Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Announce 2024 Driver Lineup

Earlier today the Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT announced their 2024 World Rally Championship lineup. 

Full-Time Drivers 

Elfyn Evans 

Elfyn Evans remains a full-time driver for the Japanese team. This comes after Evans had a strong 2023 season. Winning three events and pushing the championship battle to the Central European Rally. A battle that could’ve gone further if Evans hadn’t crashed into a barn on the third day of the event. Evans also claimed 4 additional podiums in 2023.

“I’m looking forward to heading into what will be my fifth consecutive year with the team. We’ve had some great successes together over the last four years and I’m excited to continue that story with Toyota Gazoo Racing. I gelled with the team immediately when I joined and it feels very much like home now. The support from everyone to get me feeling comfortable in the GR YARIS Rally1 has been great, and we’ve continued to make progress this year. I’m keen to build on that and be even better in 2024. We have a lot more to achieve together and I’m excited about the future. As always, the target will be to win, whether that’s in each rally or in the championship.” Said Evans. 

Takamoto Katsuta 

This also isn’t a change. As Katsuta has been a full-time driver for Toyota since 2021. Katsuta still has yet to claim his first rally win. However, Katsuta had a strong showing this past weekend at his home event in Japan. As the 30-year-old put on the drive of a lifetime. Winning nearly half of the events stages, nobody could stop Katsuta. However, this didn’t lead to a win as a crash on SS2 forced Katsuta into EV mode for SS2 and SS3. Toyota is hoping this is a sign of things to come for the Japanese star.
“I’m really excited to start a new season with [the team] next year. I learned a lot this year: there were some rallies that were good for me and some that were not so good, but those have made me stronger and will hopefully help me in the future. Next year will be important to prove what I can do, and I will try to make it the best season of my career so far.” Said Katsuta. 

Part-Time 

Sebastien Ogier

Eight-time World Rally Champion Sebastien Ogier will once again be a part-time driver for the Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT. Ogier was arguably a top-three driver this past season. Winning three of the eight events he competed in. He likely would’ve also won Rally Italia Sardegna if his foot hadn’t slipped during a stage. Ogier will provide Toyota with a strong third car at the events he competes in. The number of events Ogier will compete in is still unknown. However, it sounds as if Ogier will compete in 10 events next season.
“I am of course really happy to still be with Toyota Gazoo Racing for next year. The 2023 season has been good for me and more importantly for the team, and managing to clinch all three titles again is great. I also really enjoy the balance that this kind of partial programme gives me, and next season should be pretty similar in that respect. As long as the success is there for me and the team, I think we should try to carry on in a similar way.” Said Ogier.

Kalle Rovanperä 

The biggest shock of the Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT is Kalle Rovanperä moving to part-time. Rovanperä has good reason for this, however. As the two-time World Rally Champion wants a little break.
“I am really excited to have signed a multi-year contract and to continue working with the team. Next year I am only going to be driving some of the events and the biggest reason for this is that I have been driving rally cars for 15 years already, which is quite a long time, and while the last seasons have been amazing of course, they have also been really demanding mentally and physically. So, I felt that now would be a good moment to take a year for recharging the batteries, and then come back again full-time to fight for the championship once more with a full attack. I enjoy all kinds of motorsport and I’m looking forward to doing some drifting and maybe some other cool events as well as the rallies which we will be selecting next year.” Said Rovanperä. 

Comment From The Team Principal

Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Principal Jari-Matti Latvala said the following about the 2024 lineup. “We are very happy to be keeping our winning driver line-up together for the future. It’s great to know that we have such a strong squad of drivers who feel at home in our car and our team and want to continue working with us. Kalle’s programme will be a bit different in 2024 but the important thing for us is that he is a Toyota driver and he wants to stay with the team and keep enjoying his passion for rallying.
Even though he is young, he has been driving rally cars at a serious level for a long time and he feels a part-campaign would be best for him now so that we can look forward to more full seasons together in the future. It’s also great that Seb continues with us, and it means that together with Kalle, we will have two multiple world champions as strong assets in our defence of the manufacturers’ championship. Elfyn has shown us again this year that he can win rallies and compete for championships, and we know he will give his best efforts in every rally. Taka proved at Rally Finland this year that he can be up there in the fastest rallies and hopefully, we can see him as a contender for podiums in almost every rally next season.” 

