Only 16 laps of racing were completed – all behind the Safety Car – and the race was suspended twice by the Race Director for safety reasons.
Ingolstadt/Fuji, October 20, 2013–Torrential rain at Fuji International Speedway today unfortunately prevented the FIA World Endurance Championship’s competitors from putting on the fantastic show of racing they had planned for the 23,700 passionate Japanese fans present for the 6 Hours of Fuji on race day.
The race was stopped after 3 hours and 46 minutes due to worsening weather conditions and deteriorating light, and the No.7 Toyota TS030 Hybrid of Kazuki Nakajima, Nicolas Lapierre and Alexander Wurz was declared the overall winner(Subject to the official publication of the results by the FIA). Half points were awarded to all drivers.
Second place for the No.2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro of Tom Kristensen, Loïc Duval and Allan McNish was enough to seal the FIA World Endurance Manufacturers’ Championship for Audi, although the Drivers’ title has yet to be decided.
Only 16 laps of racing were completed – all behind the Safety Car – and the race was suspended twice by the Race Director for safety reasons. The No.8 Toyota of Davidson-Buemi-Sarrazin and the No.1 Audi R18 of reigning World Champions Lotterer-Tréluyer-Fässler both suffered from problems during the race. The Toyota started from the pit lane after missing the pit exit closure time, and the Audi had to make three unscheduled pit stops to deal with debris in the air intake system but still finished on the lead lap, albeit in 26th place.
The No.12 Rebellion Racing LMP1 Privateer entry of Mathias Beche and Andrea Belicchi filled the third place on the overall podium, the Lola-Toyota finishing just ahead of the LMP2 class winner – the No.35 OAK Racing Morgan Nissan of Bertrand Baguette, Ricardo Gonzalez and Martin Plowman. The 24 Hours of Le Mans winners headed the No.26 G-Drive Racing ORECA 03 Nissan of Rusinov-Martin-Conway and the Japanese-entered No.27 Gainer International Zytek Z11SN Nissan of Hiranaka-Ueda-Wirdheim. Delta-ADR, Lotus Praga, OAK Racing’s other two entries, KCMG and Pecom Racing all completed the race without issues.
Over 41,000 fans visited Fuji International Speedway over the weekend of the FIA WEC’s visit, and the Championship organisers, teams and drivers’ thoughts were all for those after the shortened race today.
Gerard Neveu, CEO of the FIA WEC said, “Today’s 6 Hours of Fuji was not the race we wanted to put on for the thousands of Japanese fans who travelled to see the FIA World Endurance Championship. However the sporting officials took the right decisions with regards to the race in the interests of safety for our drivers and teams, which is always of primary importance.
“We acknowledge that this situation is still a huge disappoint for the fans and we would like to personally thank everyone who stayed in the pouring rain until the final decision to stop the race was taken. As a token of our gratitude we opened the pit lane at the end of the event, so the drivers could also show their appreciation. We look forward to coming back again to Japan in 2014 and we hope that the fans will re-join us on the 5th October next year.”
* Subject to the official publication of the results by the FIA
Quotes after the race
Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport): “We’d very much have liked to offer a great race to the many enthusiastic Japanese fans. Unfortunately, the weather today prevented this. Nobody can be blamed for this. And that the race was ultimately stopped was the only reasonable decision – safety always takes top priority. We’re happy about the World Championship title even though we’d have liked to have clinched it under different circumstances. I’m sure that the Japanese fans can look forward to a great sports car race at Fuji next year.”
Chris Reinke (Head of LMP): “We deserve to have won the World Championship title because we’ve been showing very good performances throughout the season. For Fuji we’d been planning a different outcome but the weather got in our way. It was a very unusual race. The squad can be proud of having defended the World Champion’s title.”
Ralf Jüttner (Technical Director Audi Sport Team Joest): “We’ve become World Champions but there’s no sheer joy after this race today. Unfortunately, we didn’t drive a single lap under green flags. Naturally, we’d have liked to have pitted ourselves against our opponent in a genuine competition but there was no chance of doing that today. Although points were awarded it subjectively feels as if we hadn’t driven a race at all.”
Loïc Duval (Audi R18 e-tron quattro #2): “I’ve often driven in Japan. There have been a lot of races that were canceled in such weather conditions. Our cars are not drivable in such heavy rain. It’s as though you were in a boat. Of course we’re racers and want to drive in front of our fans but this was the right decision today by race control.”
Tom Kristensen (Audi R18 e-tron quattro #2): “I’ve driven many races before at Fuji. It’s always been one of the most difficult race tracks in rain. The clouds hang in the mountains for a long time, there’s fog and poor visibility. The layout of the track with hilltops and peaks and valleys, that we love very much, causes many water streams. This means you’ve got a lot aquaplaning. I didn’t even sit in the cockpit. Loïc Duval and other drivers reported that our cars are simply not drivable here.”
Allan McNish (Audi R18 e-tron quattro #2): “In this heavy rain, it was the right thing to start behind the safety car and to stop the race. Our cars are designed for driving in dry conditions. Obviously, it’s a shame for the fans who had turned out here to watch the duel between Audi and Toyota. But even if we had driven, there wouldn’t have been many cars left after a few laps.”
Marcel Fässler (Audi R18 e-tron quattro #1): “When you see how much water is pouring down it was no doubt the right decision. Obviously the spectators who remained in the grandstands and wanted to see the race are the ones who lost out. But it doesn’t do anybody any good because the aquaplaning makes for critical situations. I can understand that the race was stopped.”
André Lotterer (Audi R18 e-tron quattro #1): “We’re all sorry but there was too much water on the track. We floated in our cars instead of driving them. There’s simply nothing you can do. Neither our cars nor the tires have been designed for such conditions. In addition, we suffered a bit of misfortune today but such weekends exist as well.”
Benoît Tréluyer (Audi R18 e-tron quattro #1): “It’s difficult to make such a decision. But it was no doubt the right choice because the track at Fuji is extremely dangerous in heavy rain. It’s better to stop the competition than to risk accidents. There have been too many serious accidents in various racing disciplines this season. That’s why the decision was right.”
Race results
1 Lapierre/Nakajima/Wurz (Toyota) 16 laps in 2h 56m 05.785s
2 Duval/Kristensen/McNish (Audi R18 e-tron quattro) + 1.901s
3 Beche/Belicchi (Lola-Toyota) + 3.872s
4 Baguette/Gonzalez/Plowman (Morgan-Nissan) + 6.131s
5 Conway/Martin/Rusinov (Oreca-Nissan) + 8.224s
6 Hiranaka/Ueda/Wirdheim (Zytek-Nissan) + 11.055s
7 Brundle/Heinemeier Hansson/Pla (Morgan-Nissan) + 12.834s
8 Graves/Nakano/Walker (Oreca-Nissan) + 15.323s
9 Bradley/Koizumi/Matsuda (Morgan-Nissan) + 19.569s
10 Kaffer/Minassian/Perez Companc (Oreca-Nissan) + 21.494s
