The Latest Breaking News from Davide Rigon

It was Porsche’s 19th overall win here – it has four more as an engine supplier – and Penske’s first triumph here since 1969.

Le Mans 24 Hours winner. That’s the tag that’s now nailed firmly ahead of the name James Calado, and has been since Ferrari’s victory in the centenary running of the French enduro last summer. Only it should really be, as the man himself points out, three-time Le Mans winner.

The seven-time MotoGP champion and BMW factory driver has been nominated in one of two M4 GT3s to be run by the Belgian WRT squad, which was confirmed as the German manufacturer’s representative in the new class with the publication of the 2024 WEC entry on Monday.

Corvette was in the hunt for victory for much of the six-hour Japanese enduro, with the team’s sole C8.R enjoying multiple stints in the lead after Keating qualified the car on pole position.

The #7 Toyota GR010 HYBRID of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez took the chequered flag 39 seconds clear of the sister #8 car shared by Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa and Sebastien Buemi, as the Japanese manufacturer celebrated its ninth WEC win at Fuji in 10 attempts.

Practice began on a wet track following a brief shower earlier on Saturday morning, but conditions improved sufficiently for slick tyres to be fitted just 15 minutes into the session.

Practice began on a wet track following a brief shower earlier on Saturday morning, but conditions improved sufficiently for slick tyres to be fitted just 15 minutes into the session.

One year on from the Peugeot 9X8 Le Mans Hypercar’s competition debut at the Italian track, Vergne set the early pace in the hour-long session before he was usurped by Antonio Fuoco’s Ferrari, the Italian posting a 1m35.923s in his 499P LMH.

Giovinazzi’s #51 499P Le Mans Hypercar dipped under the benchmark time set in opening practice by Sebastien Buemi’s #8 Toyota GR010 LMH, posting a best lap of 2m01.871s.

Antonello Coletta, Ferrari’s sportscar racing boss, has stressed that the Italian manufacturer remains “totally concentrated on WEC” in the wake of the debut for its new Hypercar class prototype in last week’s Sebring 1000 Miles season-opener.

The race’s fifth full-course caution was caused by the #24 BMW M Hybrid V8 of Augusto Farfus grinding to a halt, then proceeding slowly toward the pits – a destination it never made. Almost simultaneously, Kyffin Simpson had a sizeable off in his Tower Motorsport LMP2 car.