6 Hours of Fuji - WEC Round 7 - United Autosports' Strongest Saturday

Shadowed by Mount Fuji, Fuji Speedway has been a destination for motorsport’s top categories since 1960, from Japanese Super Formula to Super GT and Formula One, the circuit first hosted sports cars in 1982.

This weekend’s 6 Hours of Fuji marked a milestone for the FIA World Endurance Championship, with the series celebrating its 100th race. Tributes were paid throughout the weekend to the championship’s already rich history.

Unique to the Fuji weekend is the remarkable ‘Circuit Safari’, which sees a select number of fans climb aboard a convoy of coaches for a tour of the circuit during official practice, offering a rare and unique experience to witness the multi-class field of Hypercars and LMGT3 machinery in full flight.

As ever, the trio of Sebastien Baud, Grégoire Saucy, and James Cottingham helmed the #59 McLaren 720 LMGT3 Evo.

Consistently among the top performers in free practice, the team delivered one of its finest performances of the season in Saturday’s qualifying. In LMGT3, an initial 12-minute session determines the 10 fastest cars, which then advance to the ‘Hyperpole’ shootout, where final grid positions are determined.

In the initial qualifying session, only Bronze-rated drivers are allowed to compete. For the #59, this meant driving duties fell upon James Cottingham. James proceeded to set a phenomenal 1:40.469, the fastest time in LMGT3 by half a second. Sebastien Baud then converted that pace into P3 during the Hyperpole session.

The early stages of the race saw the sister United Autosports McLarens jostle within the top four in class, ultimately resulting in a slipstream overtake, which handed James Cottingham and the #59 the lead within the first few minutes of the race.

In a hugely impressive opening stint, Cottingham extended the lead by over half a minute before handing over to Baud. Unfortunately, an electrical gremlin later in the race caused the #59 to fall down the order, and a subsequent penalty meant the team ultimately finished 14th.

James Cottingham: “To win a world championship race you need to deliver a flawless and faultless performance. We did our best, we led the race for the first three hours and demonstrated we were the fastest on track. However, a technical issue and a driver error put us way down the order at the end of the race. We now only have one opportunity left to get a podium to bookend the season; everyone will have to pull together and in the right direction so we can deliver the result we deserve in Bahrain.”

Sebastien Baud: “Disappointed with the result because we had a good chance to win this race. James did a great job, he was very fast. I kept the position and then in the middle of my stint I had an electronic problem. I lost a lot of time because I didn’t have any power in slow corners so I had to manage that. During the Safety Car, I didn’t see the Safety Car line because it was the same time as the pit entry line. We had a penalty for that because I overtook cars on the track when I was going into the pitlane and at the end of the race, it was possible to finish on the podium but with the penalty we dropped back to P14. Very disappointed for the team.”

Gregoire Saucy: “Disappointing because I was so happy for James … he did a mega two stints. He showed he was clearly one second per lap faster than all the other Bronze drivers. It was just a mega start to the race. Then Seb did his two stints, he had an issue … he had to stop to fix the car so we lost the position and we were last. Then we boxed for Safety Car - he overtook some cars before the Safety Car line as he came into the pits. Then I went into the car, I was doing my best to fuel and energy save to go with only two stints at the end when I think almost everyone else had to box one more time. And I think we had the possibility again to win. I was P5 at this point. We clearly had the pace to win the race, or on the podium for sure. So it’s disappointing because we had a penalty for Seb’s overtaking before the Safety Car line. We got a stop and go for 30 seconds, a massive penalty. It’s disappointing to not get the results we were hoping for. Let’s focus on the next one.”

The highs and lows of the weekend were perhaps as extreme as they’ve been all season, but the team can confidently walk away having delivered one of their strongest Saturdays yet. They’ll go again for one final round in Bahrain this November.