In the end, Toyota almost always manages to land on its feet, even when on paper the situations do not seem in its favor. Indeed, at the Lone Star Le Mans there is also the regret of having seen a triumph that was now within reach slip away from the reigning Champions of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
In Austin, the GR010 Hybrids started from the middle of the pack and were forced to fight back against some very competitive cars, starting with the Ferraris that had taken the lead at the start. But along the way, the Japanese’s experience in managing everything to perfection emerged and the #7 of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck De Vries found itself in second position, gradually overtaking its rivals.
In the penultimate hour, Kobayashi pressed the accelerator as only he can, moving ahead of the #83 AF Corse Ferrari, which tried to chase him but slowly dropped to about ten seconds. This is where the mistake that cost TGR the win incredibly occurred, with the driver/team principal not lifting his foot enough in the sector where the double yellow flags were exposed for the removal of the #94 Peugeot.
The radio communication from his engineer immediately raised doubts and perplexities: “Kamui, next time you see double yellow flags you have to lift your foot off the accelerator, ready to stop the car”. From the series: you didn’t do it the first time, be careful for the future.
#7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 – Hybrid: Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck de Vries
Photo by: Andreas Beil
The stewards, however, immediately brought down the axe and rightly so the Drive Through arrived, which made Kobayashi slip once again behind the 499P of Robert Shwartzman, who pushed like hell to try to keep up with the Japanese, who, also due to a couple of errors, in the end had to give up by 1″7.
“The team did a perfect job and made a great effort. We did everything we could in terms of driving, strategy and pit stops, putting ourselves in a position to win. But the Drive Through was unfortunate and a big surprise for me, to be honest, but that’s how it went,” Kamui comments.
“The race was pretty fun and I enjoyed being back racing in Austin; it’s a great track. Now I’m looking forward to continuing the close battle this season at our home race.”
#83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Robert Kubica, Robert Shwartzman, Yifei Ye, #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 – Hybrid: Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck de Vries, #50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen
Photo by: Ferrari
Conway is more critical, but he still accepts a very good result in terms of the championship: “At the beginning we didn’t think we had the chance to win, we were hoping for a Top5 or at least a podium, but as the track evolved we had a good pace; in each stint we seemed to be gaining with good tyre consumption and good consistency. We ended up fighting and we thought we could do it, but unfortunately the penalty took away any chance, even if Kamui fought until the end”.
“I found the penalty quite strange, it seemed to me that there was only one yellow flag and it was for a car parked on the left side that was being lifted by the crane at that moment. This compromised the situation, then Kamui tried in every way to recover and did well to get back to 2″, but it ended there”.
“Everyone did a good job, the pit crew, the drivers, the pit wall made good choices; this put us in the fight. The fact that the track had more grip made it easier to manage the tyres. The #8 tried the hard at the beginning of the weekend and it was clear that it wasn’t going to work for us.”
“We saw that the Ferraris, especially the #83, tried the hard on the right side, but we didn’t need it. The mediums worked well: good grip and good degradation. In traffic we were definitely losing, but that was the case for everyone.”
#7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 – Hybrid: Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck de Vries
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
De Vries concluded: “I would like to thank the team for the great job they did all weekend, especially in the race. They got all the calls and pit stops right and perfectly. I think we all did a great job, but unfortunately the Drive-Through took the win away from us.”
“We still have to investigate because it is not yet entirely clear why it was given to us. However, it is an important result for the team and for the World Championship, but it is bittersweet to lose the victory when we had it in our pocket.”
The Conway/Kobayashi/De Vries trio now join Ferrari drivers Molina/Nielsen/Fuoco in second place in the drivers’ standings on 113 points, moving to within 12 of Estre/Vanthoor/Lotterer (Porsche #6), while Toyota is the new Constructors’ leader with 147 points, overtaking Porsche which is on 136, with Ferrari third on 128.
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