TOYOTA GAZOO Racing holds provisional pole position after the first qualifying session for the Le Mans 24 Hours, the third round of the 2017 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).
Having won the opening two WEC races of the season, TOYOTA is aiming to win Le Mans for the first time, having made its debut in 1985, and the TS050 HYBRID cars made a strong start to the event.
Kamui Kobayashi set the provisional pole position time in the #7 TS050 HYBRID he shares with Mike Conway and Stéphane Sarrazin with a lap of 3min 18.793secs, which is already 0.940secs faster than last year’s pole position time.
The #8 car of drivers’ World Championship leaders Sébastien Buemi, Anthony Davidson and Kazuki Nakajima was second fastest, with 2014 pole position winner Kazuki having set the best time.
The #9 of Nicolas Lapierre, Yuji Kunimoto and José María López took provisional fourth position. Nicolas set the best time for that car while rookies Yuji and José María, in their first night session at Le Mans, built on impressive test performances earlier this month.
Grid positions for Le Mans are decided by the fastest single lap from any of the three two-hour qualifying sessions. Therefore, the starting grid will be confirmed at midnight on Thursday, when the chequered flag flies at the end of final qualifying.
Ahead of a 24-hour race, one-lap performance was not the main priority, with most of Wednesday’s track time dedicated to optimising the TS050 HYBRIDs for race conditions at the Circuit de la Sarthe, which is part public roads, part permanent circuit.
That began with four hours of practice in the afternoon. Significant work was already carried out during the official test day on 4 June, so practice allowed further optimisation of aerodynamic and mechanical set-ups in hot, sunny conditions.
First qualifying took place after sunset but temperatures were still 27°C at the start. The session was delayed by 20 minutes to allow barrier repairs following an accident in a support race practice, meaning it ran for only one hour 40 minutes.
As well as the primary target of improving the car balance and evaluating tyre performance in evolving track conditions, all nine drivers are required by race regulations to complete a minimum of five laps at night and this was achieved.
The team will continue to focus mainly on race pace during Thursday’s two 120-minute qualifying sessions, which take place at 18.00 and 22.00 respectively, whilst nevertheless aiming to secure TOYOTA’s third Le Mans pole position.
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