Peugeot Leads at Fuji With Two Hours to Go

Peugeot led the 6 Hours of Fuji with two hours remaining of the penultimate round of the FIA World Endurance Championship of the season, as another safety car period caused another significant reordering of the Hypercar field.

With four hours down, Mikkel Jensen’s No. 93 Peugeot 9X8 held a narrow 1.5 second lead over the No. 35 Alpine A424 of Charles Milesi, with both French manufacturers in the hunt for a first WEC victory with their respective challengers.

Antonio Fuoco ran third in the No. 50 Ferrari 499P ahead of the No. 009 Heart of Racing Team-run Aston Martin Valkyrie of Alex Riberas.

The third safety car period was called in the fourth hour following a collision between the No. 007 Aston Martin Valkyrie of Tom Gamble and the Heart of Racing Aston Martin LMGT3 car of Zacharie Robichon at Turn 3.

Gamble had just left the pits and was on cold tires when he spun while chasing one of the Porsche Penske Motorsport cars, and the contact with Robichon — an innocent victim — left the No. 007 car with terminal front-end damage.

What had initially been called as a full-course yellow became a safety car when it became clear that the stricken Valkyrie would need assistance being cleared.

This split the Hypercar field as a number of cars had made green-flag pit stops prior to the caution, while others were forced to make emergency stops under yellow.

The No. 93 Peugeot in which Jean-Eric Vergne was at the wheel for the middle stint and the No. 35 Alpine of Paul-Loup Chatin the last cars to make it into the pits before the FCY was called, handing over to Jensen and Milesi respectively.

Prior to the FCY, Vergne led the No. 7 Toyota of Nyck de Vries and the sister No. 94 Peugeot of Malthe Jakobsen, as all three drivers battled their way past the Proton Competition Porsche of Nico Varrone that led after the previous safety car.

Varrone was then tipped into a spin by the Ferrari’s Alessandro Pier Guidi as the pair battled over fourth place.

De Vries was among a number of drivers forced into an emergency stop under FCY, causing him to drop down the order when he stopped again as the pits reopened.

Jakobsen on the other hand stopped prior to the FCY, but slipped behind Fuoco and Riberas due to a longer pit stop.

Pier Guidi ran sixth in the championship-leading No. 51 Ferrari, ahead of the two leading cars that took emergency stops: Kevin Estre’s No. 6 Porsche 963, and Sheldon van der Linde’s No. 20 BMW M Hybrid V8.

The No. 7 Toyota, now with Kamui Kobayashi at the wheel, slipped to 11th.

In LMGT3, Manthey’s No. 92 Porsche 911 GT3 R led the way thanks to a strong middle stint by Riccardo Pera, 1.3 seconds clear of Jonny Edgar’s No. 33 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R.

Manthey’s two cars were one-two at the restart, but Rahel Frey’s Iron Dames-branded machine slipped to fourth behind not only Edgar but also the No. 95 United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo driven by Sean Gelael.

Having survived the collision with Gamble’s Valkyrie, Robichon ran fifth aboard the Heart of Racing Aston Martin Vantage GT3 Evo.