WEC News: TOYOTA GAZOO Racing gears up for fierce home fight
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s home circuit of Fuji Speedway hosts the penultimate round of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) on 28 September.
The 6 Hours of Fuji is round seven of eight this year and gives the team an opportunity for a long-awaited first podium of a challenging season in front of its enthusiastic Japanese fans, partners and Toyota colleagues.
The team has an impressive record at Fuji Speedway, with nine victories contributing to 15 podiums from the 11 WEC races there since the series returned in 2012. Another podium was a possibility last year when the #8 crew started from second and ran at the front for most of the race, until a late penalty intervened.
Against a field of 18 Hypercars from eight manufacturers, the two GR010 HYBRIDs face a tough task to return to the podium for the first time since the 2024 season finale in Bahrain. This was highlighted in Austin two weeks ago, when challenging conditions saw neither car able to fight at the front.
Mike Conway returns to the #7 GR010 HYBRID line-up alongside Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries after recovering from the training injury which caused him to miss the Austin race. In the #8 car, Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa will aim for a strong home result.
Fuji Speedway, located around 100km west of Tokyo, is truly the home circuit for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing. It is located close to the Higashi-Fuji Technical Center, where the high-performance hybrid powertrain in the GR010 HYBRIDs is designed, developed and built. Many staff from Higashi-Fuji will join a large contingent of Toyota employees to show their support for the team throughout the weekend.
The historic circuit is characterised by a 1.475km start-finish straight where cars exceed 320km/h, and this demands strong top speed and braking stability into turn one. In contrast, the tight and technical third sector requires aerodynamic and mechanical grip, as well as traction out of the corners.
To meet Fuji Speedway’s complex set-up challenges, the team and drivers already conducted simulator sessions at its facility in Cologne, Germany prior to travelling to Japan. The first on-track opportunity to optimise car settings for the 4.563km circuit comes in Friday’s two free practice sessions. Hypercar qualifying begins at 3pm local time (8am CEST) on Saturday, setting the grid for Sunday’s race, which gets underway at 11am (4am CEST).
Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car #7): “We are very much looking forward to our home race. After Le Mans, this is our most important race and one where we really want to perform well. So far this year, we are struggling but I hope we can achieve something special on our home track because we have been quite strong there in the past. We will perform to our maximum and hopefully our Japanese fans will be able to enjoy an exciting weekend and a great result for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing.”
Mike Conway (Driver, car #7): “It was immensely frustrating to miss the last round in Austin. But my recovery has been going well. I did a simulator session last week to prepare and everything felt okay, so I’m looking forward to getting back in the car in Fuji. It’s such a special race for everyone at TOYOTA GAZOO Racing. I’m really pleased that I have the chance to meet our Japanese supporters and Toyota colleagues again.”
Nyck de Vries (Driver, car #7): “We are always excited to come back to Japan, especially because we get to spend time meeting our partners and Toyota colleagues before the race weekend. We want to make our home crowd proud of our performance so we will be giving everything to extract the maximum from our package. We know it will be challenging, as always in WEC, but I am looking forward to it.”
Sébastien Buemi (Driver, car #8): “Fuji is a big race for us. We really want to do well so obviously we put a lot of effort into the preparation and hopefully that will help us to succeed. We have been strong at Fuji in the past and we won this race many times, so we have a good understanding of what’s needed to succeed. It can be quite hot and humid, and sometimes the rain has been a factor too, so we need to be ready to adapt. I’m looking forward to a great weekend with lots of fans. We really want to make them happy.”
Brendon Hartley (Driver, car #8): “As every year, we are very excited to go back to Fuji. We see lots of TOYOTA GAZOO Racing fans and meet many of our partners. Plus, it’s the only chance for many of our Toyota colleagues to visit a WEC race, which is great for all of us. I always look forward to this trip not only for the race itself, but for the food, the culture and the support we receive. We are going there with one goal; to win our home race.”
Ryo Hirakawa (Driver, car #8): “Fuji is not only a home race for the team, it’s also a home track for me as well so that makes it even more special. Last year we faced a challenging race and the result was disappointing. I am sure the competition will be intense this year, but we are fighting hard to get a better result. We all enjoy meeting our fans and we’re so happy that they come to support us at the track, so we will be giving everything to give them a race to remember.”