Rain was falling as the cars lined up for the start. Two formation laps were completed before the 6 Hours of Fuji began in earnest. Grip proved a problem in the early stages, but the competitors soon switched to slicks in the drying conditions. The #11 BR Engineering BR1-AER, fielded by SMP Racing and driven by Jenson Button, and the #1 Rebellion R13-Gibson took control of the proceedings. Their sister cars, however, were soon in difficulty. SMP Racing’s #17 BR Engineering BR1-AER firstly lost a wheel, spent considerable time in the pits and, finally, was left stranded out on the track a few hours later. Gustavo Menezes in the #3 Rebellion R13-Gibson came off the track and hit the tyre barriers (see below). A major blow to Rebellion Racing’s championship hopes.

Normal service was soon resumed with the pair of Toyotas dominating the race, swapping the lead at each pit stop. Eventually, the #7 car of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and José María López took the honours – their first win of the season – ahead of the #8 shared by this year’s Le Mans winners, Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Fernando Alonso. The #1 Rebellion R13-Gibson of Neel Jani, André Lotterer and Bruno Senna took the final spot on the podium. The #11 BR Engineering BR1-AER of SMP Racing came fourth ahead of the #4 ENSO CLM P1/01-Nismo of ByKolles Racing who completed one of their most accomplished races.

The LMP2 field was totally dominated by Jackie Chan DC Racing’s pair of Oreca 07-Gibson prototypes. The #37 shared by Jazeman Jaafar, Weiron Tan and Nabil Jeffri led home the #38 sister car that won the 6 Hours of Silverstone, driven by Ho-Pin Tung, Gabriel Aubry and Stéphane Richelmi. The #28 Oreca 07-Gibson of TDS Racing and the #36 Alpine A470-Gibson fought an exciting battle for third place. The Alpine won that particular tussle, just a few days after collecting the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans trophy.

In LMGTE Pro, the Aston Martin Vantages started the race out in front before returning to the fold. The #92 Porsche 911 RSR followed up on its Le Mans success with another win, following a fine race by Kévin Estre and Michael Christensen. The #82 BMW M8 GT8 and the #67 Ford GT finished second and third. The leading Ferrari was fourth (#51 AF Corse) although the #71 shared by Davide Rigon and Sam Bird was leading the proceedings when it came into contact with the #31 Oreca 07 of DragonSpeed. The best-placed Aston Martin Vantage was the #95 of Marco Sorensen and Nicki Thiim in seventh.

There was plenty of exciting action in the LMGTE Am class. In the first hour, the #70 Ferrari 488 GTE of MR Racing forced the safety car into service when it suffered a rear puncture and hit the safety barrier in the pit straight, spreading debris all over the track (see below)! At the end of the six-hour race, the #56 Porsche 911 RSR of Team Project 1 (Jörg Bergmeister, Patrick Lindsey and Egidio Perfetti) secured the win, the first for this new outfit. Another Porsche – the #88 of Dempsey-Proton Racing – finished in the runner-up spot, followed by two Aston Martin Vantages, the #90 of TF Sport and the #98 of Aston Martin Racing.

Shanghai, China, will be the venue for the fifth round of the Super Season, on 18 November.

Provisional classification

Photos: FIA WEC