The World Endurance Championship has cancelled qualifying for the Fuji 6 Hours after heavy rainfall struck the track on Saturday afternoon.
While the final practice session of the weekend proceeded in wet conditions without incident, a sudden spell of rain just before qualifying significantly reduced visibility around the circuit.
The opening session for LMGT3 began as scheduled at 3pm local time but was red-flagged within a minute after bronze-rated driver Francois Heriau crashed the #21 AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3 at Turn 2.
Shortly after all cars returned to the pitlane, race control announced the cancellation of qualifying for both LMGT3 and Hypercar classes.
According to sporting regulations, the starting grid for Sunday’s race will be determined by combined times from the three practice sessions.
The majority of the grid recorded their fastest lap times during FP2 on Friday afternoon, before the track became too wet for slick tyres on Saturday.
Alpine secured pole position for the WEC’s Japan round following Victor Martins’ best time of 1m29.304s in the #36 A424 during FP2.
Harry Tincknell finished second-fastest in the 90-minute session, but the #007 Aston Martin Valkyrie will drop to fourth on the grid after receiving a two-place penalty for an incident with the #27 Aston Martin Vantage GT3 in FP3 earlier on Saturday.
This advancement moves the #35 Alpine of Charles Milesi and Ferdinand Habsburg to second place, marking one year since the French manufacturer’s first victory with the A424 LMDh at the same venue.
The #19 Genesis GMR-001 shared by Paul-Loup Chatin, Daniel Juncadella and Mathieu Jaminet climbs to third position, representing the best grid slot for the Hyundai-powered Genesis team.
Genesis’ sister car, with its best practice time set by Mathys Jaubert, will start in fifth place behind the penalised #007 Aston Martin pairing of Tincknell and Tom Gamble. The British manufacturer benefits from having both cars positioned high on the grid after the #009 Valkyrie posted the sixth-best time in practice.
The #38 Jota Cadillac V-Series.R takes seventh position, followed by the #8 Toyota TR010. The top 10 is completed by the #93 Peugeot 9X8 and the #12 Cadillac.
The two cars currently tied at the championship lead will start from the lower half of the Hypercar grid.
The #7 Toyota TR010 will start 13th after Kamui Kobayashi finished over seven seconds slower than the pace-setter in practice.
BMW chose not to run low-fuel sessions during dry practice on Friday, anticipating rain during Saturday’s qualifying. This conservative approach now leaves the #20 BMW M Hybrid—level on points with the #7 Toyota—in 17th and final position among Hypercar entrants.
Ferrari faces a challenging Sunday with its fastest 499P starting 11th on the grid.
In LMGT3, pole position belongs to the #77 Proton Ford Mustang GT3, with Ben Tuck setting the benchmark time during FP2.
Lin Hodenius secured second place with the #79 Iron Lynx Mercedes, while Hadrien David claimed third in the #78 Lexus.
The championship-leading #33 TF Sport Corvette Z06 GT3.R will start from 10th position in class.
Results to follow
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- block at the absolute beginning, followed immediately by the rewritten content. No internal thinking, no intro notes. Constraints: Remove promotional lines, “SEE ALSO” links, and footer junk. Those are present: the “We want your opinion!” survey block seems promotional. Also “Read Also:” but maybe that’s considered related content; but it’s a “relatedContent__title” maybe not part of article? It’s likely considered junk to remove. The task says “Clean the text content by removing promotional lines, ‘SEE ALSO’ links, and footer junk.” So we should remove that survey section (including the heading, survey question, call to action, etc.) and any footer junk. Also remove “Read Also:” maybe not needed? It is part of related content; might be considered junk. Probably we should remove entire block after the main article content that includes “Read Also:” etc. We need to keep all media tags: we have an image tag and then two paragraphs with class “title” and “photographer”. Those are media related? The image tag is and then a heading class title and photographer. The heading might be considered part of media caption? It says “ALT” includes the same text, maybe it’s a caption; but we should keep all HTML media elements exactly as they are, and keep them inline in original relative positions. So we must preserve the image and its surrounding context. The title paragraph and photographer paragraph are after the image; they might be considered part of media description, but they are not media elements themselves. The directive says keep all tags, video tags, shorts, and Twitter/X embed codes EXACTLY as they are. It doesn’t explicitly say to keep other tags; but they are part of article content. However, the “title” paragraph includes the alt text list; that might be considered part of caption. It might be considered content to be retained, but could be considered “footer junk”? It’s not