There could not have been a worse start to the season for the reigning champions of the FIA World Endurance Championship: Toyota paid a heavy price for its successes with a change in the rules that literally crippled it at the 1812 Km of Qatar.
No enthusiast likes it when one brand dominates and the Balance of Performance – which has been present in competitions of this type for decades – should serve to remedy the problem, but it is even less pleasant to see that the rules are modified in one way or the other.
Ferrari had paid for last year's success at Le Mans with changes imposed on the weight and power of the 499P; with the arrival of other manufacturers and a championship that aims to be the second most important in the world (F1 has unfortunately become like football, unattainable) today it is Toyota that is getting burned by Lusail.
After having increased the total ballast by 20 kg in the regulations (going from 50 to 70 kg), it was clear from the Prologue tests that the GR010s were having a terrible time carrying around their 1089 kg (+59 kg) without literally eating their tyres, even those with harder compounds.
#7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 – Hybrid: Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck de Vries
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
And the front row grabbed in Qualifying by Nyck De Vries, who stopped 0″164 behind Kévin Estre's Porsche, was certainly not welcomed in a triumphal manner by the German-Japanese team, who knew very well what awaited them in the race.
And in fact, after the disqualification of the Peugeot #93, Conway/Kobayashi/De Vries took home a sixth place with the Toyota #7, while the reigning champions Buemi/Hartley/Hirakawa narrowly returned to the Top10, but with 1 and 2 laps behind the top and an average time 8 tenths and above worse than those of the Porsches.
The efforts to try different strategies in order to recover something were to no avail and if previously the GR010 always had something in their pockets, this time it was impossible to do more.
TGR had benefited some time ago from favorable BoPs, but this time it is fair to say that the terrible result is certainly not its fault. And never was the change of livery, which became black, more appropriate “color of anger when we lose” as explained by its President, Akyo Toyoda, during the presentation.
Anger that was well noticed in the face of the new Technical Director, David Floury, who presented himself to comment post-race in Qatar.
#7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 – Hybrid: Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck de Vries
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
“Do you think I can be happy to have two cars in the points? If you see me like that, then ok, I'm happy,” he told journalists present in Lusail sarcastically, including Motorsport.com.
“It wasn't what we had in mind. We can be happy with the points we got, but obviously, looking at the big picture, we're not very happy.”
“We only had one problem during a pit stop on the left rear of the #8, otherwise everything went smoothly. The two cars had a similar pace, then it depends a lot on how the tires work.”
“It was a fight for everything, but it wasn't easy with the weight we found ourselves here and I really believe that things will change for Imola. We've never been there to test, so it's another unknown and the only test what we will do will be with Michelin for the 2025 tyres.”
“As already said after Qualifying, one car had a problem with tire wear and the other didn't, but it's the way it was managed all weekend that wasn't very good. We tried many things, but without finding an adequate way to counteract this factor”.
“During the tests we had also fitted the medium sized ones, but with this current package they didn't work and, since we couldn't gain anything from them, we didn't choose them for the race”.
“There are teams that have improved a lot, it's true, but I don't want to comment on the result of the match. We certainly have to work on our side too, but the image we gave here isn't exactly the best.”
“Should the WEC adopt more meritocratic solutions? It's not up to me to answer all these questions.”
#7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 – Hybrid: Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck de Vries
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
Kobayashi added: “Unfortunately we struggled throughout the race to find a solid performance. Sixth place was the best we could realistically take home and it's not what we hoped to achieve coming here.”
“Obviously our car wasn't suited to this circuit; it's really surprising how challenging this event was for us. But, despite the difficulties, everyone in the team worked hard to score points with both cars.”
“The drivers made no mistakes and the engineers and mechanics also performed very well. We will analyze everything that emerged from this race and work hard to return stronger to Imola.”
And for the 6h scheduled on the banks of the Santerno in April, the hope is that a balance will be found to guarantee a worthy show for a championship that deserves much more than what was seen in Lusail.
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