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CORVETTE RACING AT FUJI: What a Win for TF Sport, Corvette!
No. 81 Z06 GT3.R takes dramatic class victory on final lap
OYAMA, Japan (September 28, 2025) – TF Sport’s No. 81 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R earned a dramatic, late-race victory Sunday in the Six Hours of Fuji for the team’s second LMGT3 triumph of the FIA World Endurance Championship season.
Charlie Eastwood, Rui Andrade and Tom Van Rompuy earned their first win as a trio and their third podium finish of the season. The three teammates drove their way back from an early-race penalty and took advantage of last-lap trouble for the No. 21 Ferrari.
Eastwood took the checkered flag second in LMGT3 but the Ferrari was assessed a five-second, post-race penalty of its own on the final lap. Both cars had to stop for a splash of fuel inside the final six minutes but the TF Sport Corvette came in a lap later – critical as Eastwood went from eight seconds behind to well within the five-second margin he needed for victory.
TF Sport’s No. 33 Corvette won the opening race of the season in Qatar, and the team also won with one of its Corvettes in the European Le Mans Series earlier this year… coincidentally one driven by Eastwood and Andrade. It also was the second win at Fuji this year for the Z06 GT3.R as Johor Motorsports Racing took a victory earlier this year in GT World Challenge Asia.
Unofficially, the No. 81 Corvette team moved into third place in the LMGT3 Drivers and Teams championships – 24 points out of first place with 39 total points available in the eight-hour season finale in Bahrain.
No. 33 TF Sport Corvette teammates Daniel Juncadella, Jonny Edgar and Ben Keating are fourth in points with their eighth-place finish Sunday for their third points-paying finish in four races.
Multiple safety car periods scrambled the race at various points, which presented a number of different strategies throughout the LMGT3 field. After Van Rompuy and Keating drove opening stints in their Corvettes on the same starting tires, TF Sport decided to split its strategy with the No. 33 running four spots better at the halfway point.
Eastwood was one of the first Pro-rated drivers into the race just ahead of the four-hour mark with the goal making it to the end with a final splash. Meanwhile Juncadella got in the No. 33 with 1:45 left from second place but with one stop to the end.
The No. 81 strategy played out as the winning one at the end. Eastwood stopped from the lead with 63 minutes to go and again with four minutes remaining to set the stage for the late-race dramatics.
TF Sport and the Corvette Z06 GT3.R will close the FIA WEC season at the Eight Hours of Bahrain on Saturday, November 8.
TF SPORT POST-EVENT QUOTES
CHARLIE EASTWOOD, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: (Were you made aware of the scenario to the 21?) “No, not till the very last lap. To be honest, I felt like I was getting a bit annoying on the radio because I was asking all the time what was going on. For a long time I didn’t have a clue. Half the grid was on a split strategy and we were at one point seventh on that alternate strategy. We sort of chipped away closer to the front. We knew that we were able to go the longest on fuel but it was going to be nip-and-tuck. It kind of depended so much on how the battles were behind. There was quite a small gap once we came out of the pits but we had really good pace at the end of the stint. It was a perfect pit stop and took the least amount of fuel… I think we ended with 8 or 10 mega-joules in the car, bearing in mind that it’s only about a half-second on the actual fill. So it was perfect by the team. I came around on the second-to-last lap and they mentioned the gap was 7.2 seconds but there was a five-second time penalty. So I figured I may as well keep pushing here and see how we get on. We could see the Ferrari ahead didn’t quite have enough fuel. I could see it coming closer and closer in the last lap.
“To take the win was unbelievable. Right place, right time but also you have to execute and everything went right in the last couple of hours. We’ve been pretty unlucky the last couple of years to say the least, so it’s great to get my first win with these guys (Andrade and Van Rompuy) in WEC and my first win in the championship since moving to Corvette. I’m super pleased.”
RUI ANDRADE, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “The car felt very strong in my stint. In FP3 and qualifying, we were very happy with the car balance. We knew that qualifying for sure isn’t our strong spot but we knew the Corvette would be quite strong for the race. It was quite tricky as all the LMGT3 cars were quite close together. It was really hard to know where we were going to be, and even in the race it was hard to know where we would end up because different strategies by different teams were being played out. But we kept our heads down and kept pushing. The safety cars definitely threw a lot into the race because we weren’t sure what the best strategy would be. Even until the end we weren’t sure if it would work out. But the team did an amazing job. My teammates were faultless all race long. Thankfully we had the right strategy and a little bit of luck at the end. I’m very happy to get our first win together in the WEC. Since last year we’ve been trying and we’ve been close a few times. It’s a very special moment for all of us.”
