport Endurance tire makes its first appearance this weekend since the 24 Hours of Le Mans, alongside the Medium. The Medium tire, however, is mandated for use in Hyperpole.

***Michelin endurance program manager Pierre Alves said: “As in 2025, the slicks we have for Fuji are the Soft and Medium to cover the various temperature windows to be expected in September, while also giving teams different strategy options depending on how the track conditions and temperature evolve over the weekend. The aim is to strike the ideal balance between warm-up performance, immediate performance and degradation in order to benefit from consistent grip over complete stints.”

***Fuji’s ever-popular ‘Circuit Safari’ returns this weekend, offering fans the see cars on track up-close while riding buses. The 12-minute session, in which each team must field at least one car, begins at 9:10 a.m. local time on Saturday, just prior to Free Practice 3.

***Formula 1 legend Sir Jackie Stewart will be in attendance this weekend at Fuji as a guest of honor, as he marks 60 years since his victory in the Fuji 200, a USAC Indy Car non-championship race that was one of the first major events to be held at the circuit after it opened in 1966. Stewart is representing Race Against Dementia, the global dementia research charity he founded a decade ago. A gala and auction is set to be held on Friday evening at the Fuji Speedway hotel to raise funds for the charity.

***Although mostly known for his three F1 world championships and 27 grand prix wins, Stewart did contest the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1965, sharing a Rover-BRM with Graham Hill, and was due to race a Ford GT40 the following year only to be ruled out by a serious accident in the F1 Belgian Grand Prix the preceding week.

***As per last year, support action at Fuji is provided by the Formula Regional Japanese Championship and Porsche Carrera Cup Japan, which hosts its season finale.

***PCCJ points leader Robert de Haan is sitting out Saturday’s two races, which makes his Seven x Seven Racing teammate Taichi Watarai the title favorite. Watarai trails de Haan by only 4.5 points, while leading Iori Kimura by 36 points with 50 on offer.

***WEC track action commences on Friday with Free Practice 1 at 10:15 a.m. local time (Thursday 9:15 p.m. EST), with Free Practice 2 following at 2:30 p.m. (1:30 a.m. EST).