WEC News: Alpine and Corvette win 6 Hours of Fuji
The FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) marked its 100th race at Fuji Speedway on September 28, 2025, with a thrilling six-hour spectacle that delivered relentless action and a stunning upset. Alpine Endurance Team’s #35 A424 (pictured), driven by Charles Milesi, Ferdinand Habsburg, and Paul-Loup Chatin, claimed its first Hypercar victory since the 2022 6 Hours of Monza, emerging from the pack in the final two hours to secure an improbable win.
–by Mark Cipolloni–
Alpine’s triumph hinged on a bold strategy and a stroke of luck. A timely pit stop just before a full-course yellow, triggered by the third and final safety car, vaulted the #35 into second place as rivals pitted under neutral conditions. At the final pit stop, the team opted for a left-side-only Michelin tire change, handing Milesi a seven-second lead over the #93 Peugeot. Despite aging right-side tires, Milesi held firm, crossing the line 7.6 seconds ahead of Mikkel Jensen’s Peugeot 9X8.
“The call to take the risk came from top management, and it paid off,” Chatin said post-race. “We were nearly a lap down early on, but the team fought back, the full-course yellow gave us a chance, and our pace was strong,” Milesi added.
Peugeot’s #93 secured a second consecutive podium, with Jensen fending off a late charge from the #6 Porsche 963, driven by Laurens Vanthoor and Kevin Estre. The Penske-operated Porsche, starting 17th, staged a remarkable recovery despite a rear-clip change and a five-second pit-stop penalty, keeping their Drivers’ Championship hopes alive with a third-place finish.
The race was punctuated by three safety car periods that reshuffled the field. The most dramatic came in the third hour after Raffaele Marciello’s #15 BMW crashed heavily at Turn 4. Marciello, on his out-lap, braked to avoid the #99 Proton Porsche, lost control, and slammed into the barriers, destroying the M Hybrid V8’s front end. This incident cost front-runners like the #12 Hertz Team JOTA Cadillac, which led early but fell to seventh after safety car timing disruptions.
Stevens set the fastest race lap of 1 minute, 30.507 seconds early in his opening stint in the #12 Cadillac on the 2.835-mile, 12-turn Fuji Speedway circuit, in which he led all but one lap during a pit stop transition under a Virtual Safety Car. The No. 12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R led a field-high 67 laps.
In a race that totaled seven yellows, luck to steer clear of skirmishes and scattered debris was as important as pace.
“It’s frustrating because, as a team we deserved way more,” said Stevens.
I think we had one of the fastest cars today but just honestly unlucky in places. I think at the start of the race we proved that we were, but from there we just had a lot of bad luck, fell in positions and it’s hard to recover when it’s so competitive.
“I think the team did a very good job this week, the car was strong but sometimes it’s just not your day.” (about his opening stint): “A few things going on with Safety Cars and full course yellows, but I felt like we were able to control the race very well. Then we got a great start and worked well between me and Seb to make sure we kept the lead between us because we knew it was going to be important.”
The final safety car, triggered by Tom Gamble’s #007 Aston Martin THOR Valkyrie crashing into an LMGT3 Vantage at Turn 3, set the stage for Alpine’s decisive move. The #93 Peugeot briefly led with Jean-Eric Vergne at the wheel, overtaking the #99 Proton Porsche at Turn 10, but Alpine’s strategy ultimately stole the show.
Porsche’s #5 factory 963 finished fourth, bolstering their Manufacturers’ Championship campaign, while the #94 Peugeot took fifth, with Stoffel Vandoorne passing the #12 JOTA Cadillac late. The #009 Aston Martin finished sixth, ahead of the Cadillac. Ferrari’s Hypercar contingent struggled, with the #83 private 499P sneaking into 10th despite sidepod damage from a multi-car incident, while the championship-leading #51 and #50 factory cars finished 11th and 15th, hampered by track limit penalties.
Corvette wins in LMGT3
Charlie Eastwood, Rui Andrade and Tom Van Rompuy earned their first win as a trio and their third podium finish of the season. The three teammates drove their way back from an early-race penalty and took advantage of last-lap trouble for the No. 21 Ferrari.
Eastwood took the checkered flag second in LMGT3 but the Ferrari was assessed a five-second, post-race penalty of its own on the final lap. Both cars had to stop for a splash of fuel inside the final six minutes but the TF Sport Corvette came in a lap later – critical as Eastwood went from eight seconds behind to well within the five-second margin he needed for victory.
TF Sport’s No. 33 Corvette won the opening race of the season in Qatar, and the team also won with one of its Corvettes in the European Le Mans Series earlier this year… coincidentally one driven by Eastwood and Andrade. It also was the second win at Fuji this year for the Z06 GT3.R as Johor Motorsports Racing took a victory earlier this year in GT World Challenge Asia.
