BMW M Team WRT left Fuji with results in both FIA WEC classes after the #15 BMW M Hybrid V8 finished third in Hypercar and the #32 BMW M4 GT3 EVO won LMGT3.
Kevin Magnussen, Raffaele Marciello and Dries Vanthoor started the #15 Hypercar from 14th after qualifying was cancelled because of heavy rain. A clean race and a strategy that kept the car in contention moved it through the field, before the final Safety Car phase brought the crew into the podium fight. Vanthoor completed the recovery in third.
The sister #20 had a much more difficult race. René Rast, Robin Frijns and Sheldon van der Linde lost ground after several contacts and finished 13th. BMW said Rast and Frijns, who arrived in Japan leading the drivers' standings, dropped to third in the championship after Fuji. BMW M Motorsport remained second in the manufacturers' standings.
The bigger late-race swing came in LMGT3. Darren Leung and Sean Gelael brought the #32 BMW into podium contention before Augusto Farfus took over for the final phase. The last Safety Car sequence initially left Farfus sixth, but he moved rapidly through the field and took the lead in the closing minutes.
FIA WEC's official race report confirms the #32 Team WRT BMW of Farfus, Gelael and Leung as the LMGT3 winner. It was Team WRT's second LMGT3 victory of the season after the sister BMW won at Imola.
The #69 BMW of Dan Harper, Parker Thompson and Anthony McIntosh also led the class during the race, but lost ground around the final pit-stop sequence and finished sixth.
Fuji therefore produced a rare double return for BMW: a Hypercar podium from deep on the grid and an LMGT3 victory decided in the final stint.