TOM VAN ROMPUY, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “It started a bit on the back foot because I caused a penalty for releasing early from a FCY. But luckily that was negated by lots of VSCs and safety cars. From that point we knew we had a strong racecar on race pace. So we kept on giving our best. Also the team, I have to thank today for all their effort for doing really great pit stops and strategy. At some point it was a gamble but today it paid out. It’s my first win in WEC so I’m super proud to achieve this with these guys at TF Sport. I’m super happy.”
DANI JUNCADELLA, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “It was a positive race until the last two hours where seven or eight cars took a gamble to stop behind the safety car. It worked for them but didn’t work for us. We ended up P8 when we should have been in the top-three. It’s a shame. On the other hand we had a good weekend where we improved consistently. We’re still missing pace overall and some balance in the car. It’s probably not the best weekend for that but we will get there. The championship now is very difficult for Bahrain but we will be rid of all our success weight. Hopefully we can have a clean weekend there so let’s see.”
JONNY EDGAR, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: "That was a pretty good stint. I think our race pace definitely was better than what we expected after practice. I'm pretty happy with that. Some cars had a little bit more pace but I think we did a good job on strategy. I managed to overtake a few cars on track, and on strategy we managed to jump a few others, which was good to get in clean air and push a bit. So the team did a good job on the stop and strategy to get a few places."
BEN KEATING, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: "It was a lot of fun in my stint. There was a lot going on out there. We had a lot of different cars that were on completely different strategies. I think the second safety car helped everybody else and did not help us. We were on a fuel mileage strategy and felt we were going to have one less stop than everyone else. I had a good start and a good couple of stints. We didn't take tires for my second stint and some of the other competitors did so that was a big difference late."
Ryan Smith
Judy Kouba Dominick
CORVETTE RACING AT FUJI: What a Win for TF Sport, Corvette!
No. 81 Z06 GT3.R takes dramatic class victory on final lap
OYAMA, Japan (September 28, 2025) – TF Sport’s No. 81 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R earned a dramatic, late-race victory Sunday in the Six Hours of Fuji for the team’s second LMGT3 triumph of the FIA World Endurance Championship season.
Charlie Eastwood, Rui Andrade and Tom Van Rompuy earned their first win as a trio and their third podium finish of the season. The three teammates drove their way back from an early-race penalty and took advantage of last-lap trouble for the No. 21 Ferrari.
Eastwood took the checkered flag second in LMGT3 but the Ferrari was assessed a five-second, post-race penalty of its own on the final lap. Both cars had to stop for a splash of fuel inside the final six minutes but the TF Sport Corvette came in a lap later – critical as Eastwood went from eight seconds behind to well within the five-second margin he needed for victory.
TF Sport’s No. 33 Corvette won the opening race of the season in Qatar, and the team also won with one of its Corvettes in the European Le Mans Series earlier this year… coincidentally one driven by Eastwood and Andrade. It also was the second win at Fuji this year for the Z06 GT3.R as Johor Motorsports Racing took a victory earlier this year in GT World Challenge Asia.
Unofficially, the No. 81 Corvette team moved into third place in the LMGT3 Drivers and Teams championships – 24 points out of first place with 39 total points available in the eight-hour season finale in Bahrain.
No. 33 TF Sport Corvette teammates Daniel Juncadella, Jonny Edgar and Ben Keating are fourth in points with their eighth-place finish Sunday for their third points-paying finish in four races.
Multiple safety car periods scrambled the race at various points, which presented a number of different strategies throughout the LMGT3 field. After Van Rompuy and Keating drove opening stints in their Corvettes on the same starting tires, TF Sport decided to split its strategy with the No. 33 running four spots better at the halfway point.
Eastwood was one of the first Pro-rated drivers into the race just ahead of the four-hour mark with the goal making it to the end with a final splash. Meanwhile Juncadella got in the No. 33 with 1:45 left from second place but with one stop to the end.
