2019 6 Hours of Fuji
The 2019 6 Hours of Fuji is an upcoming automobile endurance race, to be held on the 6th of October 2019, at the Fuji Speedway. It will be the 2nd round of the 2019-20 FIA World Endurance Championship.
Entry List
A provisional entry list was released on 5 September 2019, with the number of cars entered shrinking from 31 cars, to 30 cars, due to the #3 Rebellion Racing Rebellion R13 which had been entered on a race-by-race basis not being entered for the flyaway rounds. Anthony Davidson and Alexandre Coigny returned to the championship, after both drivers withdrew from Silverstone due to injuries sustained, while Paul Di Resta will be replaced by Oliver Jarvis in the #22 United Autosports, as a result of Di Resta's DTM commitments with R-Motorsport. David Heinemeier Hansson, who missed Silverstone for the birth of his child, returns to the #56 Team Project 1,having been replaced by David Kolkmann in the No. 56 Porsche the previous round.[1] A final entry list was later released on 19 September 2019.[2]
Balance of Performance and Success Ballast Changes
The success handicap system, which was just introduced to the WEC this season is a way of balancing the top prototype class, following the domination of Toyota the previous season, and operates on a formula based on a coefficient factor of 0.008, which when multiplied by the length of the circuit and the points difference to the last-placed LMP1 car, is used to generate a handicap of seconds per lap.[3]
LMP1
The #7 Toyota TS050 Hybrid of Mike Conway, Jose Maria Lopez and Kamui Kobayashi, which had emerged victorious at the 4 Hours of Silverstone season-opener would be made 1.4 seconds slower per lap at the 6 Hours of Fuji. The changes to slow down the car include reducing the deployable amount of hybrid power the per lap, and the rate of fuel burn, although its minimum weight of 932 kg will be retained. The sister #8 car will also be slowed down, albeit by 1 second slower per lap, and 9.5 percent more hybrid energy available to it compared to its sister car. The #5 Ginetta G60-LT-P1 finished fourth overall at Silverstone and will therefore be made 0.66 seconds slower per lap, although it would receive the 3rd largest performance hit, due to the absence of the #3 Rebellion R13, which was entered on a race-by race basis, and had scored 3rd overall. The #5 would receive a weight gain of 34 kg, with the weight increasing from 833 kg to 867 kg. The #1 Rebellion, which finished tenth overall and fourth-best out of the points-scoring LMP1s, will be slowed by 0.03s per lap. Only the #6 Ginetta will be unaffected by any Success handicap, as being the last car to finish in the class, it is used as a reference for the other handicaps.[4]
GTE Am
All cars in the class now have their base weight reduced by 20 kg, and will have ballast added from the new base weight. The class-winning #83 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo of Emmanuel Collard, Francois Perrodo and Niklas Nielsen has earned the largest weight penalty, receiving a total 30 kg worth of ballast, with 15 kg for winning the race and 15 kg for leading the championship. The same rule has also been applied to the GTE Am podium finishers, with the 2nd placed #98 Aston Martin Vantage GTE and #70 MR Racing Ferrari 488 GTE set to run with a total of 20 kg and 10 kg of ballast in Fuji, respectively.[5]
References
- ^ Kilshaw, Jake. "Largely Unchanged 6H Fuji Entry List Released – Sportscar365". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
- ^ "2019 FIA WEC 6 Hours of Silverstone entry list" (PDF).
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "LMP1 Success Handicap System Details Explained – dailysportscar.com". www.dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
- ^ "LMP1 Success Handicap System Details Explained – dailysportscar.com". www.dailysportscar.com. Retrieved 2019-09-22.
- ^ Lloyd, Daniel. "Silverstone-Winning Toyota to be Made 1.4s Slower at Fuji – Sportscar365". sportscar365.com. Retrieved 2019-09-22.