The fight for victory came down to a last hour battle between all three LMP1 manufacturers. It was a tense ending to the race but Kamui Kobayashi’s Toyota TS 050 HYBRID just had enough to hold off the No.8 Audi Sport Team Joest driven by Loic Duval. 

Reigning champions, Mark Webber, Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley, completed the podium in third position. 

In the LMP2 class G-Drive Racing finally took the maximum points for the first time this season after shaking off their poor luck when in winning positions earlier this year. Alex Brundle, Will Stevens and Roman Rusinov drove impeccable stints to lead home the RGR Sport Ligier-Nissan. 

Ford took a deserved 1-2 in the LMGTE Pro class, racing from lights to flag at the front of the category. Harry Tincknell and Andy Priaulx took the victory after the sister car lost time through a spin suffered by Olivier Pla in the fifth hour. 

Aston Martin Racing took a straightforward win in the LMGTE Am class as Paul Dalla Lana, Mathias Lauda and Pedro Lamy dominated the race. 

Special points of interest after one of the most exciting WEC races ever : 

- Closest ever winning margin in a WEC event
- First completely ‘green’ WEC race since Spa 2015
- Closest ever gap between three manufacturers finishing 1-2-3
- Most laps ever completed at Fuji Speedway in a WEC race and only five laps from all-   time record at Interlagos 2014
- First win for Toyota TS 050 HYBRID design
- First WEC wins for Kamui Kobayashi and Andy Priaulx
- No.6 Toyota crew move to second in Drivers standings 

To read the provisional race result and the latest championship standings

FIA WEC press release

Picture : Adrenal Media