The No. 81 strategy played out as the winning one at the end. Eastwood stopped from the lead with 63 minutes to go and again with four minutes remaining to set the stage for the late-race dramatics.
TF Sport and the Corvette Z06 GT3.R will close the FIA WEC season at the Eight Hours of Bahrain on Saturday, November 8.
TF SPORT POST-EVENT QUOTES
CHARLIE EASTWOOD, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: (Were you made aware of the scenario to the 21?) “No, not till the very last lap. To be honest, I felt like I was getting a bit annoying on the radio because I was asking all the time what was going on. For a long time I didn’t have a clue. Half the grid was on a split strategy and we were at one point seventh on that alternate strategy. We sort of chipped away closer to the front. We knew that we were able to go the longest on fuel but it was going to be nip-and-tuck. It kind of depended so much on how the battles were behind. There was quite a small gap once we came out of the pits but we had really good pace at the end of the stint. It was a perfect pit stop and took the least amount of fuel… I think we ended with 8 or 10 mega-joules in the car, bearing in mind that it’s only about a half-second on the actual fill. So it was perfect by the team. I came around on the second-to-last lap and they mentioned the gap was 7.2 seconds but there was a five-second time penalty. So I figured I may as well keep pushing here and see how we get on. We could see the Ferrari ahead didn’t quite have enough fuel. I could see it coming closer and closer in the last lap.
“To take the win was unbelievable. Right place, right time but also you have to execute and everything went right in the last couple of hours. We’ve been pretty unlucky the last couple of years to say the least, so it’s great to get my first win with these guys (Andrade and Van Rompuy) in WEC and my first win in the championship since moving to Corvette. I’m super pleased.”
RUI ANDRADE, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “The car felt very strong in my stint. In FP3 and qualifying, we were very happy with the car balance. We knew that qualifying for sure isn’t our strong spot but we knew the Corvette would be quite strong for the race. It was quite tricky as all the LMGT3 cars were quite close together. It was really hard to know where we were going to be, and even in the race it was hard to know where we would end up because different strategies by different teams were being played out. But we kept our heads down and kept pushing. The safety cars definitely threw a lot into the race because we weren’t sure what the best strategy would be. Even until the end we weren’t sure if it would work out. But the team did an amazing job. My teammates were faultless all race long. Thankfully we had the right strategy and a little bit of luck at the end. I’m very happy to get our first win together in the WEC. Since last year we’ve been trying and we’ve been close a few times. It’s a very special moment for all of us.”
TOM VAN ROMPUY, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “It started a bit on the back foot because I caused a penalty for releasing early from a FCY. But luckily that was negated by lots of VSCs and safety cars. From that point we knew we had a strong racecar on race pace. So we kept on giving our best. Also the team, I have to thank today for all their effort for doing really great pit stops and strategy. At some point it was a gamble but today it paid out. It’s my first win in WEC so I’m super proud to achieve this with these guys at TF Sport. I’m super happy.”
DANI JUNCADELLA, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “It was a positive race until the last two hours where seven or eight cars took a gamble to stop behind the safety car. It worked for them but didn’t work for us. We ended up P8 when we should have been in the top-three. It’s a shame. On the other hand we had a good weekend where we improved consistently. We’re still missing pace overall and some balance in the car. It’s probably not the best weekend for that but we will get there. The championship now is very difficult for Bahrain but we will be rid of all our success weight. Hopefully we can have a clean weekend there so let’s see.”
JONNY EDGAR, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: "That was a pretty good stint. I think our race pace definitely was better than what we expected after practice. I'm pretty happy with that. Some cars had a little bit more pace but I think we did a good job on strategy. I managed to overtake a few cars on track, and on strategy we managed to jump a few others, which was good to get in clean air and push a bit. So the team did a good job on the stop and strategy to get a few places."
BEN KEATING, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: "It was a lot of fun in my stint. There was a lot going on out there. We had a lot of different cars that were on completely different strategies. I think the second safety car helped everybody else and did not help us. We were on a fuel mileage strategy and felt we were going to have one less stop than everyone else. I had a good start and a good couple of stints. We didn't take tires for my second stint and some of the other competitors did so that was a big difference late."
Ryan Smith
Judy Kouba Dominick
