TOYOTA GAZOO Racing resumed its challenge for the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) titles with a productive opening day when free practice began at Interlagos for the 6 Hours of São Paulo, the fifth round of season.
Just four weeks on from a strong performance in a dramatic Le Mans 24 Hours, the team completed an intensive preparation programme during practice in Brazil, amid close competition and expectations for an exciting contest among the 19-strong Hypercar grid.
Reigning World Champions Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa, who finished fifth at Le Mans, set the free practice pace with a lap of 1min 25.727secs on a day when the fastest four Hypercars were separated by only 0.049secs, and less than a second covered the top 10.
“We’ve had a good day,” said Hartley. “We tested different tyre compounds and only made minor changes on the set-up because we had rain and the red flag in the first session.
“Overall, it’s been a very smooth start for the team on both sides of the garage. We finished first and second which is nice but it’s incredibly tight. Now we’ve got to work overnight to go through all the data and everything we’ve learned.”
Mike Conway made a successful return to action after missing Le Mans through injury. He rejoined Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries, who finished second in the 24 Hours, behind the wheel of the #7 GR010 HYBRID, which ended the day second quickest.
The GR010 HYBRID was making its first appearance at Interlagos, scene of Toyota’s first hybrid-powered WEC victory and its first World Championship success, when the Hypercar field took to the track for two free practice sessions on Friday.
Due to the anti-clockwise lay-out at Interlagos – and the Circuit of the Americas, venue for the next race – the GR010 HYBRIDs are adapted for left-hand-side refuelling for the first time. Pit stop practices on Thursday and Friday allowed the crews to adjust to the revised process without compromising their renowned speed.
Rain struck 45 minutes before the start of first practice late on a cloudy morning, with air temperatures down at 16°C, meaning all cars started the session on wet tyres.
Neither Nyck nor Ryo had previously driven at Interlagos but, like their team-mates, they spent time on the driving simulator at the team’s base in Cologne, Germany to get a head start on preparations. As well as becoming more familiar with the track, the first practice programme also included some set-up adjustments to kick-off the process of optimising the GR010 HYBRIDs for the 4.309km circuit.
Track conditions improved sufficiently for slick tyres after around 40 minutes, but a red flag came at the halfway point. The session could not resume due to barrier repairs, meaning Sébastien’s best lap on slicks earned fourth for the #8, while Mike recorded the best time in the eighth-placed #7.
After adjusting set-ups based on the morning’s running, an extended second practice in warmer, drier conditions gave both cars a chance to explore qualifying performance before focus switched to analysing the medium and hard compound Michelin tyres.
Early fast laps from Mike and Sébastien put the two GR010 HYBRIDs at the top of the timing sheets for the first half of the session. Sébastien’s lap kept the #8 in first place until the chequered flag. The #7 had slid down the order as others got faster, but Kamui improved to earn second place.
The team will now work hard to optimise set-ups and tyre strategies before final practice on Saturday, prior to qualifying from 3.10pm local time (8.10pm CEST). The race begins at 11.30am (4.30pm CEST) on Sunday.
6 Hours of São Paulo – Free Practice 1
1st #93 Peugeot TotalEnergies (Jensen/Müller/Vergne) 1min 26.341secs 26 laps
2nd #2 Cadillac Racing (Bamber/Lynn) +0.179secs 21 laps
3rd #6 Porsche Penske (Estre/Lotterer/Vanthoor) +0.226secs 26 laps
4th #8 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing +0.436secs 22 laps
5th #83 AF Corse (Kubica/Shwartzman/Ye) +0.483secs 23 laps
6th #20 BMW M Team WRT (Van der Linde/Frijns/Rast) +0.530secs 24 laps
8th #7 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing +1.306 secs 24 laps
6 Hours of São Paulo – Free Practice 2
1st #8 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing 1min 25.727secs 83 laps
2nd #7 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing +0.033secs 77 laps
3rd #51 Ferrari AF Corse (Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi) +0.043secs 70 laps
4th #50 Ferrari AF Corse (Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen) +0.049secs 66 laps
5th #2 Cadillac Racing (Bamber/Lynn) +0.142secs 65 laps
6th #12 Hertz Team JOTA (Stevens/Ilott/Nato) +0.204secs 75 laps
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