WEC Fuji: Alpine grabs first win with LMDh car in chaotic race

Alpine took a first World Endurance Championship victory with its A424 LMDh as Charles Milesi, Paul-Loup Chatin and Ferdinand Habsburg came through to win a chaotic Fuji 6 Hours.

The #35 triumphed by just 7.6s from the #93 Peugeot 9X8 2024 Le Mans Hypercar shared by Mikkel Jensen, Paul di Resta and Jean-Eric Vergne at the end of a race interrupted by three safety cars and a further five Full Course Yellows.

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Milesi was able to jump from third to first at the final round of pitstops when he took only two new tyres rather than the four of the Peugeot in the lead and the second-placed Penske Porsche 963 LMDh of Kevin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor.

That gave him a clear lead after the stops: he was nearly 8s up after the pitstop cycle was complete and was able to build his advantage to as much as 11s during the final hour.

The Alpine, which gave the marque its first WEC victory since its Judd-powered A480 grandfathered LMP1 car triumphed at Monza in July 2022, didn’t appear to be a likely race winner for much of the race.

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Habsburg was penalised early on after nudging the #8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID LMH up the rear and then the car had to make an emergency pitstop for 5s of fuel during the second safety car of the race and then return to the pits.

Alpine emerged as a contender, however, when Chatin was able to get into the pits just seconds before the second FCY of the race was called with two and a half hours remaining. It turned out to be crucial because the Alpine pitted at the most opportune time.

#35 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg, Charles Milesi

Its service was undertaken when the majority of the Hypercar field was travelling at only 80km/h and then the latest neutralisation of the race turned into a safety car proper.

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Chatin ran second to the Peugeot when the race went green, though lost out to a charging Estre in the Porsche as the final round of pitstops approached.

The Porsche, however, was given a 5s penalty for a pitstop infringement, which dropped it back to third for the final hour.

Vanthoor spent the closing stages of the race glued to Jensen’s tail, crossing the finish line in third and just half a second in arrears.

The second Penske Porsche, in which Mathieu Jaminet joined Julien Andlauer, to took fourth position.

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The strong points haul for Porsche meant it has kept the battle for the manufacturers’ title open heading into November’s WEC finale in Bahrain.

It was a bad day for Ferrari, though it still leads the manufacturers’ and drivers’ standings.

#93 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Paul Di Resta, Mikkel Jensen, Jean-Eric Vergne, #51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi

It claimed one point in the makes’ rankings for the 11th place claimed by Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi in the #51 factory AF Corse 499P LMH.

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The drivers’ points leaders failed to add to their score after a difficult day in which their Ferrari sustained damage in a clash with the Proton Competition customer Porsche and received two penalties for track limit violations.

Stoffel Vandoorne charged up to fifth in the second of the Peugeots, which he shared with Loic Duval and Malthe Jakobsen, in the final hour.

Aston Martin, meanwhile salvaged sixth with its #009 entry shared by Marco Sorensen and Alex Riberas at the end of an up-and-down race for its pair of Valkyrie LMHs.

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The Jota Cadillac squad ended up with a best result of seventh for the #12 V-Series.R LMDh shared by pole winner Alex Lynn, Will Stevens and Norman Nato.

It appeared to be in control of the race with its two entries, Stevens leading the early going ahead of Sebastien Bourdais in the sister car shared with Jenson Button and Earl Bamber.

The Cadillacs lost a clear advantage with the first safety car at the end of the first hour and then faded from contention with the neutralisations that followed.

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Toyota took eighth with the #7 GR010 HYBRID LMH of Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck de Vries and Mike Conway ahead of the #20 WRT BMW M Hybrid V8 LMDh driven by Robin Frijns, Rene Rast and Sheldon van der Linde.

Le Mans 24 Hours winners Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Phil Hanson in the #83 customer AF Ferrari edged a point closer to the drivers of the #51 car in the points standings with 10th.

LMGT3 honours went to the TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R shared by Charlie Eastwood, Rui Andrade and Tom van Rompuy.

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Eastwood cross the line two seconds behind the #21 AF Ferrari 296 GT3 driven by Alessio Rovera, Simon Mann and Francois Heriau, but a 5s penalty for the Italian car for a pitstop infringement demoted it to second position in class.

