For the majority of the race, it was Alpine that looked set to occupy the top two spots on the podium in front of a hugely enthusiastic, 72,326-strong crowd at Fuji Speedway, after beginning the sixth round of the season from the front row of the grid.
The pair of French prototypes largely controlled the opening five hours of action, but a late safety car intervention – following a sizeable accident for the #58 Garage 59 LMGT3 McLaren, from which Finn Gehrsitz emerged unscathed – dramatically upended the order.
As everybody peeled into the pits, Toyota decided to take a gamble. The Japanese automotive giant – the most successful manufacturer in FIA WEC history – elected not to change tyres and to short-fuel Hirakawa in the #8 TR010 Hybrid Hypercar, which had been running in sixth position and had at one point been facing the wrong way after Hartley found himself tipped into a spin by Harry Tincknell on the approach to Turn One.
With light rain falling, Toyota’s closest championship challenger BMW similarly took a risk by leaving Dries Vanthoor on used rubber in the #15 M Hybrid V8, while Alpine adopted a more cautious approach by giving #36 driver Victor Martins an entirely fresh set of Michelins and Charles Milesi two new left-hand-side tyres in the sister #35 A424.
That dropped the pair to third (Milesi) and fifth (Martins), behind Hirakawa and Vanthoor and sandwiching Aston Martin’s Marco Sørensen. With just 20 minutes remaining at the re-start, Martins was the man on the move, scything past Sørensen before Milesi strategically let him through. It took a few laps for the French endurance racing rookie to relieve Vanthoor of second, but once he had done so, he swiftly closed onto the tail of Hirakawa.
A pass for the lead looked inevitable, but on home soil, the Japanese driver was in no mood to roll over, with a sublime defence resulting in the #8 trio’s second victory of the campaign – and Toyota’s first at Fuji in three years. His slender 0.591-second margin over Martins at the chequered flag was the closest-ever in FIA WEC’s top-tier between two different marques.
What’s more, the points gained have also vaulted Hirakawa, Hartley and Buemi – the first crew to triumph more than once in 2026 – to the top of the Drivers’ World Championship table.
“The re-start was really tricky, with the conditions changing and being on cold tyres on a slightly damp track,” reflected Hirakawa, after clinching an eighth career win in the series – his second in Japan. “I was lucky I had a lapped BMW ahead, because that gave me a kind of reference, and I had the other BMW just behind to block the Alpine.
“Even allowing for that, there was quite a lot of pressure and the last couple of laps were particularly stressful, but the team did a great job and kept giving me feedback on where I needed to push and where I needed to defend, so I’m very grateful for that and this win is for all of them. To stand on the top step of the podium in front of all of our fans was amazing. The last two races will be a step into the unknown for us, but I can’t wait!”
The #36 Alpine and #15 BMW rounded out the rostrum, with the #35 Alpine ending up fourth to cement Les Bleus’ best-ever two-car finish at the highest level, with the #38 Cadillac completing the top five following a strong run.
Peugeot registered its finest result of a difficult season in sixth with its #94 9X8, while Aston Martin had to settle for ninth with the #009 Valkyrie at the end of a day that had promised a great deal more and Genesis lost a top ten placing to a late drive-through penalty.
On a dismal day for defending world champion Ferrari, finally, the #51 entry was the only 499P to finish in the points in a lowly 10th position, dealing a significant blow to the Prancing Horse’s hopes of retaining the coveted crown.
The campaign will continue with the 6 Hours of Barcelona on 16-18 October.
