"A hard week": Toyota drivers reflect on a "tough" Lone Star Le Mans race
- Ghazlan Atqiya Firmansyah
- 3 hours ago
- 4 min read
Toyota Gazoo Racing was hoping for an improved fortune during Sunday's Lone Star Le Mans race under wet conditions. But unfortunately, incidents and lack of performance denied the team a double points finish.
Lone Star Le Mans pushed Toyota to the limit
The Lone Star Le Mans began under safety car to allow the race directors to evaluate the conditions, as heavy rain continued to pour down. The race eventually got underway nearly two hours later.
Brendon Hartley in the No.8 car started the race in seventh. Nyck de Vries in the No.7 car started way back in 17th. The former slipped back to tenth, and the latter moved up into 13th before another safety car was deployed.
When racing resumed, De Vries battled other Hypercars for position and found himself in the top 10. José María López took over the car from the Dutchman with a safety car near the halfway distance. Hartley had two off-track moments before handing over to Ryō Hirakawa in 11th.
As the race progressed, so did the rain. Incidents began to trigger across the field, and Hirakawa was pushed into a spin by an LMGT3 car. The Japanese driver fought back from 15th to 11th before handing over to Sébastien Buemi in the fourth hour.
No.7's promising show abruptly ended when López had a dramatic spin in the turn 13 gravel after two earlier spins. The Argentine was recovered under safety car before Kamui Kobayashi took over for the final stint in 17th.
The race was briefly green again, and it would not take long for another safety car to be deployed. In the final 90 minutes, Buemi pushed the No.8 car into eighth before the No.83 Ferrari overtook him. Kobayashi had a harmless spin after switching to slicks.
As the chequered flag went out, Buemi crossed the line in ninth and Kobayashi in 14th, four laps down from the winner. It was another disappointing race for the Japanese manufacturer.
Drivers' reaction to the "tough" Lone Star Mans race
No.7
As Toyota's team principal, Kobayashi said Lone Star Le Mans has been a hard week for the team. The 38-year-old said the team could not do better than eighth with their pace. Once the car was stuck in the gravel, that pretty much sealed it for the No.7 car.
"It was a tough day for us.
"We were running eighth for a while, but we knew that with our pace, we could not achieve much better. Obviously, when we got stuck in the gravel, we had no chance after that, and we could only bring the car home.
"It’s been a hard week for us. The next race is Fuji, so it’s a big one for us, and we want to come back stronger."
López did not expect the race to turn out that way for his one-off appearance replacing Mike Conway. The 42-year-old had no regrets about it and added the difficulty of driving a Hypercar under wet conditions once more.
"It was not easy on either side of the garage, and we struggled with the conditions.
"We just couldn’t find a grip with the car. It was not the race I wanted, but I have no regrets. Racing in those conditions after a year out of the car was extremely difficult.
"But these experiences only make us stronger, and the team will bounce back, I’m sure."
De Vries said: "We faced extremely difficult conditions and tough circumstances.
"We started from the back, and we had a pretty good first part of the race before a few incidents. Ultimately, we were just lacking pace, and we couldn’t fight at the front.
"We need to try to recover and reach a good performance level again because we have not been competitive enough here."
No.8
Buemi said the weather was tough for everyone. The Swiss driver thanked the fans for supporting them despite the conditions and backed the team to improve before their home race in Japan.
"The weather was really tough out there, not only for the drivers, but for everyone.
"Thanks to the fans for staying and supporting us despite the conditions. We didn’t get the result we wanted, although we gave it everything.
"We couldn’t fight with the leading cars today, and we want to improve this for the rest of the season, particularly the next race in Japan."
Hartley commented that they did not have the pace to compete at the front, no matter how much they pushed and extracted the full potential out of the GR010 Hybrid.
"It was a very tough day.
"We didn’t have the pace to compete at the front, even though the whole team pushed really hard to extract the maximum from our car. We had no real issues, but we could not challenge further up the field.
"It was a character-building day, but we are going to fight back as hard as we can to get a good result in our home race."
Hirakawa concluded by saying they should look forward to the next race as it is his and the team's home race. The 31-year-old wanted to make sure Toyota could put on a good show in front of the home crowd.
"We did our best, but it was not our day.
"The conditions were very challenging for everyone. Now we look to the next one, because it is our home race. So, we have to do our best to prepare well and come back stronger.
"The last two races have been very challenging, but I hope we can deliver a much better result in Fuji."
In the Hypercar Manufacturers' Championship, third-place Cadillac continues to lead from Toyota, scoring 14 points to the reigning champion's four. As things stand, Toyota has 99 points to its name.
