Porsche has taken over the driver’s championship lead in Japan after Brendon Hartley, Mark Webber and Timo Bernhard took their third consecutive FIA World Endurance Championship victory today.

The Fuji Speedway win follows the trio’s success at the Nurburgring and Circuit of the Americas. The New Zealand/Australia/Germany combo had help from their teammates this time around with Neel Jani slowing to allow the No.17 car through for the win.

Hartley, Webber and Bernhard now hold a one point lead over the Audi of Marcel Fassler, Benoit Treluyer and André Lotterer who won the opening two races of the championship at Silverstone and Spa-Francorchamps and finished third today in rainy conditions at Fuji.

Porsche came away with another 1-2 finish with Jani, Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb finishing second.

The Porsche squad actually struggled in the opening part of the race after it finally went green. The first 40 minutes of the race were run under safety car. When racing finally began, the two Porsches both slipped behind both Audi and Toyota LM P1 entries.

As conditions improved over the six hour event, both the No.17 and No.18 machines began to assert their dominance.

“We have achieved our target to get another one-two result for the manufacturers’ standings,” Bernhard said.

“This, for me, is the most important news. Normally it would have been the day for our sister car, as they had deserved to win. Our race was difficult and we are grateful for the full points. But to win the title, there is still a long way to go as we have two more six-hour races ahead of us.”

In their second year in the FIA WEC, Porsche are now in a position to add a championship victory to their Le Mans win from June this year.

The German manufacturer put Michelin’s renowned slick wet weather tire to use in today’s race – a slick tire which works well in damp conditions by coming up to temperature quickly, but not overheating.

“Before I began my double stint in the middle part of the race we had lost a huge amount of time to our sister car, and this was because the full course yellow came out just when we had done our pit stop and their stop was due,” Hartley said.

“I went out on intermediate slick tires in tricky conditions. Initially the wet tyre would have been quicker, but we kept ours on for two stints, so in the end it was the right tyre choice. I had a bit of fun with the number 7 Audi out there. He was able to overtake me when I was busy with some switches in the cockpit. Then I had a good battle with him. It was nice and clean and good fun.“

The No.26 G-Drive Racing won the LMP2 class for the second race running, but only after a contentious and entertaining battle with the KCMG ORECA-Nissan, which going in to the race with a 13 point title lead.

Ultimately, the destiny of where the LMP2 class spoils would go came in the final hour after a titanic fight between the G-Drive Ligier and the KCMG car. Julien Canal, Sam Bird and Roman Rusinov eventually took the win after a collision with their title rivals KCMG in the last thirty minutes of the race.

In the GT ranks, Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander returned to their winning ways in GTE-Pro and the Dempsey-Proton Porsche, with drivers Patrick Long, Patrick Dempsey and Marco Seefried, taking their debut WEC victory in GTE-AM.

Ferrari and Porsche staged an epid battle which continued as the race entered the final stages. Toni Vilander completed a mammoth 3hour 25 minute stint on one set of wet tyres before coming in during a Full Course Yellow to hand over to Gimmi Bruni and switch the tires to slicks.

The strategy put them at the head of the field and Bruni was able to bring the car home to see the checkered flag one lap ahead of the rest of the field and for the first time since round 1 at Silverstone.

1-2 victory for #Porsche919Hybrid – pics from the race and the celebration. @FIAWEC @PorscheNewsroom @LeMansLive pic.twitter.com/HKxpVry91l

— Porsche Motorsport (@PorscheRaces) October 11, 2015

Congratulations to @PorscheRaces #17 for their #WEC #6hFuji LMP1 victory! @AussieGrit @Timo_Bernhard @BrendonHartley pic.twitter.com/F8oCwLy7mA — FIA WEC (@FIAWEC) October 11, 2015

.@FIAWEC -The @Ferrari of @GianmariaBruni and @Toni_Vilander back to winning ways at Fuji //t.co/Z3R4X6T0Pm pic.twitter.com/SwDg4RTjQQ

— Ferrari Races (@FerrariRaces) October 11, 2015