Alpine has seized absolute control of the opening two hours at the 6 Hours of Fuji, locking out the front of the field with a stunning 1-2 punch. The pole-sitting #36 A424 Hypercar dictated the pace straight from the drop of the flag, with Jules Gounon leading the charge before handing the machine over to team-mate Victor Martins during the first scheduled stop. The French rookie capitalized on a second-hour Safety Car period to extend a small advantage at the head of the pack, keeping sister-car driver Ferdinand Habsburg in the #35 Alpine at bay throughout the second hour.
It was a chaotic start behind the leaders, punctuated by an off-strategy gamble from Nyck de Vries in the #7 Toyota TR010 Hypercar. Accelerated by a slow left-front puncture, the Dutchman tried a move on Ferdinand Habsburg that failed completely, resulting in contact and a spin that instantly cost him around 15 seconds. Thankfully for the championship leaders, a second-hour Safety Car nullified that heavy disadvantage and dragged the #7 Toyota right back into the leading mix. Meanwhile, Aston Martin established a formidable third place with the #007 Valkyrie Hypercar handled by Harry Tincknell. The sister #009 Aston Martin also showed serious pace as Marco Sørensen hunted down the rear of the #007, though Daniel Juncadella acted as a stubborn roadblock in fourth with the #19 Genesis Magma Racing GMR-001 Hypercar.
Further down the order, Earl Bamber wrestled the #38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R into sixth by the two-hour mark, recovering nicely from early race contact with the #79 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG LMGT3. Home favourites TOYOTA RACING sit seventh and eighth, with Sébastien Buemi heading the recovering de Vries as the Japanese manufacturer fights to claim a remarkable tenth home win at Fuji Speedway since 2012. The second Cadillac V-Series.R of Will Stevens holds ninth, though that position remains under a cloud due to an investigation for a pit-stop infraction. Team Peugeot TotalEnergies saw Paul di Resta run inside the top ten after surviving a first-hour scare where he locked up and had to bypass the chicane. Unfortunately, right as the third hour approached, di Resta was forced to pull off the track with a suspected gearbox problem, crawling back to the pits under the resulting Full Course Yellow. Ferrari endured a bruising opening two hours, leaving the #50 running tenth in the wake of di Resta's issue, while James Calado survived a wild ride over the grass at Turn Five in the #51 499P after being forced wide by the #33 TF Sport Corvette.
Over in the LMGT3 category, Finn Gehrsitz put on an absolute clinic early on in the #58 Garage 59 McLaren. Making the most of chaotic first-corner action and rival teams fielding Bronze-categorised drivers, the young German carved out a stunning 54-second lead before handing over to Alexander West. That advantage vanished when a mid-race Safety Car deployed to retrieve the damaged #23 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage—which collided with the #94 Peugeot 9X8, earning the Peugeot a five-second penalty—bunched the entire field back together. That neutralization sparked an insane fight between the #58 McLaren and the #91 Manthey DK Engineering Porsche of James Cottingham, who drove like a man possessed from the very rear of the starting grid to briefly lead the category before pitting to hand over to Timur Boguslavskiy.
That frantic pit cycle handed the LMGT3 lead to the #88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang piloted by Eric Powell. Salih Yoluç holds second for Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette following a series of gorgeous overtaking moves, while Team WRT surged all the way from the category's tail-end to secure third with the #69 BMW M4 driven by Anthony McIntosh. The #58 McLaren sits fourth after making an early second stop, followed by the #87 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus and the points-leading #33 TF Sport Corvette rounding out the top six.
All of this madness traces back to a massive first-corner melee that immediately claimed two casualties. The #88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang of Stefano Gattuso and the #61 Iron Lynx Mercedes-AMG of Martin Berry were both forced into retirement with heavy accident damage. Tom Van Rompuy took the blame for the carnage in the #78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus, slapped with a five-second penalty for triggering the pile-up after out-braking himself into Turn One. Several others suffered in the chaos, including the #87 Lexus and the #92 The Bend Manthey Porsche, which was forced to pit for repairs and plummeted to the back of the order. Upon the restart, François Hériau survived a lurid spin during a battle for fifth, managing to drag the #21 VISTA AF Corse Ferrari back onto the track at the rear of the remaining 16-car LMGT3 field, while Iron Lynx's Johannes Zelger copped a five-second penalty for clashing with Earl Bamber's Cadillac.
