Both Toyota TS040 Hybrids ended up swallowing their pride; they lost a lap being trapped in the gravel while the leading Audis lapped them. The Toyota hybrids were able to continue after being rescued by safety marshals. By the end of the third hour, the Porsche trailing the lead Audi in hour two led the race. Between the end of the third hour and fifth, the Porsche continued to lead, and the #2 switched positions with the #1 going into the final hour, as Audi was on a mission to take the lead away from the Porsche, which led by a little over three seconds. Fortunes would soon swing in the way of the Audi within the last hour. The leading Porsche would soon fall off the pace and lose the lead from a lack of engine power, and the duo of #2 and #1 (who was about a minute back), swarmed the Porsche and took the lead and second position. Audi would go on to take the first two podium positions, with #2 winning and #1 in second place. Audi gained the manufacturers championship lead after this race, leading by 18 over rival Toyota. Oyama, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan's Fuji Speedway was host to the 6 Hours of Fuji as the season moved onto the fifth round. Now holding the manufacturers lead, Audi hoped to continue the success and fight it showed in Austin. The first two practice sessions got the race weekend off to a great start, as the #1 locked the first position and the #2 took the second position through the first and second practices. However, in the third practice, both of Toyota's and Porsche's prototypes earned faster times than the #1 and #2, who in contrast to the first two practices, sat at the opposite end of the LMP1-H leaderboard. The same result from the third practice session stood for the qualifying session for the LMP1-H field, except the position of the #1 and #2, who switched starting grid positions, with the #2 starting fifth and the #1 starting sixth. The pole position belonged to Toyota. The race got off to an exciting start, with multiple position swaps amongst the LMP1-H cars. By the end of the first hour, the #2 car gained one position, passing one of the Porsches. The #1 stayed in sixth position. When the third hour concluded, Audi switched positions, with the #1 in fourth place and the #2 going down one lap in sixth place. Eventually, by the end of the race, the #1 Audi lost a lap and soon was passed by the second of the Porsches, moving the #1 back to fifth.