Having won the previous round – the Lone Star Le Mans, at the Circuit of the Americas [COTA] – Ian James (GBR), Mattia Drudi (ITA) and Zach Robichon (CAN) maintained their recent championship momentum with an improbable runner-up spot in Japan. The result means that the trio have moved to fourth in the FIA Endurance Trophy for LMGT3 Drivers with 62 points, 14 behind the leaders, with 52 points available if they were to win both the final races from pole position. The Heart of Racing Team is second in the Teams’ Championship, also 14 points behind the leaders.
This scenario seemed an unlikely outcome at the start of the day. The #27 Vantage began the race with 18kg of success ballast following its COTA victory and started from 16th on the grid after qualifying was cancelled because of rain, and positions were decided by practice times instead.
Undeterred, James brilliantly raced through to third in his opening stints but was the unfortunate recipient of a pitlane penalty. This dropped the car back to eighth during Robichon’s stint. Drudi was initially unable to make any progress and was fighting for a position in the top ten when he was involved in a collision with a McLaren just as the final hour began. The resulting accident provoked a lengthy Safety Car period while the barriers on the entry to Turn 1 were repaired. Drudi also suffered a left-rear puncture in the incident which he pitted to change.
Pitting again for a final fuel stop with less than half an hour to go, the Italian took on three more tyres, while several of his rivals opted to stay on their existing sets as the race went green for the final 20 minutes. Jumping two cars in the pitstops, Drudi found himself in eighth and then he forged forwards into second place in swashbuckling style, finishing just over a second behind the winner.
“That was fun,” said Drudi. “Initially it was difficult and I didn’t have any pace, I was struggling with the balance a bit. Then I had contact with the McLaren, and I am glad the other driver is okay because it was a big accident. I was lucky that I didn’t get more damage than a puncture. I was able to make it back to the pits and then we did a good stop at the end and jumped some positions. Because we were on new tyres I could use their potential and somehow at the end we were quick. We came really close to winning the race but seeing how it was going up until the Safety Car, I think we can be really, really happy with second position.”
Vantage, Aston Martin’s most successful racing car of all time, thus built upon its enviable record at Fuji. Through its five iterations Vantage now boasts 17 podium appearances, including seven victories; two of which were double class wins. On only four occasions has the Fuji WEC podium not featured a Vantage driver crew.
Adam Carter, Aston Martin Head of Endurance Motorsport said: “Fuji it seems is very often kind to Aston Martin, and while we were not perhaps the fastest combination today, the mountain smiled down on us again! Vantage has proved time and again this year that it is a competitive proposition in all GT racing arenas, and that includes WEC. Misfortune has stopped it from winning more than once this year, but it is good to see that the second half of the season is rewarding it with the kind of results its performances have deserved. Now with two races to go, the championship has once again become a realistic target. We have the resilience, spirit, and great teamwork of the Heart of Racing Team to thank for this.”
The Vantage GT3 shares the mechanical architecture of the ultra-luxury Vantage road car and is built around Aston Martin’s proven bonded aluminium chassis and powered by its fearsome twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 engine.