Johan Kristoffersson has officially clinched the 2023 World RX. Winning the sixth championship of his career. 

Been Here Before

Johan Kristoffersson has won the 2023 World RX championship. Making this his sixth championship in seven years. The only time Kristoffersson didn’t win the championship in those seven years was 2019. When Timmy Hansen won the championship. Kristoffersson was absent from the sport. Making this Kristoffersson’s sixth championship in the last six seasons he’s competed in. This time round Kristoffersson has secured the championship with one round remaining. Kristoffersson will likely take the final round of the season somewhat easy as he has nothing to push for. 

A Near Perfect Season For Kristoffersson

Johan Kristoffersson was head and shoulders ahead of his competitors to start the season. However, everything changed before round four. As a fire involving the Special One racing team brought the season to a halt. The season would continue however drivers wouldn’t use their WRX1e cars that they started the season in. Instead, they would drive the ZERIOD X1, the car used in RX2e. This took every advantage Kristoffersson’s Volkswagen gave him away. As now everyone would be in the same exact car. Kristoffersson started what would become round four how you’d expect him to start. As he took home the win, despite losing his first Superpole in over a year to Kevin Hansen. Round five saw Kristoffersson’s win streak end. As Timo Scheider took home the event win. 

A Battle For Second

With the championship out of the question, the focus for drivers now turns to a battle for second place. Just 13 points separate Kevin Hansen from Timo Scheider and Niclas Grönholm heading into the final round of the season. Sure second isn’t necessarily something people clamor over, but it makes for an interesting topic to have in mind while watching. It’s also something that will likely be kept in the back of drivers minds all day during the event. As at the end of the day, a top three finish in a championship isn’t bad. 

With a second-place finish at the Central European Rally, Kalle Rovanperä has claimed his second World Rally Championship.

Champions Again

Kalle Rovanperä won his first championship last year at Repco Rally New Zealand. Winning it with relative ease as nobody challenged him until Secto Rally Finland. When Ott Tänak won the event. Just over a year later Rovanperä is lifting the championship yet again. However this one was slightly more hard fought than the Rovanperä’s championship last season. For more on Rovanperä’s 2023 season look below. 

A Quick Look At Rovanperä’s 2023 Season

In 2023 Rovanperä had more of a challenge. As Sebastien Ogier won 2 of the 3 events to start the season. Rovanperä was left winless until Bonafide Rally Portugal. Up until round 5, Rovanperä only had one podium. Which was a second overall at Rallye Monte-Carlo. From Portugal onward Rovanperä was nearly unstoppable. Winning Rally Estonia and finishing on the podium at Rally Italia Sardegna and Safari Rally Kenya. However, everything changed at Secto Rally Finland, Rovanperä’s home event. The then 22-year-old was leading the rally on the third day. However, on one of the afternoon stages, Rovanperä went wide and clipped a rock. Rolling his car and ending his event as a result. This put Elfyn Evans back into the title race. Evans sat just 25 points behind Rovanperä heading into EKO Acropolis Rally Greece. Rovanperä won the event, expanding the gap to 33 points. Tire struggles for both drivers in Rally Chile BioBio left Rovanperä behind Evans. Closing the gap to 31 points. Everything was on the line for Evans at the Central European Rally. Rovanperä claimed all but two stage wins on the second day of the event leaving Evans in the dust. On the third day Evans’ championship hopes ended. As Evans would go off the road and hit somebody’s barn. Breaking his rear suspension and ending his day at the event. All Rovanperä had to do was finish the event 7th or higher and the championship was his. Rovanperä sat second at the end of the third day. With just 4 stages on the final day, the championship was all but his. Rovanperä held on to second to secure the championship. 