promotional; it’s a caption. Should we keep it? It is part of the media element context; the instruction says keep all media elements exactly as they are, and keep them inline in original relative positions. The image is followed by two paragraphs (class title and photographer). Probably those should remain, as they are part of the media description. We need to rewrite headline to be unique, fresh, professional. Original: “Stoffel Vandoorne to leave Peugeot’s WEC Hypercar team after Fuji”. We need new headline, professional. Something like: “Stoffel Vandoorne to Exit Peugeot Hypercar Squad After Fuji 6 Hours”. Or “Vandoorne Leaves Peugeot Hypercar Team Following Fuji Event”. Let’s make it fresh: “Stoffel Vandoorne to Depart Peugeot’s WEC Hypercar Squad After Fuji”. But we need unique. Let’s do: “Stoffel Vandoorne Announces Exit from Peugeot Hypercar Team Post‑Fuji”. That seems good. Now rewrite body text into natural professional English. Original body paragraphs: Paragraph 1: “Peugeot has announced that Stoffel Vandoorne will leave its Hypercar squad in the World Endurance Championship at the end of this weekend’s Fuji 6 Hours.” Rewrite: “Peugeot announced that Stoffel Vandoorne will leave its Hypercar squad in the World Endurance Championship following this weekend’s Fuji 6‑Hour race.” Paragraph 2: “The former Formula 1 driver was already set to depart the outfit at the end of the season to focus on his expected Formula E programme with Jaguar, but his exit has now been brought forward by the team.” Rewrite: “The former Formula 1 driver had originally planned to depart at season’s end to concentrate on his forthcoming Formula E program with Jaguar, but the team has accelerated his departure.” Paragraph 3: “This is not the first time Peugeot and Vandoorne have announced such a split. Just over 12 months ago, Peugeot revealed that Vandoorne will be stepping down from his Peugeot seat on an immediate basis, only for him to return in 2026 after his mooted move to newcomer Genesis failed to come to fruition. He only ended up missing last year’s Bahrain finale.” Rewrite: “This is not the first split between Peugeot and Vandoorne. Over a year ago, Peugeot announced his immediate departure, only for him to return in 2026 after a prospective move to Genesis never materialised, causing him to miss last year’s Bahrain round.” Paragraph 4: “This time, however, Vandoorne’s departure from Peugeot is concrete, with the Belgian understood to have agreed a deal with Jaguar to replace Opel‑bound Mitch Evans. An announcement is expected in the coming weeks, marking his return to the all‑electric championship after a one‑year hiatus.” Rewrite: “Now, however, Vandoorne’s departure is confirmed, as the Belgian has agreed to join Jaguar, replacing Opel‑bound Mitch Evans. A formal announcement is expected in the coming weeks, marking his return to the all‑electric championship after a one‑year absence.” Paragraph 5: “At Jaguar, he will team up with Antonio Felix da Costa, who may also not take part in the final two WEC events of 2026. The Portuguese returned to Hypercar this year with Alpine, but was benched for this weekend’s Fuji round as the Renault brand elected to switch to two-driver line‑ups. On Friday, team principal Philippe Sinault insisted that da Costa could still return at Barcelona and Monza, but he did not rule out fielding two‑driver crews again.” Rewrite: “At Jaguar, Vandoorne will partner with Antonio Félix da Costa, who may also miss the final two WEC races of 2026. Da Costa rejoined Hypercar this season with Alpine but was sidelined for this weekend’s Fuji round when Renault switched to a two‑driver configuration. Team principal Philippe Sinault said on Friday that da Costa could still compete at Barcelona and Monza, though he did not rule out using two‑driver line‑ups again.” Paragraph 6: “Vandoorne’s departure comes at a time when Formula E drivers are preparing for the start of the new Gen4 era, with the pre-season Jarama test scheduled on 16-20 November, just a week after the WEC finale in Italy.” Rewrite: “Vandoorne’s exit coincides with Formula E drivers gearing up for the new Gen4 era, with the pre‑season Jarama test set for 16‑20 November — just a week after the WEC finale in Italy.” Paragraph 7: “Vandoorne first joined Peugeot in 2023, incidentally at Fuji, as a substitute for Nico Mueller, who was ruled out of the race due to a collarbone injury.” Rewrite: “Vandoorne first joined Peugeot in 2023, notably at Fuji as a substitute for Nico Mueller, who was sidelined by a collarbone injury.” Paragraph 8: “He moved into a full-time role the following year and has since completed 18 races for the Paris-based squad. A third-place result at Austin last year marks his best result in Hypercar.” Rewrite: “He then became a full‑time driver the next year and has contested 18 races for the Paris‑based team, with a third‑place finish at Austin in 2023 representing his best Hypercar result.” Paragraph 9: “While Vandoorne has previously combined a Formula E programme with WEC, he is not expected to remain in Hypercar with a different brand next year.” Rewrite: “Although he has previously combined a Formula E program with WEC competition, Vandoorne is not expected to stay in Hypercar with another team next season.” Paragraph 10: “Peugeot is yet to name a replacement for Vandoorne for the final two rounds of the season, but it is expected to provide race mileage to either new‑for‑2027 signing Robert Shwartzman or reserve driver Alex Quinn. Like Shwartzman, Quinn is set to step up to a race seat next year as part of a wider shake‑up of the team’s line‑up.” Rewrite: “Peugeot has not yet named a replacement for Vandoorne for the final two races, but it is expected to allocate mileage to either newcomer Robert Shwartzman, signed for 2027, or reserve driver Alex Quinn, both of whom are slated for race seats next year as part of a broader team reshuffle.” Now need to assemble cleaned article HTML. Need to preserve the image and its surrounding paragraphs (title and photographer). Also need to keep the paragraph about Vandoorne’s departure etc. Also need to keep the paragraph about “Vandoorne’s departure comes at a time when…” (paragraph after the image). Also need to remove promotional block after that (the survey). Also remove “Read Also:” and any related content. Also remove any class tags that are part of that block. Let’s examine the original HTML structure: Peugeot has announced that Stoffel Vandoorne will leave its Hypercar squad in the World Endurance Championship at the end of this weekend’s Fuji 6 Hours. The former Formula 1 driver was already set to depart the outfit at the end of the season to focus on his expected Formula E programme with Jaguar, but his exit has now been brought forward by the team. This is not the first time Peugeot and Vandoorne have announced such a split. Just over 12 months ago, Peugeot revealed that Vandoorne will be stepping down from his Peugeot seat on an immediate basis, only for him to return in 2026 after his mooted move to newcomer Genesis failed to come to fruition. He only ended up missing last year’s Bahrain finale. This time, however, Vandoorne’s departure from Peugeot is concrete, with the Belgian understood to have agreed a deal with Jaguar to replace Opel-bound Mitch Evans. An announcement is expected in the coming weeks, marking his return to the all-electric championship after a one-year hiatus. At Jaguar, he will team up with Antonio Felix da Costa, who may also not take part in the final two WEC events of 2026. The Portuguese returned to Hypercar this year with Alpine, but was benched for this weekend’s Fuji round as the Renault brand elected to switch to two-driver line-ups. On Friday, team principal Philippe Sinault insisted that da Costa could still return at Barcelona and Monza, but he did not rule out fielding two-driver crews again. #93 Peugeot Totalenergies Peugeot 9X8: Paul Di Resta, Stoffel Vandoorne, Nick Cassidy Photo by: JEP Vandoorne’s departure comes at a time when Formula E drivers are preparing for the start of the new Gen4 era, with the pre-season Jarama test scheduled on 16-20 November, just a week after the WEC finale in Italy. Vandoorne first joined Peugeot in 2023, incidentally at Fuji, as a substitute for Nico Mueller, who was ruled out of the race due to a collarbone injury. He moved into a full-time role the following year and has since completed 18 races for the Paris-based squad. A third-place result at Austin last year marks his best result in Hypercar. While Vandoorne has previously combined a Formula E programme with WEC, he is not expected to remain in Hypercar with a different brand next year. Peugeot is yet to name a replacement for Vandoorne for the final two rounds of the season, but it is expected to provide race mileage to either new-for-2027 signing Robert Shwartzman or reserve driver Alex Quinn. Like Shwartzman, Quinn is set to step up to a race seat next year as part of a wider shake-up of the team’s line‑up. Read Also: We want your opinion! What would you like to see on Motorsport.com? Take our 5 minute survey. – The Motorsport.com Team We need to keep all media tags (the image) and any other tags that are part of article content. The title and photographer paragraphs are after the image; they are likely part of media caption, keep them. Now need to rewrite the body paragraphs with new content. But we need to preserve the HTML structure? Probably we can rewrite inside the same tags, but we may need to replace the text inside the tags. We should keep the same tags, but modify text. Also keep the existing class tags. We also need to keep the title and photographer paragraphs unchanged (maybe we can keep them as is). The headline: need to replace the original headline with new one inside [TITLE] block. But we also need to rewrite headline inside article? The original headline is not in HTML; there is a paragraph “Stoffel Vandoorne to leave…” not a . We just need to output the rewritten headline inside [TITLE] block, not necessarily replace any HTML headline (there is none). So we output: [TITLE]Stoffel Vandoorne Announces Exit from Peugeot Hypercar Team Post‑Fuji
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