SEANGP.com (Jakarta) - The #32 Team WRT BMW M4 of Augusto Farfus, Sean Gelael and Darren Leung took a thrilling last-gasp win in the LMGT3 category at Fuji Speedway today following a frantic finish.
Team WRT BMW surged to a last-gasp win amid incredible late LMGT3 drama in a highly memorable 6 Hours of Fuji.
A contest with multiple plot twists ended with the #32 Team WRT BMW M4 of Augusto Farfus, Sean Gelael and Darren Leung taking their first win of the 2026 season and continuing the six-race streak in LMGT3 of a different winner at every race this year.
The #32 BMW started a lowly 14th on the grid, but soon became a contender thanks to faultless stints from Leung and Geleal before the experienced Farfus produced a dazzling display to make a decisive move on the Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette driven by Charlie Eastwood with less than 20 minutes remaining.
Prior to that, it didn’t look like the BMW would be in a position to win at all, but a late incident at Turn One involving the #58 McLaren of Finn Gehrsitz re-set the race when the Safety Car was deployed.
When the action resumed, it was in fact the Turkish-entered Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R in front, courtesy of its decision at the final pit-stop to not take fresh Goodyear tyres. That elevated Eastwood into the lead, just ahead of stablemate Nicky Catsburg in the championship-leading #33 TF Sport Corvette.
As the green flag flew, the Farfus-piloted BMW was a lowly sixth, but quickly passed the #92 The Bend Manthey Porsche, the surviving #10 Garage 59 McLaren and the #77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang within the space of just a few laps.
The flying Farfus then caught and passed Catsburg, before turning his attentions to Eastwood, who was powerless to resist the Brazilian veteran, who executed a decisive and robust move at Turn 10.
But Farfus could not rest easy. That was because following him through into second place was an equally quick and aggressive Mattia Drudi in the #27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage, recovering from the last Safety Car-triggering incident with Gehrsitz’s McLaren that had given him a puncture.
Despite enormous pressure, Farfus held on to take the chequered flag by just 1.062 seconds to head Drudi home.
“These guys (Leung and Gelael) did a brilliant job, and I had a car advantage over some of the other cars as they only had half a set [of new tyres],” said Farfus after the race. “I got out of the pits in P6 or P7. The Safety Car took way longer than I expected, and when it finally went green, I knew I had to make the most of my new tyres.
“We knew we were not the fastest car on the straight, so I didn’t think it would ever be a move into Turn One. I had to maximise the infield, which made things quite spicy, but it’s racing so you need to go for the move if there is a gap. I’m very pleased – I think it was one of the finest stints I’ve done in my career.”
Eastwood together with team-mates Peter Dempsey and Salih Yoluç eventually finished third, while a late push from Davide Rigon put the #54 VISTA AF Corse Ferrari 296 Evo he shares with Thomas Flohr and Francesco Castellacci fourth ahead of the #33 Corvette of Catsburg, Ben Keating and Jonny Edgar, which still extended TF Sport’s championship lead to 24 points, while Edgar maintains his four-point advantage over Catsburg.
The race had begun with a huge multi-car mélêe at the first corner, which ultimately accounted for the #88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang and #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG, while the #92 The Bend Manthey Porsche had to pit for repairs.
There was also drama for the #23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin, as Gray Newell was forced off-track by the #94 Team Peugeot TotalEnergies 9X8 Hypercar and retired on the spot.
The #21 VISTA AF Corse Ferrari, which had sat second in the points pre-race, similarly failed to finish after an issue late in the race, dropping it down to fourth in the standings as a result.
Taking the Goodyear Wingfoot Award at Fuji was Tom Fleming in the #10 Garage 59 McLaren. The rising British star drove several noteworthy stints over the coure of the event.
All of FIA WEC. All of endurance racing’s greatest battles. Watch live and on demand with FIAWEC+ – the official streaming platform of the FIA World Endurance Championship, wherever you are, whenever you want, including the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans. Stream FIA WEC live with FIAWEC+. (arl/wto/fiawec)