The Heart of Racing team has announced that Aston Martin will enter a Le Mans Hypercar into the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans via the Aston Martin Valkyrie Program. Additionally, Aston martin will also participate in select endurance races in the IMSA WeatherTech Championship GTP class. The prototype Valkyrie will participate in three of the most prestigious events; Le Mans, the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring.

Lawrence Stroll, Executive Chairman of Aston Martin Lagonda stated “Performance is the lifeblood of everything that we do at Aston Martin, and motorsport is the ultimate expression of this pursuit of excellence.

We have been present at Le Mans since the earliest days, and through those glorious endeavors we succeeded in winning Le Mans in 1959 and our class 19 times over the past 95 years. Now we return to the scene of those first triumphs aiming to write new history with a racing prototype inspired by the fastest production car Aston Martin has ever built.

Aston Martin Builds off of its F1 Legacy

Stroll continued his thoughts on expansion beyond Formula 1. “In addition to our presence in the FIA Formula 1^® World Championship, Aston Martin’s return to the pinnacle of endurance racing will allow us to build a deeper connection with our customers and community, many of whom found their passion for the brand through our past success at Le Mans. And of course, the complex knowledge-base we are building through our F1^® team is data that Aston Martin Performance Technologies can harness to further enhance the capabilities of the Valkyrie racecar at Le Mans, in WEC and IMSA.

Just as the learnings we gain through endurance competition will feed directly into our road car programs, further improving the ultimate performance of our products. I would like to thank Gabe Newell and Heart of Racing for partnering with Aston Martin on this program, and I look forward to working with him and the team as we aim for success in the greatest endurance race of them all.”

Ian James, Team Principal of Heart of Racing, said: “It’s a privilege to be able to bring Aston Martin back to the top of endurance racing with the Heart of Racing.

“Our team has grown exponentially since we began racing with those famous wings at Daytona in 2020. We understand and are aligned with the ethos of the brand and we have developed our own systems and technologies to extract the maximum performance of the cars we compete with. Our understanding of Valkyrie is strong and we have worked closely with it through our customer activation programs for two years now.”

Marc Marquez is rumored to be making a move to Gresini Racing placing him on a Ducati for the 2024 MotoGP season. Marquez has been unhappy at Honda this year. The first half of the season was plagued with multiple crashes and multiple zero points finishes. In part it feels like Marquez may just want a change after one of his worst MotoGP seasons ever.

Honda Racing Corporation Released the Following Statement

“Honda Racing Corporation and Marc Marquez have mutually elected to terminate their four-year contract prematurely at the end of the 2023 MotoGP World Championship season.

With a year still remaining on the four-year contract between HRC and Marc Marquez, both parties have mutually agreed to end their collaboration upon completion of the 2023 MotoGP World Championship season. Both parties agreed it was in their best interests to each pursue other avenues in the future to best achieve their respective goals and targets.

This brings an end to 11 years of collaboration between the #93 and HRC in which they achieved six premier class World Championships, five Triple Crowns, 59 wins, 101 podiums and 64 pole positions together.

Marquez took his debut victory in the premier class aboard the Honda RC213V at the Grand Prix of the Americas in Austin, Texas in 2013 to become the youngest premier class winner and would become the youngest premier class World Champion later that year. In 2014 he defended his title and won the opening 10 consecutive races of year, going on to also claim titles in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 as an HRC rider with the Repsol Honda Team.

Both parties will continue to give their full support for the remaining rounds of the 2023 MotoGP World Championship season. HRC wish Marc Marquez the best in his future endeavors.”

Marquez to Gresini?

Marquez is rumored to be joining Gresini Racing where he would share a garage with his brother Alex Marquez. We can imagine that this was a strong factor in his decision to leave Honda as the two haven’t raced for the same team in MotoGp since 2020 when Alex Marquez filled in for Jorge Lorenzo who retired at the end of the 2019 season. Gresini has not yet publicly confirmed this move however. The move would end an 11 year stent at Honda. We will stand by for the official press release from Gresini if this deal is true.

