TOYOTA GAZOO Racing Resumes Le Mans Challenge

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s challenge for a fifth consecutive Le Mans victory resumed with practice and qualifying sessions on Wednesday, as race week began at Circuit de la Sarthe.

Kamui Kobayashi set the fastest time of the day, a lap of 3mins 27.247secs recorded during qualifying, driving the #7 GR010 HYBRID he shares with fellow 2021 Le Mans winners Mike Conway and José María López.

Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa, in the #8 GR010 HYBRID, had a frustrating qualifying session, when the fastest laps of the day were set, and recorded the fourth quickest time.

“First practice went well but qualifying was a bit delayed on our car and when we went out there was a red flag,” commented Hartley. “Then it started raining so we didn’t have time to do a representative lap time. At least we got one lap on the board, which qualifies us for Hyperpole.

“It was nice to drive at night, which is always fun around here; it gets the adrenaline flowing. We still have some improvements to make so we’ll be busy again on Thursday to improve the race set-up.”

This week’s preparations have already included victory for the #8 pit stop crew in the inaugural pit stop challenge, earning four team members a trophy and a visit to the famous Le Mans podium.

The focus returned to track activity on Wednesday when the day was split into three sessions, starting with a three-hour free practice in the early afternoon. That ran smoothly for both cars and finished with the #8 car on top, thanks to a lap from Brendon. Kamui’s lap put the #7 in fifth.

After completing more than 2,800km in Sunday’s official test, engineers and drivers have worked hard over the last two days to prepare the cars and set-ups. These were validated in first practice, when the team focused on optimising set-ups, with a particular focus on aerodynamic comparisons.

Qualifying took place in the evening to determine the six participants in each category who will participate in Thursday’s Hyperpole session. With five competitors in the Hypercar class, qualifying was effectively another practice session for the team to optimising aerodynamic, mechanical and control settings.

The session did not go entirely smoothly though. The #8 car lost part of the session when the right rear corner needed to be replaced and a red flag, for an accident involving a GT car, followed soon after to further interrupt proceedings.

When qualifying resumed, rain fell just as Brendon was ready to start his first flying lap, leaving the #8 car down in 29th when the chequered flag fell. In contrast, Kamui’s lap at the beginning of the session again put the #7 GR010 HYBRID at the top of the timing sheets.

The day’s action concluded in darkness with a two-hour second practice session ended. Drivers must complete a minimum of five laps at night to be eligible to participate in the race and all TOYOTA GAZOO Racing drivers achieved that target before the day’s running concluded at midnight.

A programme of tyre comparisons and further set-up adjustments finished with the #7 in second place following Kamui’s lap at the end of the session, while Brendon set the best lap for the #8 which ended second practice in third.

Thursday will see the starting grid for the 90th Le Mans 24 Hours decided during a 30-minute Hyperpole session, when the best individual lap time from one driver per car will determine the order.

The team targets a sixth consecutive pole position and a new entry in the Le Mans record books. Kamui goes for his fifth pole, which would equal a record set by the legendary Jacky Ickx, while TOYOTA GAZOO Racing could move level with Audi on eight poles, second in the all-time list.

Free Practice 1

1st #7 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing 3mins 29.441secs 41 laps

2nd #709 Glickenhaus Racing (Briscoe/Westbrook/Mailleux) +0.476secs 37 laps

3rd #708 Glickenhaus Racing (Pla/Dumas/Derani) +0.661secs 39 laps

4th #23 United Autosports USA (Lynn/Jarvis/Pierson) +0.797secs 39 laps

5th #8 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing +0.962secs 39 laps

6th #38 JOTA (Gonzalez/Da Costa/Stevens) +2.183secs 36 laps

Qualifying:

1st #7 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing 3mins 27.247secs 10 laps

2nd #708 Glickenhaus Racing (Pla/Dumas/Derani) +0.108secs 8 laps

3rd #709 Glickenhaus Racing (Briscoe/Westbrook/Mailleux)+0.731secs 9 laps

4th #36 Alpine Elf Team (Negaro/Lapierre/Vaxiviere) +2.409secs 10 laps