Unofficially, the No. 81 Corvette team moved into third place in the LMGT3 Drivers and Teams championships – 24 points out of first place with 39 total points available in the eight-hour season finale in Bahrain.
“Half the field was on one strategy, we were on another, and we learned of their penalty on the last lap. What a team effort,” Eastwood said. WRT’s BMWs took third and fourth, while the championship-leading Manthey 1st Phorm Porsche finished fifth, keeping the LMGT3 title race open.
TF SPORT #81 CORVETTE POST-EVENT QUOTES
6 Hours of Fuji Hypercar Race results
| Pos. | Manufacturer & Car | No. | Team / Drivers | Laps | Gap | Interval |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
  |
#35 | ALPINE ENDURANCE TEAM | 202 | – | – |
| 2 |
  |
#93 | PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES | 202 | 7.682 | 7.682 |
| 3 |
  |
#6 | PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT | 202 | 8.167 | 0.485 |
| 4 |
 |
#5 | PORSCHE PENSKE MOTORSPORT | 202 | 16.083 | 7.916 |
| 5 |
 |
#94 | PEUGEOT TOTALENERGIES | 202 | 18.542 | 2.459 |
| 6 |
  |
#009 | ASTON MARTIN THOR TEAM | 202 | 39.761 | 21.219 |
| 7 |
  |
#12 | CADILLAC HERTZ TEAM JOTA | 202 | 43.567 | 3.806 |
| 8 |
  |
#7 | TOYOTA GAZOO RACING | 202 | 45.031 | 1.464 |
| 9 |
  |
#20 | BMW M TEAM WRT | 202 | 50.362 | 5.331 |
| 10 |
  |
#83 | AF CORSE | 202 | 58.989 | 8.627 |
| 11 |
 |
#50 | FERRARI AF CORSE | 202 | 1:10.878 | 11.889 |
| 12 |
 |
#99 | PROTON COMPETITION | 202 | 1:14.826 | 3.948 |
| 13 |
 |
#38 | CADILLAC HERTZ TEAM JOTA | 201 | 1 Lap | 1 Lap |
| 14 |
 |
#36 | ALPINE ENDURANCE TEAM | 201 | 1 Lap | 50.396 |
| 15 |
 |
#51 | FERRARI AF CORSE | 201 | 1 Lap | 12.278 |
| 16 |
 |
#8 | TOYOTA GAZOO RACING | 200 | 2 Laps | 1 Lap |
| 17 |
 |
#007 | ASTON MARTIN THOR TEAM | 113 | 89 Laps | 87 Laps |
| 18 |
 |
#15 | BMW M TEAM WRT | 68 | 134 Laps | 45 Laps |
6 Hours of Fuji LMGT3 Race Results
| Pos. | Manufacturer & Car | No. | Team / Drivers | Laps | Gap | Interval |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
  |
#81 | TF SPORT | 185 | – | – |
| 2 |
 |
#21 | VISTA AF CORSE | 185 | 3.010 | 3.010 |
| 3 |
 |
#31 | THE BEND TEAM WRT | 185 | 4.888 | 1.878 |
| 4 |
 |
#46 | TEAM WRT | 185 | 8.482 | 3.594 |
| 5 |
 |
#92 | MANTHEY 1ST PHORM | 185 | 8.697 | 0.215 |
| 6 |
 |
#54 | VISTA AF CORSE | 185 | 13.271 | 4.574 |
| 7 |
 |
#27 | HEART OF RACING TEAM | 184 | 1 Lap | 1 Lap |
| 8 |
 |
#33 | TF SPORT | 184 | 1 Lap | 2.152 |
| 9 |
  |
#61 | IRON LYNX | 184 | 1 Lap | 2.667 |
| 10 |
  |
#78 | AKKODIS ASP TEAM | 184 | 1 Lap | 4.658 |
| 11 |
  |
#95 | UNITED AUTOSPORTS | 184 | 1 Lap | 2.046 |
| 12 |
  |
#77 | PROTON COMPETITION | 184 | 1 Lap | 18.458 |
| 13 |
 |
#85 | IRON DAMES | 184 | 1 Lap | 3.216 |
| 14 |
 |
#59 | UNITED AUTOSPORTS | 184 | 1 Lap | 3.928 |
| 15 |
 |
#87 | AKKODIS ASP TEAM | 184 | 1 Lap | 10.355 |
| 16 |
 |
#60 | IRON LYNX | 183 | 2 Laps | 1 Lap |
| 17 |
 |
#10 | RACING SPIRIT OF LEMAN | 183 | 2 Laps | 45.250 |
| 18 |
 |
#88 | PROTON COMPETITION | 143 | 42 Laps | 40 Laps |