Ott Tänak is reportedly rejoining the Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT for the 2024 season. Find out more below. 

After One Year

Tänak left Hyundai last offseason after competing with the team since 2020. Tänak’s departure from the team was pretty much known before it was announced. As he and teammate Thierry Neuville didn’t have the best relationship at the time. With the team heavily favoring Neuville, even when Tänak had a strong chance at winning the drivers championship. Tänak had made some comments to the media about the situation and mainly Neuville, although they did not directly mention Neuville. Regardless of the dispute, Tänak and Neuville still reportedly have loads of respect for each other. Tänak moved back to M-Sport after leaving Hyundai and that move hasn’t been the greatest. With the Puma Rally1 encountering many reliability issues throughout the season. 

Why Is Tänak Rejoining Hyundai?

It’s no secret Hyundai’s i20 has reliability issues much like M-Sport Puma. However, Tänak is currently the most successful driver in that car. Winning 3 of the 5 events the car has won at. Tänak had a chance at winning last years championship until Hyundai chose to let Neuville win EKO Acropolis Rally Greece over Tänak. For Tänak rejoining Hyundai is almost a no-brainer if you look past the issues with Neuville and such. As joining Hyundai gives Tänak a chance at winning the championship. Sure the car won’t be suited to his driving style, that didn’t stop him last season, however. To be completely honest, being at M-Sport didn’t give Tänak much of a hope of winning the championship. Tänak proved this past weekend at Rally Chile BioBio that the Puma can win, but it takes a lot of luck. It is also worth mentioning the Hyundai Tänak left 18 months ago isn’t the same as it is now.

What This Means For Hyundai

Tänak rejoining the team gives Hyundai two top drivers again. The pairing of Tänak and Neuville worked well. You had two guys who could win rallies. Well, this is good as we have seen it can lead to issues, especially when the two drivers in question are fiercely competitive. Tänak is arguably the second-best driver in the championship currently behind Kalle Rovanperä. However, the gap between the two isn’t small. I mean we are talking about the guy who gave Rovanperä a run for his money last season, although that push by Tänak started just a bit too late. Having two top drivers gives Hyundai a strong chance at winning the manufacturers’ championship, something they did in 2019 and 2020. However, that also relies on Hyundai getting a car that actually works for a full event more than 50% of the time. 

What Tänak’s Return Means For Lappi

Esapekka Lappi took over Tänak’s role in Hyundai after Tänak left. Lappi has done decently well this season. Tänak rejoining the team ultimately means Lappi won’t get a full-time drive with the team. That is unless Hyundai is getting the fourth car they are rumored to be getting. However, if they do get that fourth car it’ll likely be used to give a young driver seat time in a Rally1 car. For Lappi, it currently looks as if he will either split the third car with somebody, probably Teemu Suninen or look for another team to join. Lappi should stick with Hyundai if given the chance, however, there is reason to believe he’ll move. Lappi spent last season driving part-time for Toyota. However, he likely won’t rejoin Toyota. I suspect if he were to leave Hyundai he’ll join M-Sport, but why? If Lappi wants a full-time drive next season M-Sport is the place to do it. With M-Sport, Lappi would be the number one driver. Plus the team would be able to build the car around his wants and likes. For M-Sport it also makes sense. As Lappi won’t break the bank while giving them a decently good driver. 

Andretti Global has emerged as the only bid left in contention to join the F1 grid as the organization heads into phase 3 of the process. The FIA has outline the process as follows:

• Phase 1: Call for Expressions of Interest
• Phase 2: Application, evaluation and approval process
• Phase 3: Successful applicant referred to FOM for commercial discussions

The FIA received seven applicants at the beginning phase of the approval process. Five moved to phase two. Of the five, four completed the necessary filing and paid the $300,000 administrative fee. After phase three Andretti is now the last organization standing. There had been speculation as to who the front running bid for F1 entry would be but after two other contenders outed themselves as being denied progression forward it was clear that Andretti Global would be the sole front runner. Andretti must now convince the F1 Commercial Rights Holders with Liberty Media that the move makes sense business wise.

