TOYOTA RACING took further important steps in its challenge at the 94th Le Mans 24 Hours during the opening free practice and qualifying sessions at the Circuit de la Sarthe.
As well as making progress on race set-up during five hours of free practice on Wednesday, both TR010 HYBRIDs also made it through qualifying to reach Thursday’s decisive Hyperpole 1. Sébastien Buemi was eighth in qualifying in the #8 TR010 HYBRID he drives alongside Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa, 0.656secs away from the pace-setting #35 Alpine. Mike Conway was 12th in the #7 car he shares with Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries.
“We had a pretty clean day and it’s positive that Séb had a nice lap in qualifying to get us through,” commented Hartley. “We went through quite a few test items in practice. I don’t think we’ve got the answers for everything yet in terms of set-up, so we still have work to do. I had a little trip through the gravel in FP2 but hopefully that’s out of the way now and we minimise the mistakes from here.”
Qualifying featured all 18 Hypercars, with the top 15 earning a place in Hyperpole. After initially starting on medium Michelin tyres, both cars improved their lap times on the soft compound in the closing minutes to safely progress. They will therefore take part in the grid-defining Hyperpole, which begins at 9.05pm on Thursday. The fastest 10 Hypercars from the 20-minute Hyperpole 1 will take part in the 15-minute Hyperpole 2 shoot-out.
Wednesday’s on-track action began early in the afternoon with a three-hour first practice session. This was the first opportunity for engineers and drivers to validate set-up changes made since Sunday’s test, alongside further analysis of the Michelin tyres on long stints. A productive and trouble-free session saw Brendon set the sixth fastest time in the #8 TR010 HYBRID, with Kamui’s lap putting the #7 car in 11th.
Second practice, from 10pm to midnight, brought the day to a close. As well as studying tyre and car performance in cooler, dark conditions, all six drivers completed their mandatory five night-time laps. The #7 car required repairs to the floor after an early spin across the kerbs but soon resumed and ended the session on top thanks to Kamui’s late lap. The #8 car was seventh, with Ryō setting its best lap.
Le Mans 24 Hours – Qualifying
1st #35 Alpine Endurance Team 3mins 23.135secs
2nd #12 Cadillac Hertz Team Jota +0.013secs
3rd #101 Cadillac WTR +0.188secs
4th #20 BMW M Team WRT +0.309secs
5th #38 Cadillac Hertz Team Jota +0.350secs
6th #15 BMW M Team WRT +0.490secs
8th #8 TOYOTA RACING +0.656secs
12th #7 TOYOTA RACING +1.179secs
Le Mans 24 Hours – Free Practice 1
1st #38 Cadillac Hertz Team Jota 3mins 23.786secs
2nd #101 Cadillac WTR +1.562secs
3rd #20 BMW M Team WRT +1.747secs
4th #12 Cadillac Hertz Team Jota +2.247secs
5th #35 Alpine Endurance Team +2.292secs
6th #8 TOYOTA RACING +2.705secs
11th #7 TOYOTA RACING +2.962secs
Le Mans 24 Hours – Free Practice 2
1st #7 TOYOTA RACING 3mins 26.096secs
2nd #83 Ferrari AF Corse +0.220secs
3rd #101 Cadillac WTR +0.291secs
4th #36 Alpine Endurance Team +0.321secs
5th #12 Cadillac Hertz Team Jota +0.324secs
6th #19 Genesis Magma Racing +0.756secs
7th #8 TOYOTA RACING +0.816secs
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