Toyota’s resounding victory at the 6 Hours of Sao Paulo has relaunched its world title ambitions for the second half of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship season.
At Interlagos, the dominance of the GR010 Hybrids proved disarming after just 60 minutes, with the #7 of Conway/Kobayashi/De Vries having a half-minute lead over its rivals, followed at a distance by the #8 of Buemi/Hartley/Hirakawa.
While not even a Drive Through for an infringement committed during a Full Course Yellow stopped the race leader, a faulty control unit that limited the fuel flow and reduced power did the trick, requiring a fix in the pits during the third hour, causing her to lose a lot of time.
This opened the doors to success for the #8 twin, which continued in the same vein, gaining ground on every lap, before simply managing the situation, while the usual devilish Kobayashi managed to climb up to fourth place, snatching it from Ferrari with 4 minutes to go.
#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 – Hybrid: Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa
Photo by: Toyota Racing
“It’s a great day for us, we won the first race of the year with a great car. Tyre management was one of our strong points, especially being able to use the medium compound throughout the race, which really helped us to have a good pace,” explains Buemi.
“I’m very happy to finally have a problem-free weekend after a difficult start to the season. We had a good qualifying with a one-two finish, but the #7 car was unlucky with a problem. They were very fast and deserved a better result.”
“We have obtained good points in the Constructors’ Championship and we will go to the next race with the aim of continuing like this.”
Hartley added: “It’s a great feeling to get the first win of the season, which hasn’t been great so far. The #7 had an amazing race, it was flying today, so I feel sorry for them.”
“My first stint at the beginning wasn’t easy, with a lot of tyre degradation, but we managed to get through it and had a nice, clean race.”
“We got the win and that’s what matters, as well as getting good points for the World Championship, so we want to continue like this for the next races.”
Hirakawa also smiles: “I’m very happy with our first win of the year, it’s been a long time since the last one in Bahrain, but we never gave up and always pushed to the maximum. My stint was not easy because of the degradation, so I had to take care of the tyres”.
“I had the chance to change tyres on the right side, but I still had to manage them a lot; I’m happy that I was able to keep the gap to the car behind.”
“It was important for the team in the Constructors’ Championship to win the race and I’m happy to have done it. Thank you for the huge effort you’ve put in this week. There are still three races to go and we will continue to push for the title.”
#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 – Hybrid: Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa
Photo by: Toyota Racing
There is some disappointment on the other side of the garage, but the points taken mean an all-round relaunch for Toyota as Kobayashi underlines: “For the team, this was definitely our week. We had a good pace in qualifying, then both cars were very strong in the race and we managed the tyre degradation very well”.
“Congratulations to the #8 for the win; they drove a great race. Obviously, the #7 had the potential to win, but unfortunately we had an issue that cost us some time in the pits. From that point on it was a difficult situation for us, but we did our best to come back and fourth place was the best we could realistically achieve.”
“I thank the team for their hard work. We will analyse what happened on our car and come back even stronger for the next races.”
After a difficult start to the season (not entirely their fault, it must be said), the Japanese have returned to roar with arrogance with times unapproachable for everyone and excellent tyre management, which has brought the brand to -4 from Porsche in the Constructors’ standings, thus reopening the game in a big way, while among the drivers a comeback is more difficult, but not impossible.
“We had a good idea of the tyre situation before the race, after testing in FP2, when the temperatures had risen a bit. We worked on the set-up to make the car work and be consistent. I think strategy and tyre management were key today,” said Technical Director David Floury.
“The difference in pace we found was clearly linked to this too. I saw mixed choices between medium and hard, it will be interesting to analyse everything, but we only used medium for the whole race, because mixing the types of tyres risks running into a test session. And obviously not all combinations can work”.
“In any case, it’s always satisfying to win, especially after Le Mans. Because Le Mans left a bitter taste in the mouth and I would have liked a one-two today, we deserved it. We can’t be 100% happy, but it’s still a good result.”
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