FIA President Comments on the Decision to Move Andretti to Phase 3

FIA President, Mohammed Ben Sulayem expressed support for Andretti in the FIA press release identifying Andretti as the front runner.

Michael Andretti had the following statement after the news, “We appreciate the FIA’s rigorous, transparent and complete evaluation process and are incredibly excited to be given the opportunity to compete in such a historic and prestigious championship,” the statement said. “The formation of this distinctly American team is an important moment of pride for all our employees and fans. We feel strongly that Andretti Cadillac’s deep racing competencies and the technological advancements that come from racing will benefit our customers while heightening enthusiasm for F1, globally.”

Competitor Thoughts

To date support for expansion has not been positive amongst the 10 teams already in Formula 1. The biggest reason for this resistance is the split of championship payouts. However, the teams have no say in the remaining proceedings. If Andretti and the FIA can come to a deal we will see them in Formula in either 2025 or 2026. It is rumored that a 2026 entry would be more favorable considering the expiration of the current Concorde agreement set to expire in 2025. For now we sit back and wait to see how negotiation talks go.

All in all Andretti is one step closer to fielding a truly American F1 team. Haas is currently coined as an American based team. However they do no field American drivers and their power unit supplier is Ferrari. America has been a hot bed for new fans over the past three years. It’s clear Andretti Global feels more can be done here.

After a disappointing outing in Singapore last weekend. Verstappen bounced back in true championship leading form when he secured Pole Position at Suzuka. The McLarens and Verstappen have traded fastest laps all weekend through qualifying. However it was the Dutchman Verstappen who set the time to beat 6 tenths fastest than P2 finisher Oscar Piastri. Verstappen had the following words after the qualifying sessions.

“It’s been an incredible weekend so far, especially in qualifying, where you can really push it to the limit, it felt really, really nice. We had a bad weekend in Singapore. I already felt from the preparation we had that this was going to be a good track, but you never really know how good it’s going to be. From lap one it’s been really, really nice. Of course, you try to find little improvements here and there, and I think we did that. To be on pole here is fantastic.”

Charles Leclerc prevented a McLaren/Red Bull cluster at the front finishing P4 in the session ahead of Sergio Perez. Elsewhere on the grid was mostly uneventful. In Q1 Logan Sargeant crashed out again and leave his mechanics a major overhaul to get the car ready for racing day. Liam Lawson almost made it into Q3 but fell just short having to settle for 11th.

Full Japanese Grand Prix Qualifying Results

Position	Driver	Car / Engine	Time	Delta (s)
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull/Honda RBPT	1’28.877
2	Oscar Piastri	McLaren/Mercedes	1’29.458	0.581
3	Lando Norris	McLaren/Mercedes	1’29.493	0.616
4	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1’29.542	0.665
5	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull/Honda RBPT	1’29.650	0.773
6	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	1’29.850	0.973
7	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1’29.908	1.031
8	George Russell	Mercedes	1’30.219	1.342
9	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri/Honda RBPT	1’30.303	1.426
10	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin/Mercedes	1’30.560	1.683
11	Liam Lawson	AlphaTauri/Honda RBPT	1’30.508	1.631
12	Pierre Gasly	Alpine/Renault	1’30.509	1.632
13	Alexander Albon	Williams/Mercedes	1’30.537	1.660
14	Esteban Ocon	Alpine/Renault	1’30.586	1.709
15	Kevin Magnussen	Haas/Ferrari	1’30.665	1.788
16	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo/Ferrari	1’31.049	2.172
17	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin/Mercedes	1’31.181	2.304
18	Nico Hülkenberg	Haas/Ferrari	1’31.299	2.422
19	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo/Ferrari	1’31.398	2.521
20	Logan Sargeant	Williams/Mercedes	–	–

With the Medallia Superbike championship already decided, the focus was on three classes. Stock 1000, Supersport and Super hooligans; as all three classes crowned champions this weekend at Circuit of the Americas. Here are how the events unfolded.

