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The FIA World Endurance Championship arrives at Fuji this weekend, for the now-traditional 6 hour race in the shadow of the great mountain. Toyota, as ever, remains keen to win its home race. It's an event the company often brings key executives and important corporate partners to, and so sees it as important commercially to win in its homeland in front of its home crowd.
However, this will be difficult to do. Like at the previous race at COTA, the team has lost power and gained weight, although there is some to celebrate in max stint energy and post-250kph power gains.
Weight
The key story here is Toyota running at a gargantuan 1070kg, 15kg heavier than Ferrari, its nearest rival. Speaking of the Italian manufacturer, although they won the race at COTA, the BoP weight hasn't changed.
Regular readers will know Ferrari were not the fastest car at COTA, with Toyota outstripping them for pace, although as is now a regular occurance this year, they are still struggling for one lap pace (or sandbagging — of course, the team won't admit to this and are staying mum).
Phil Oakley
Further down the field, Porsche have lost 4kg, which makes sense after their somewhat lacklustre showing in the United States. Alpine, meanwhile, have gained 1kg after a show of pace in Austin, where they finished the race with a higher average pace than the Ferraris for one of the cars. It's the opposite for Cadillac, losing a kilogram after a strong showing last time out.
Peugeot are now running at what is essentially the minimum Hypercar weight of 1030kg, as are Lamborghini, with no change for BMW.
Power
Power wise, Toyota have lost 4kW of power — roughly equivalent to 5.3hp. This will slow them down in acceleration out of corners and in the early parts on the straights, but they've also gained 1.8% power after 250kph, which will help them with top speed in the speed trap and down Fuji's long, long main straight.
Ferrari haven't gained any power in the pre-250kph range, much like in weight, signalling the fact the ACO and FIA are happy with their pace. They will also gain after 250kph than at COTA, with the figure standing at 1.3% for the race in Japan.
Power after 250kph
The cars with the most power is a tie between the Lamborghini and the Cadillac, both at 520kW — the maximum allowed by the regulations. The Alpine isn't far off this, at 518kW, an increase of 3kW for the French squad.
Peugeot have gained 513kW — which hopefully will quell the French manufacturer's 'unfair treatment' claims — while BMW have gained 2kW. Porsche meanwhile have gained 3kW compared to COTA.
Phil Oakley
Maximum stint energy
And finally, in terms of maximum stint energy, Toyota have reason to cheer — they've been given a 2mJ increase! That's actually the joint biggest increase on the grid in this particular category, along with Lamborghini and Cadillac. Lamborghini, incidentally, have the most — 910mJ, 1 less than Cadillac.
Once again, Ferrari haven't gained or lost any maximum stint energy, remaining at 901 — the lowest on the grid, 7mJ lower than Toyota.
There are no decreases in max stint energy this time around. Whether the cars/teams who have been served increases can go an extra lap before needing to pit is hard to say — after all, they are small increases. TRL will be back with analysis from the Friday practice sessions, looking at stint lengths, average pace, and more.
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