Fuji – Sunday, in Photos

Aaron Smith, Rugby player and starter of the race

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Atmosphere in Japan

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Atmosphere in Japan

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Fans

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Fans

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#12 Cadillac Hertz Team Jota Cadillac V-Series.R: Alex Lynn, Norman Nato, Will Stevens

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#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi

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Pre-show

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FIA WEC trophy

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#94 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Loic Duval, Malthe Jakobsen, Stoffel Vandoorne

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Roger Penske, Team owner Team Penske

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#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen

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Formation lap

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#36 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Mick Schumacher with Dirk Müller

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Start action

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#12 Cadillac Hertz Team Jota Cadillac V-Series.R: Alex Lynn, Norman Nato, Will Stevens leads

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Start action LMGT3

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#007 Aston Martin Thor Team Aston Martin Valkyrie: Harry Tincknell, Tom Gamble, #50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen, #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor, Matt Campbell

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#95 United Autosports Mclaren 720S LMGT3 Evo: Darren Leung, Sean Gelael, Marino Sato, #59 United Autosports Mclaren 720S LMGT3 Evo: James Cottingham, Sebastien Baud, Gregoire Saucy

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#95 United Autosports Mclaren 720S LMGT3 Evo: Darren Leung, Sean Gelael, Marino Sato, #59 United Autosports Mclaren 720S LMGT3 Evo: James Cottingham, Sebastien Baud, Gregoire Saucy

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#93 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Paul Di Resta, Mikkel Jensen, Jean-Eric Vergne, #51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi

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#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 – Hybrid: Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ry? Hirakawa

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#85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3: Michelle Gatting

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#35 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg, Charles Milesi, #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 – Hybrid: Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck De Vries

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#85 Iron Dames Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3: Celia Martin

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#93 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Paul Di Resta, Mikkel Jensen, Jean-Eric Vergne

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#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen

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#12 Cadillac Hertz Team Jota Cadillac V-Series.R: Alex Lynn, Norman Nato, Will Stevens, #38 Cadillac Hertz Team Jota Cadillac V-Series.R: Earl Bamber, Sebastien Bourdais, Jenson Button

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Start action

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#88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang LMGT3: Stefano Gattuso, Giammarco Levorato, Dennis Olsen, #31 The Bend Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3: Yasser Shahin, Timur Boguslavskiy, Augusto Farfus

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#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor, Matt Campbell

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#21 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3: Francois Heriau, Simon Mann, Alessio Rovera, #46 Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3: Ahmad Al Harthy, Valentino Rossi, Kelvin Van Der Linde

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#007 Aston Martin Thor Team Aston Martin Valkyrie: Harry Tincknell, Tom Gamble

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#007 Aston Martin Thor Team Aston Martin Valkyrie: Tom Gamble

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#36 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Jules Gounon, Frederic Makowiecki, Mick Schumacher

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#95 United Autosports Mclaren 720S LMGT3 Evo: Darren Leung, Sean Gelael, Marino Sato

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Safety car on track

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#46 Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3: Ahmad Al Harthy, Valentino Rossi, Kelvin Van Der Linde

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#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 – Hybrid: Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ry? Hirakawa

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#12 Cadillac Hertz Team Jota Cadillac V-Series.R: Alex Lynn, Norman Nato, Will Stevens, #20 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8: Rene Rast, Robin Frijns, Sheldon van der Linde

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#83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye, Philip Hanson, #99 Proton Competition Porsche 963: Neel Jani, Nicolas Pino, Nicolas Varrone, #5 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Julien Andlauer, Michael Christensen, Mathieu Jaminet

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#35 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg, Charles Milesi

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Race winner #35 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg, Charles Milesi

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Podium: Race winner #35 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg, Charles Milesi, second place #93 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Paul Di Resta, Mikkel Jensen, Jean-Eric Vergne, third place #6 Porsche Penske Motorsport P

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Race winner #35 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg, Charles Milesi

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Podium: Race winner #35 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424: Paul-Loup Chatin, Ferdinand Habsburg, Charles Milesi

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WEC Fuji 6 Hours – Race results

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