Stock 1000 – Hayden Gillim Dominates to Secure Championship

Hayden Gillim came into the race weekend with one goal in mind, to win both races. He entered the race weekend 8 points behind the championship points leader, Ezra Beaubier (Orange Cat Racing). However, as the weekend progressed, it was soon discovered that Beaubier was suffering from a severe stomach sickness that would eliminate him from contention in the championship race. Yet, the job was not done. Gilliam had to fend off Orange Cat Racing rider Kaleb De Keyrel as well. De Keyrel came into the race weekend in third place, behind Gillim, but with the news of his teammate not being able to compete in the season finale, the opportunity to win the class was on the table.

Unfortunately for De Keyrel, the tides were not in his favor after a P7 finish in race 1. After a win in race 1, Hayden Gillim rode with a purpose in Race 2. Gillim only needed to finish at minimum fourth place to clinch the title; but, that didn’t stop him from going toe to toe with Travis Wyman (Travis Wyman Racing) for the entire race. Fans were in for a treat because Gillim was not in the mindset to settle for fourth place. He was racing like it was any other weekend. Wyman and Gillim pulled away at the front by the 3rd lap of the race. Wyman led the race until a pivotal pass by Gillim on Lap 5 of the race. From this point on, Gillim took off, and Wyman wasn’t able to find the pace to catch him again. Unfortunately, Kaleb De Keyrel had to win the race to have any chance at the championship. He finished P4 in race 2.

Gilliam Had the Following Words After the Race

“Everybody before the race was telling me where I needed to be and everything. Like I said yesterday, I’m not good at math, so I wanted to win the last one. I didn’t want to sit there. I knew Travis (Wyman) from the first couple of laps was going to be hard to pass. It took me a while. The first pass I made on him, immediately he came back by. So, the second pass, I made sure to kind of block a little bit going into that next-to-last corner. Knew I had a little bit on the brakes going up into one, just from the first time he came back by me. But it was good. It was so much fun to race with him. We’ve raced so hard over the years. For us to be dicing it out the last race of the year is a lot of fun. He definitely made me work for it today, though. But the whole team, Disrupt Racing 4SR team, has been working their butts off this year.”

Gillim Continued

“We had a really bad start to the season and to be able to finish it off with the couple wins we did here is pretty special, and to have the whole Nickell family here running 4SR in the U.S. is amazing. They’re like family to me. Having them here with us is really awesome. To be able to bring it home for Jesse and Dani Hwilka this year is really special. They’ve been wanting it really bad. I got their first win for them and the first podium. And now, the first championship. So, it’s really special. It’s a bummer because my wife isn’t here and my son isn’t here, but they’re at home watching. She made me tear up a little bit on the podium because she was crying on the phone. So, I wasn’t able to get out some of the stuff I wanted to say on the podium. This is really awesome.”

Supersport – Tyler Scott Wins Consolation Race 2

Xavi Fores has had a very dominant season this year aboard his Warhorse HSBK Ducati V2. But that hasn’t stopped Tyler Scott (Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki) from making his presence known. Scott won Race 2 ahead of championship winner Fores. Scott had the following words.

“This morning we made a few changes from yesterday,” Scott said. “They were all very minor, one or two very minor changes. But the big question was we were running out of gearing on the back straightaway. So, we were hitting the limiter. Before the restart, I tried to draft him and then see if I could pass in the braking zone. But the gearing, I started hitting the limiter at the first braking marker and was actually losing ground. So, I knew for the rest of the race and what eventually would become the restart that I would have to be really aggressive, really deep into the brakes, or lead down the big straightaway and hopefully he gets beside me.”

