TOYOTA GAZOO Racing will fight for the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) titles from the front of the grid after a spectacular one-two in qualifying for the season-ending 8 Hours of Bahrain.
Brendon Hartley took pole position, in the #8 GR010 HYBRID he shares with Sébastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa, with a lap of 1min 46.714secs. Nyck de Vries completed a perfect day for the team by taking second, 0.323secs behind, in the #7 GR010 HYBRID he drives alongside Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi.
“Big thanks to my team-mates for trusting me to do qualifying, and to the team as well for turning things around after a difficult free practice day,” commented Hartley. “I didn’t quite get the tyre temperature right on my qualifying lap, but I learnt from that and in Hyperpole I really put it together.
“The car came alive, and the lap felt really nice. It feels great to be on pole position for the season finale. We’ve had a challenging year on car #8 so we are pushing really hard to finish on a high and win the World Championship for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing.”
One point for pole means TOYOTA GAZOO Racing goes into the eighth race of the season nine points behind Porsche in the manufacturers’ standings. An eighth consecutive Bahrain victory on Saturday will secure the title, while Kamui and Nyck still have a chance of the drivers’ crown, trailing by 37 points with 38 available.
With so much at stake on Saturday, the team prioritised race performance and strategy throughout free practice, but the GR010 HYBRIDs nevertheless set the pace in the short qualifying and Hyperpole sessions.
Nyck competed in qualifying for the second time this season, having earned a front row start for the #7 GR010 HYBRID at the season-opener in Qatar, while Brendon took on qualifying duties for the first time since Le Mans in the #8.
On new, medium compound Michelin tyres, both cars set their fastest times on their first flying laps of the 12-minute session, the #7 initially leading a one-two. Nyck stayed on top until the end, while Brendon dropped to fourth, enough for both to reach Hyperpole, where the top 10 compete for pole position.
The 10-minute Hyperpole session began as night fell at Bahrain International Circuit and track temperatures dropped slightly. On new medium tyres again, a blisteringly fast first flying lap from Brendon earned pole position, with Nyck only a fraction behind in second, also on his opening effort.
As the clock ticked down, none of their Hypercar rivals came close to that impressive pace and the chequered flag flew to confirm TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s sixth consecutive pole position in Bahrain.
The team will now challenge for its third victory of the season as it fights to retain the World Championship titles in the 8 Hours of Bahrain, which begins at 2pm (midday CET) on Saturday.
8 Hours of Bahrain – Qualifying
1st #7 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing 1min 47.498secs
2nd #51 Ferrari AF Corse (Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi) +0.033secs
3rd #20 BMW M Team WRT (Van der Linde/Frijns/Rast) +0.052secs
4th #8 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing +0.200secs
5th #15 BMW M Team WRT (Vanthoor/Marciello/Wittmann) +0.243secs
6th #12 Hertz Team JOTA (Stevens/Ilott/Nato) +0.359secs
8 Hours of Bahrain – Hyperpole
1st #8 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing 1min 46.714secs
2nd #7 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing +0.323secs
3rd #51 Ferrari AF Corse (Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi) +0.366secs
4th #99 Proton Competition (Tincknell/Jani/Andlauer) +0.520secs
5th #50 Ferrari AF Corse (Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen) +0.813secs
6th #6 Porsche Penske (Estre/Lotterer/Vanthoor) +0.828secs
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