D’station’s WEC Future Uncertain Amid SUPER GT Focus

D’station Racing’s future in the FIA World Endurance Championship is hanging in the balance, with managing director Tomonobu Fujii admitting that the Japanese squad may elect to shift its focus towards its activities in SUPER GT.

The Japanese outfit first joined the WEC in 2021 in the GTE-Am class, and was selected as one of Aston Martin’s two designated teams in the new-for-2024 LMGT3 category.

Aston factory driver Marco Sorensen and his teammates in the No. 777 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo, Erwan Bastard and Clement Mateu, kicked off the season with a podium finish in Qatar, with Sorensen and Bastard sitting eighth in the drivers’ standings ahead of next week’s Bahrain season finale.

However, with D’station having returned to SUPER GT this year after a three-year absence, Fujii admitted that its plans in the WEC for 2025 are far from solid.

“We are still thinking,” Fujii told Sportscar365. “We will stay in SUPER GT, we are committed for the long term, and we are still in discussions about WEC.

“We need to consider our focus. This year was a little bit too much. For example, we decided on Marco as the driver [for both WEC and SUPER GT], but in fact there were many clashes.

“Of course the two operations are separate, with the WEC team [operated by Prodrive] based in the U.K. and the SUPER GT team based in Japan. But I still have to manage everything and I have other businesses to worry about as well.”

One factor likely to influence D’station’s WEC future is the availability of Silver- and Bronze-rated drivers who can contribute to the team’s budget.

Matters are complicated by the decision of team owner and founder Satoshi Hoshino to retire as a driver following this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, where he temporarily replaced Mateu as the No. 777 car’s Bronze-rated driver.

“Hoshino-san’s dream was to race in the WEC for three years, and also Le Mans, and now this is done,” said Fujii. “He achieved everything he wanted to.

“If we stay in WEC, again I need to find drivers with budget. In Japan, the budget is no problem, but in the WEC everything is super-expensive. For the money we spend in WEC, we could run eight cars in SUPER GT!

“It’s always challenge to find the budget. I achieved it this year but it was quite tough. I would say the chances are staying in WEC are around 50/50.”

D’station has already foregone its participation in the Asian Le Mans Series, which announced its full-season entry last month, and will be absent from the ACO-run series’ grid for the first time since the 2018/19 season.

“We can’t do Asian Le Mans this year because the Suzuka SUPER GT race moved and it’s the same weekend [as the Sepang season opener],” Fujii explained.

Fujii suggested that major changes to the D’station SUPER GT set-up for 2025 are unlikely given the performance of the team so far, with he and Charlie Fagg claiming victory in only the Vantage GT3 Evo’s third outing in the series at Suzuka in June.

“Next year in SUPER GT we will use the same car, same tire, same everything,” said Fujii.

“We had some punctures in the first two rounds, but Dunlop made a big effort to develop the tires, and now the tire is working super-well. So I have to say thank you to Dunlop.

“The team has gained a lot of experience from racing outside of Japan, and the team is stronger now than we were back in 2020 [when D’station last raced in SUPER GT].

“Everybody is doing a good job. One win and one other podium finish so far, and P4 in the championship [with two races to go], it’s a mega result for our first year back.”