TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s quest for another home victory to strengthen its 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) challenge started with a productive practice day for the 6 Hours of Fuji.
The World Champions arrived in Japan at the top of the manufacturers’ standings for the first time this season and looking to extend the team’s winning record at Fuji Speedway to 10 victories, and seven in a row, despite experiencing another adjustment to the power and weight parameters of the GR010 HYBRIDs.
Two constructive free practice sessions marked a trouble-free start to its home event. Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa were fifth fastest overall in their #8 GR010 HYBRID, while Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries were ninth in the #7, on a day when just 0.554secs separated the top 10.
“It’s great to be back in Japan with TOYOTA GAZOO Racing because we feel a lot of support here,” commented Hartley. “We also have a good history at this track but it will be a big challenge to keep that winning run going; we have seen the competition is very tough.
“We had a smooth Friday, with no issues on the cars. We don’t look the fastest right now, but we have been working on the race set-up and it has been a positive day. It’s going to be tight so we have to keep pushing to extract all the performance we can.”
As in Austin two weeks ago, the team will meet the challenge of a very competitive Hypercar field head on and work intensively to extract maximum performance from the GR010 HYBRIDs, whilst using the experience of its drivers, engineers and mechanics to plan another effective race strategy supported by optimum pitstops.
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s home event kicked off earlier this week when all six drivers joined Kazuki Nakajima at an event near Toyota City on Tuesday to thank the team’s partners for their support. The following day, they visited a junior high school in Susono city, close to Higashi-fuji Technical Center, to encourage the next generation of motorsport fans. Meanwhile, team members preparing at Fuji Speedway appreciated the usual warm welcome from their local TOYOTA GAZOO Racing colleagues.
Track action began late on Friday morning with first practice, taking place in temperatures of 26°C. The 2024-specification GR010 HYBRIDs, whose powertrains are built at the nearby Higashi-Fuji Technical Center, turned their first laps of Fuji Speedway in the hands of Nyck and Ryo.
With another close battle between the 18-strong Hypercar grid emerging this weekend, the team had a busy programme of mechanical and aerodynamic set-ups to work on as drivers and engineers fine-tuned the GR010 HYBRIDs in preparation for Sunday’s race.
Despite a short interruption due to a late red flag, the team completed an encouraging 90 minutes, which ended with the #8 in second thanks to Ryo’s early flying lap, just 0.010secs off the top of the timesheets. Nyck’s best time, also at the beginning of the session, put the #7 fifth.
In second practice, work switched to analysing the performance and degradation of the medium and hard compound Michelins to prepare for another race in which good tyre management can offer a strategic advantage.
Kamui and Ryo started with a qualifying simulation, setting the fastest lap times for their respective cars in the opening minutes. Longer stints followed to assess the tyres and other set-ups, with only a brief full course yellow later in the session disrupting proceedings. The #8 ended second practice fifth with the #7 ninth.
Practice concludes on Saturday morning with a final one-hour session before the starting grid is decided in qualifying and Hyperpole, starting at 3pm local time (8am CEST), when TOYOTA GAZOO Racing will aim for its fifth consecutive pole at Fuji Speedway. The race starts at 11am (4am CEST) on Sunday.
6 Hours of Fuji – Free Practice 1
1st #6 Porsche Penske (Estre/Lotterer/Vanthoor) 1min 30.561secs 39 laps
2nd #8 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing +0.010secs, 43 laps
3rd #50 Ferrari AF Corse (Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen) +0.543secs, 45 laps
4th #5 Porsche Penske (Campbell/Christensen/Makowiecki) 0.567secs, 43 laps
5th #7 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing +0.585secs, 43 laps
6th #83 AF Corse (Kubica/Shwartzman/Ye) +0.721secs, 44 laps
6 Hours of Fuji – Free Practice 2
1st #15 BMW M Team WRT (Vanthoor/Marciello/Wittmann) 1min 29.577secs 53 laps
2nd #5 Porsche Penske (Campbell/Christensen/Makowiecki) +0.009secs, 44 laps
3rd #2 Cadillac Racing (Bamber/Lynn) +0.015secs, 48 laps
4th #83 AF Corse (Kubica/Shwartzman/Ye) +0.327secs, 53 laps
5th #8 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing +0.346secs, 52 laps
6h #20 BMW M Team WRT (Van der Linde/Frijns/Rast) 0.379secs, 54 laps
9th #7 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing +0.440secs, 52 laps
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