TOYOTA GAZOO Racing is in contention at the front of the Le Mans 24 Hours after a hotly-contested opening six hours of the fourth round of the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).
After a quarter of the race at the Circuit de la Sarthe, the #8 GR010 HYBRID of Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa was challenging for the podium positions while the #7 GR010 HYBRID of José María López, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries pushed for the top six.
“Seb did an amazing first stint,” commented Hartley. “He kept it clean at the start and made his way forward. The only issue was losing a little bit of time pitting for wet tyres when a few others stayed on slicks. Maybe we were too cautious, but it was a tough call to make. Since then, it has been a very smooth race, and I am happy with my stints. I took my time to find my rhythm and I held my own with the leaders. There is a long way to go but we are in the fight.”
A difficult qualifying left the two cars at the wrong end of the Hypercar grid and Nyck took the green flag from 23rd in the #7, while Sébastien started 11th in the #8. Sébastien immediately began an exciting fight through the field, while Nyck adopted a cautious strategy in the opening stint to avoid any early risks.
Within four laps, Sébastien was inside the top six and, after the first pit stops, he moved up to fourth before being part of an exciting four-car battle for third at the end of the opening hour, while Nyck had moved the #7 up to 17th.
After around 100 minutes, a rain shower hit parts of the 13.626km circuit. Sébastien, running second at the time, was the first Hypercar to switch to wet tyres, followed a lap later by Nyck, who handed over to Kamui. However, the rain eased and, as the track dried, both cars had to return to soft Michelins a few laps later.
Other Hypercars chose a different strategy so Sébastien entered the third hour in eighth place, with Kamui in 11th. Both cars maintained their strong pace and once again made progress towards the front.
In the fourth hour, they were racing in the top six, and Sébastien even led the race due to a different rhythm of fuel stops for rivals. His long first stint at the wheel ended after more than three hours when Brendon took over the #8 while, late in the fourth hour, José took the wheel of the #7.
As the race entered its fifth hour, Brendon was running fourth with José fifth, but the #7 would soon drop to eighth due to a drive through penalty for a slow zone infringement. The #8 was the fastest of the leading cars by the time Brendon handed over to Ryo, who resumed in fourth midway through the hour.
As the quarter-distance point approached both GR010 HYBRIDs were inside the top six and part of a battle with Cadillac, Ferrari and Porsche for Le Mans honours as the rain began again. Both cars pitted for wet tyres, and Nyck took the wheel of the #7.
Le Mans 24 Hours – 6 Hours
1st #83 AF Corse (Kubica/Shwartzman/Ye) 96 laps
2nd #5 Porsche Penske (Campbell/Christensen/Makowiecki) +49.546secs
3rd #8 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing +55.603secs
4th #50 Ferrari AF Corse (Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen) +1min 10.566secs
5th #6 Porsche Penske (Estre/Lotterer/Vanthoor) +2mins 30.473secs
6th #51 Ferrari AF Corse (Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi) +2mins 39.963secs
9th #7 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing +3mins 26.477secs
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