Toyota Takes Further BoP Hit for Fuji

Toyota has been hit with increased minimum weight and reduced maximum power for a second FIA World Endurance Championship round in a row in the Balance of Performance for this weekend’s 6 Hours of Fuji.

The Japanese manufacturer’s GR010 Hybrid will run at 1070 kg for its home event, an increase of 5 kg compared to the previous race at the Circuit of the Americas, while dropping to a power level of 493kW under 250 km/h (155.3 mph), down 4kW.

It follows another strong showing by Toyota at COTA as the No. 7 car of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries only lost out on a probable win as a result of a drive-through penalty in the final hour.

Toyota however has been given a more favorable Power Gain above 250 km/h for Fuji, with its power now increased by 5.4 percent above the threshold, up from 4.6 percent.

The GR010 Hybrid is one of only two Hypercars to have gained weight compared to COTA, the other being the Alpine A424 with a 1 kg increase to 1042 kg.

Four cars have been given weight reductions, with the largest of 7 kg going to the Peugeot 9X8 – bringing it down to the class minimum of 1030 kg.

The Porsche 963’s minimum weight has been cut by 4 kg to 1049 kg, while the Cadillac V-Series.R is down by a single kilo to 1036 kg.

The BMW M Hybrid V8 (1037 kg), Ferrari 499P (1055 kg) and Lamborghini SC63 (1030 kg) do not see any changes compared to COTA, with the Ferrari and Lamborghini also staying on identical base power levels of 500kW and 520kW respectively.

Besides the Toyota, the remaining five Hypercars have all been given power increases of between 2kW and 4kW for Fuji.

Peugeot has had the biggest increase with 4kW, up to 513kW, followed by Porsche and Alpine with an extra 3kW each, putting them on 518kW and 512kW respectively.

Cadillac is now at the maximum of 520kW with a 2kW increase, while a similar change has put the BMW up to 515kW.

The remaining seven Hypercars besides the Toyota have all been given small reductions to their Power Gain values of less than one percent. Other than Toyota, only the Ferrari (1.3 percent) and Porsche (0.2 percent) have positive values.

Minor Changes Only in LMGT3 BoP

The Balance of Performance for the LMGT3 division for Fuji sees only minor revisions, with no changes to minimum weights and only small tweaks to maximum power levels.

Five cars have had their power adjusted compared to the previous race at COTA, with Aston Martin’s Vantage GT3 Evo and Lamborghini’s Huracan GT3 EVO2 have been given one percent increases.

The Chevrolet Corvette Z06.R GT3, Ferrari 296 GT3 and Porsche 911 GT3 R have been given one percent decreases.

Above the Power Gain threshold of 200 km/h (124.3 mph), the Ford Mustang GT3 has been given the biggest increase, up four percent, followed by the Ferrari and Lamborghini on three percent each.

Only the McLaren 720S GT3 Evo has been penalized with a reduction of one percent, with the remaining cars up one percent except the BMW M4 GT3, which doesn’t change.

When success ballast is applied, the points-leading No. 92 Manthey PureRxcing Porsche will be the heaviest car in the field at 1385 kg, an increase of 40 kg compared to the Porsche’s base weight.

The Heart of Racing Aston is up to 1370 kg following its win at COTA, followed by the No. 91 Manthey EMA Porsche on 1360 kg.