Scott Continued on the Events During the Race

“I had the confidence in the front end to be able to out-brake Xavi (Forés) for one of the first times this season. I was able to match him in the braking zones and came out on top in those battles…can’t give enough thanks to the whole Vision Wheel M4 ECSTAR Suzuki team for preparing a beautiful bike this weekend, dialing in the electronics, Barry from Öhlins dialing in the suspension. It couldn’t be more perfect. The one thing also, I went with the zero front tire which was super soft. About halfway, I started tucking the front a little bit and I just had to be careful in the closing laps not to put a lot of bar input at the apex.”

Super Hooligans

Tyler O’Hara (Indian Motorcycle/Progressive/Mission Foods) wrapped up the 2023 Super Hooligans title on Saturday. That didn’t stop him from racing until the end. Race 2 O’Hara Edged out his teammate Jeremy McWilliams by 1.7 seconds in the final race of the season. The two Indian Motorcycle/Progressive/Mission Foods riders finished 1-2 in the championship. This was the best possible results for the Indian Motorcycles team.

Superbike

Josh Herrin (Warhorse HSBK Ducati) secured his second Superbike win of the season ahead of championship winner Jake Gagne. The race was red flagged and restarted with 10 laps to go. Herrin got a great start and led the race for all 10 laps. A feat that was in contrast to Saturday’s race. While the championship had already decided, Herrin had the following words after the race.

“I feel like a broken record saying this, but getting track time at this track prior to coming here and having some time on this bike before we came here to race is what we needed…I knew all year that we were struggling with just trying to get up to speed. It took all the way until the second half of the Saturday race for us to be comfortable and then Sunday would be good for us. I don’t want to celebrate too much. I feel like a linebacker getting a sack or something in a football game when you’re down by 30 points because we lost the championship. But it feels good to get this win. I’m so happy to be a part of this team.”

Mission King of the Baggers

Day 2 of racing in the Baggers class did not go in race 1 winner Kyle Wyman’s favor. Wyman finished P9 leaving the door wide open for Vance & Hines/Mission/Harley-Davidson riders James Rispoli and Hayden Gillim. A late off by Travis Wyman opened up a second place finish for Gillim which allowed him to retain his lead. The result is a one point loss in margin after the weekend. Gillim leads the title chase by just two points over Rispoli with Wyman third, 11 points behind Gillim. The championship will be decided at the MotoAmerica season finale at New Jersey Motorsports Park in two weeks time.

Toyota Gazoo Racing celebrate a 1-2 finish at the 6 Hours of Fuji and championship title win at their home race at Fuji International Raceway. 55,000 fans came out for the championship deciding race this weekend. The weekend started off with mixed weather conditions but they soon clear up offering perfect conditions for racing. The No. 7 Toyota Gazoo Racing run GR010 Hybrid Hypercar trio of Kamui Kobayashi, Jose Maria Lopez and Mike Conway sealed their fourth win of the 2023 season. They finished ahead of the No. 8 sister car of Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa by 39.119 seconds.

The Porsche Penske Motorsport No. 06 Porsche 963 finished third. The Porsche led the race for almost 4 hours but in the end they lost track position on an ill timed pit stop resulting in losing the lead. Sister car did not finish the race and fell behind. At the finish of the race the No. 05 car was 47 laps behind the lead lap. The No. 05 car was involved in an on track incident and series of penalties not served ultimately retiring from the race.

LMP2

WRT took the win over United Autosports with the No. 41 car. The No. 41 car was the only car on the in class lead lap at the finish. United Autosports secured a second place finish with the No. 22 car and WRT’s sister car rounded out the top 3 with a double podium finish for the team. The No.23 United Autosports car finished 4th 14 seconds behind.

LMGTE Am

Davide Rigon, Francesco Castellacci and Thomas Flohr took the class win in the #54 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE. The win came by a margin of 22 seconds. The team was comfortable at the front in the closing stages of the race. Second place went to the #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari momentarily. However the team was handed a 10 second penalty for speeding under a yellow flag. The Penalty relegated the No. 57 car to third place behind the championship winning No. 33 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R.

Full Race Results are Available Below