De Vos wins thriller but loses race in stewards room

In the run-up to Fuji, there had been plenty of talk about the battle between Ford and Ferrari, only for De Vos and Porsche to upset the applecart. Opting to start on slicks, de Vos dropped from fifth to eighth by the end of lap 1 and fell as low as 13th before breaking back into the top 10 by lap 13.

With the slicks coming into their own, de Vos started to gain ground and became a factor in the race on lap 18, where he picked up three places, promoting him to fourth. Then, on lap 20, came the race-winning moment as he pitted for wets just as the conditions deteriorated.

De Vos quickly got the tyres warmed up and took the lead on lap 23 and never looked back, dominating the closing stages with a masterful display of wet-weather driving to take victory by over four seconds. But within hours of the chequered flag falling, the Dutchman was demoted to third after being deemed to have made an unsafe rejoin at the start, costing him the win.

After finishing second on the road at Silverstone, Bozga put himself in an excellent position to take his first win by narrowly snatching pole from Paulick. However, with the track still damp at the start, the Belgian plummeted to seventh by lap 1 before reeling in the wet-shod runners and retaking the lead on lap 14.

Bozga then started to pull away, opening up a gap of over eight seconds on second-place Mihai Neg, before the clouds darkened over Fuji. While his rivals pitted, the Belgian braved it out and went all the way to lap 23 before finally pitting for another set of slicks.

Unfortunately for Bozga, the decision to stay out didn't bear fruit as he rejoined behind de Vos and had to fight hard to keep Pedersen behind to hold onto second. However, after being on the wrong side of the stewards at Silverstone, Bozga was initially promoted to first after de Vos was penalised.

But only for a few hours, as Bozga was penalised by the stewards for overtaking Pedersen off-track on lap 26, relegating him back to second.

A solid drive through the order for Pedersen, who sealed another trip to the podium. From 10th, Pedersen had a tremendous first stint on the wets, jumping to third by the end of lap 1 before tucking in behind Hovesen and race leader Paulick.

Pedersen held third until lap 14, where he was caught napping by Bozga at Turn 15, who barged his way through past. Although he regained third after Paulick went too deep at Turn 1, a new set of wets was required by lap 19.

It proved a shrewd move, as by the end of the pitstop window, Pedersen was up to net-race second and ahead of Bozga. That set up a salivating battle in the closing laps with the Belgian coming out on top.

However, after the race, Pedersen learned he had been promoted to first after de Vos and Bozga received penalties for on-track incidents

Just missing out on the rostrum was Erdélyi, despite a far-from-smooth race at Fuji. The Hungarian had a disappointing qualifying session, only managing ninth, before jumping to sixth after starting on the wets.

Erdélyi then caught Kodi Cosford and passed the Scotsman for fifth, who refused to give up the place before eventually having to relent the chase on lap 5. Next on Erdelyi’s list was Igor Kos for fourth, but their battle ended in tears as the Hungarian tapped the German into a spin at Turn 6, allowing Cosford to pass them both.

Eventually, Erdélyi repassed Cosford on lap 10, only for his tyres to fall apart, dropping him to ninth before his stop on lap 19, bolting on a fresh set of wets. Once the rain returned, the Hungarian cycled back to fourth, earning more crucial points in his title push.

With his race at Silverstone effectively ending on lap 1, Fuji was where Woodrow bounced back and made the top six, albeit after a wild race.

Woodrow's weekend started badly as he could only manage 16th in qualifying, and things went from bad to worse in the race when a spin at the exit of Turn 12 dropped the American to the back. Woodrow moved back up to 11th by lap 8 before spinning out on the entry to Turn 1, putting Luciano Witvoet into the barrier and ending his race.

But Woodrow persevered, slowly working his way through the order where he moved up to sixth, before peeling into the pits for wets on lap 20, rejoining in ninth. Once those in front made their stops, Woodrow leapfrogged to fifth, where he stayed to the flag.

Rounding off the top six on the road was Hovesen, who had a strong start to the race as he used his much faster wets to jump up to second and keep the pressure on Paulick for the opening stint.

Hovesen kept the gap to just under a second before he, too, fell back due to his degrading wets, losing track position to Pedersen on lap 14 after running wide at Turn 15. Five laps later, he was in for wets, and a lap later, he went back into combat with Paulick, calumniating in the German gaining track position and the Canadian for taking an alternate route through Turn 1.

Hovesen then had a ringside seat for Paulick and Cosford's collision on lap 24, allowing the Canadian to breeze by and into the top six on track. But he would later fall foul of the stewards for tapping Paulick into a spin on lap 18, dropping him to seventh.