As Motorsport.com reports, just three weeks after the Lone Star Le Mans, the World Endurance Championship is back in action, with Fuji Speedway hosting the sixth round of the 2026 season. Unlike previous years where Fuji served as the penultimate round, this year's visit leads into two six-hour races in Europe, with Barcelona and Monza replacing the cancelled rounds in Qatar and Bahrain. The title fight remains finely poised heading into the weekend, with the two leading crews tied on 75 points after failing to score in Austin: the #20 BMW driven by Robin Frijns and Rene Rast, and the #7 Toyota shared by Nyck de Vries, Kamui Kobayashi and Mike Conway. Meanwhile, the #8 Toyota of Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa sits a further 11 points adrift in third.
Toyota arrives on home ground as the most successful manufacturer at Fuji across the LMP1 and Hypercar eras, winning seven out of eight races between 2012 and 2019, plus back-to-back victories in 2022 and 2023. The Cologne-based squad has re-established itself as a frontrunner this campaign with the revised TR010 LMH, taking victory in the Imola opener and an emphatic triumph at Le Mans, though a late technical problem robbed the #7 crew of a likely win at Austin. With the cancellation of the Bahrain 8 Hours removing bonus points, maximizing its score on home soil is more critical than ever for the Japanese marque.
Ferrari returns to the title hunt following a victory at Austin that ended a 12-month winless run. Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi in the #51 Ferrari trail the leaders by 17 points, while Nicklas Nielsen, Miguel Molina and Antonio Fuoco in the #50 entry face a 21-point deficit. Japan has historically proved challenging for the 499P LMH, with past struggles compounded in 2025 by a multi-car pile-up triggered by Robert Kubica in AF Corse's satellite #83 entry.
BMW is aiming for a strong response after a disastrous Austin weekend where it lacked pace and managed only eighth place, benefiting only from the late retirement of the #7 Toyota. Following victories at Spa and Sao Paulo and a second-place finish at Le Mans, the German manufacturer needs to extract maximum performance from the winter updates on its M Hybrid V8 to defend its maiden Hypercar title aspirations.
Alpine returns to the scene of its maiden Hypercar win with the A424 LMDh, where a strategic masterclass last year guided Ferdinand Habsburg, Charles Milesi and Paul-Loup Chatin to victory. The French manufacturer also arrives fresh off its first podium finish of the year at Austin, achieved by Habsburg, Milesi and Antonio Felix da Costa. For the Japan round, Alpine has shifted to two-driver crews in both cars, benching both da Costa and Fred Makowiecki for the weekend and potentially the rest of the year.
Finally, the LMGT3 battle is heating up as TF Sport's advantage shrinks following a 12th-place finish for the #33 Corvette Z06 GT3.R crew of Jonny Edgar, Ben Keating and Nicky Catsburg at Austin. Francois Heriau, Alessio Rovera and Simon Mann have climbed to second in the standings in the #21 AF Corse Ferrari, 22 points back, while the next three teams comprising the two Manthey Porsches and the #23 Heart of Aston Martin are separated by a single point.
