There is a desire for redemption at Toyota in a 24h of Le Mans which promises to be very interesting and hard-fought.
The Japanese company harbors the desire to make amends after the defeat suffered in 2023 at the hands of Ferrari, but there is also a lot of energy to return to being a protagonist in the FIA World Endurance Championship after the first three races of the 2024 season where a victory came Imola in mixed conditions, but also a lot of suffering between Qatar and Spa.
While the sun is continuing to warm the environment, for now, the final preparations are taking place inside the paddock of the Circuit de la Sarthe and Sébastien Buemi knows well that nothing can be left to chance in an event like this, as he explains in the interview granted to the media present, including Motorsport.com.
#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 – Hybrid: Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa
Photo by: Alexander Trienitz
How do you rate Toyota’s performance based on the test day, ahead of race week?
“We will see something different, it looks like Wednesday and Thursday the conditions will be dry and the first time we will see rain will be in the race or in the warm-up, let’s say. So it will be much colder and the chances of rain are obviously high. It’s difficult to predict how this will affect performance if you look at the test day, I think it’s a bit difficult to say.”
Regarding others, how do you see them?
“It seems that the Porsche is a little faster, difficult to say by how much, given that there is a lot of traffic. We don’t know how much fuel they consume, so it’s obvious, but it’s difficult to understand the rest, the Ferraris, which clearly don’t have showed any pace, they did strange things on the straight, for me they hid something So, it’s difficult to judge, I would have expected them to be very fast. But at the moment they didn’t show anything, the Cadillacs are not bad. BMW showed good performances, it is difficult to draw conclusions; if the difference between the cars is two seconds, it is easy to understand, but when we are talking about gaps of 2 to 4 tenths, it is difficult to make a reading. correct”.
With only 8 seats in Hyperpole, how sure can you be of getting back there?
“In the past Qualifying didn’t matter much, but obviously now it does. It’s extremely difficult to overtake on the straight, everyone has the same top speed. We don’t have any kind of boost or DRS like in the past. So overtaking is tough and if you manage to qualify in front , it’s a great help, even if it’s an endurance race. We’ll try to do our best and train on Qualifying even in free practice, perhaps with two sets of new tyres. We’ll have to see how much time we have available.”
This is Toyota’s third Le Mans, do you think it has more potential to exploit or something still in the bag?
“Having raced here for many years, including three times with this car, potentially gives you a small advantage in terms of reliability, but we can’t take anything for granted. Anyone who came later could see what works and what doesn’t. Obviously, technology is constantly improving and it is always better to make a new car ahead of others because there is more knowledge. Perhaps this is the most negative aspect because after 3 years it is difficult for us to make improvements, because everything is approved software, on the set-up, but it’s really little stuff.”
It’s more a matter of setup…
“Yes, we fine-tune what we have, but let’s say there is a margin for progression that is fundamentally lower than that of most other competitors.”
#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 – Hybrid: Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa
Photo credit: Rainier Ehrhardt
Are you worried about the lack of tire warmers?
“Honestly, I don’t know what has changed compared to last year. The tires are the same, the car is the same and the track is the same. Why? Having used them last year and not this year, obviously we can say that we have more experience, but I had driven many, many times with cold tires. I think the problem is the weather: if it’s hot, I think it’s fine, but if it’s cold, at some point there’s a problem that soft tires are really good in terms of warming up, but once warm they are too soft, so the car moves a lot and it’s not good. At a certain point you can run the risk of choosing mediums, which however are really difficult to bring up to temperature. And if it’s cold, something similar to what happened in Spa last year can happen. At the same time it’s the same situation for everyone, but it’s clear that when you leave the garage and your tires are cold and someone arrives with them already hot, the difference is enormous, especially in the first sector”.
How many laps does it take to warm up the tires?
“I think that at half lap we already have decent grip, in a full lap I’m more or less at full speed. The problem is sector 1, where we lose a lot of seconds.”
Do you think it could create chaos with other classes?
“Yes, because when a car comes out of the pits and is 5 to 10 seconds slower in sector 1, it’s as if you hit a chicane; you have an extra curve on the track. Of course, strange situations will arise where a GT comes to the first corner and he’s much faster than you in the first sector, again, it’s the same situation for everyone, so it’s up to us to try to maximize the situation.”
Do you think GT drivers will also take more risks? Now they have ABS and can brake a little later…
“Honestly no, the only thing you notice is that they are a little slower than in the past. Furthermore, there are a lot of cars, so it’s difficult to do a clean lap.”
And how do you think rain tires without heaters would perform?
“We didn’t have them before, as far as I remember. So there’s not much difference. They have a short autonomy, but they have good grip right from the start.”
Is heating the average tire easy?
“It depends on the time of day, it should be possible. Then, of course, we always analyze how much we think we lose in terms of performance and how much we gain with new tyres. The problem is that in the past we went out with hot tyres, so the performance ‘they were already, while now you waste a lot of time warming them up. This pushes you to go longer with the tire because you know that if you change it, you not only lose the time to replace it, but also to bring it up to temperature try to do longer stints.”
#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 – Hybrid: Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa
Photo by: Marc Fleury
Will anyone adopt extreme strategies?
“No, because in the end you have to have Michelin’s consent, so you already have to demonstrate to them that you can do a certain number of stints safely, you can’t do whatever you want. They control the tire pressure, the camber and the amount of turns you do, so you can’t just say you’re fine, in your opinion.”
Overall, compared to last year, what do you think you can do better in terms of team performance compared to last year, based on what you’ve learned?
“Last year we lost more than a minute in the Slow Zone because our FCY limiter was too slow. It was extremely annoying because the way it was monitored, in our opinion, was not correct. In practice, there were cars that In our opinion, they were too fast, but they didn’t get any warnings. At Sebring we tried to push and they gave us a warning, then I don’t know what really happened, but this year there is a much stricter way of controlling the speed. “.
How much have you lost?
“I think we’re talking about 150 km traveled in the Slow Zone, so you can imagine that all this at 80km/h makes a big difference if someone runs at 80.5km/h. We calculated that last year we lost almost a minute compared to others and we don’t want this to happen again. And then, at the end, Ryo spun, which was another thing to try to avoid. But other than that, I think our race was pretty clean compared to Ferrari, but this year the weather will be different.”
Have you improved the software from this point of view?
“Yes, but I think it was more the FIA that decided. It is stricter and clearer on what can be done and how it is monitored. I am not a technician and I don’t have enough knowledge to explain in detail, but now everything is more controlled , there shouldn’t be any difference.”
So you don’t think anyone can benefit this way?
“The way it’s being monitored this year, there’s no margin to do that. Ferrari had managed to make gains in the Slow Zones, but at the Speed Trap they were constantly above 80km/h, so let’s say they were in a sort of gray zone “.
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