São Paulo: Toyota’s crucial chance to rescue their WEC season
- Ghazlan Atqiya Firmansyah
- Jul 11
- 11 min read
Written by Ghazlan Atqiya Firmansyah, Edited by Aaron Carroll
Toyota Gazoo Racing, one of the titans in the FIA World Endurance Championship, has yet to stand on the podium this season. This year, the Japanese outfit spent most of its time playing catch-up but time is running out to rescue their season, and São Paulo could be their last chance.
The current situation
Toyota currently sits second in the World Endurance Manufacturers' Championship with 95 points. Their No.7 drivers sit fourth in the Drivers’ Championship with 44 points, and their No.8 drivers are a little further back in eighth with 37 points. The reigning Manufacturers’ Champion has an uphill task as Ferrari leads by 77 points.
Toyota’s second place in the championship is also at risk from Porsche, as they only trail by 11 points. The German manufacturer carried a significant points boost from their Le Mans podium while Toyota had an off day.
Toyota must start winning races and have both cars on the podium to reduce Ferrari’s chances. But given Ferrari’s near-invincible run, it could go down to the wire if somehow they managed to remain in contention at the finale and something went wrong with the Italian outfit.
This is not the first time Toyota has been in a pickle, either. Last year, Porsche had a clear upper hand in the first half of the season before Toyota rebounded in the second half and won the championship in the Bahrain thriller, which saw them narrowly beat the German marque by two points.
Unlike this year, Toyota already had a win and a podium in Le Mans to its name at the same point in 2024. They would go on to take the overall win in São Paulo, finish second in Lone Star Le Mans and win the final race as they sealed the Manufacturers’ Championship.
Kamui Kobayashi, Toyota’s Team Principal and No.7 driver, remarked that it is nearly impossible to win the championship at this point: “We didn’t get the result we wanted in Le Mans, and this makes it almost impossible in the World Championship.”
“But we never give up, and we want to fight for victory at every race”, Kobayashi concluded.
Toyota’s difficult season, however, was already foreshadowed as early as in Prologue, but the team’s clever strategy often put their cars in competitive places. They could have achieved more had it not been due to other racing factors.
What has gone wrong so far?
Prologue foreshadowing and the first race
Toyota entered its defending champion season by turning up at the Prologue with a somewhat concerning pace. Drivers from both sides of the garage already hinted at the beginning that they are in for a challenging season.
Both cars demonstrated great reliability and completed a combined 4,291 kilometres over 792 laps. However, pace remains the subject of improvement. Mike Conway said, “Over one lap, our pace looked decent, but we still need to work on our performance on longer runs.”
The reigning champions opted to focus their efforts on enhancing the car’s performance and consistency by utilising a driver-first approach to setup and strategy adjustments.
The Qatar 1812 km qualifying did not turn out the way the team had hoped. Under cooler temperatures, No.7’s Nyck de Vries managed to bring the car to Hyperpole and qualified seventh, while the No.8 missed out due to Brendon Hartley’s spin, as the car qualified 17th.
Despite its lowly start, the No.8 car joined the No.7 in the top six near the end of the second hour. However, a scare came when No.7’s Mike Conway had a high-speed spin before handing the car over to Kobayashi.
Both Toyota cars stayed out of trouble during the two safety car periods, and one of them even sat third at one point before their rivals recovered from an issue and threatened their places.
As the sun went down, there were a variety of strategies employed by each team to fight for places. At the final pit stop, Sébastien Buemi (No.8) overtook Kobayashi as Toyota finished fifth and sixth at the end, while Ferrari stood on all three steps of the podium.
It is a decent haul to start the season considering the adversity, but the team knew they must do better than this moving forward. “I don’t think we could have managed more than fifth and sixth, so I am very pleased”, Buemi said.
Imola: Podium in sight, but drama is closer
It was a heated contest for Hyerpole in the narrow Imola Circuit as Toyota returned as the defending race winner. This time, both cars made it to Hyperpole, with Ryō Hirakawa in fourth, narrowly beating Nyck de Vries by only 0.001 seconds.
Conway and Hartley had a good start from their places and were in pursuit of podium positions and successfully navigated the LMGT3 traffic, which required full focus from both drivers.
Unfortunately, things would turn more difficult at this point after BMW’s No.20 car made contact with the No.7. A full-course yellow was deployed afterwards, and De Vries re-entered the race with a slightly damaged car.
The drama did not stop there as the No.8 car received a drive-through penalty for speeding during the full-course yellow. It was a completely different story at half distance as De Vries was running in the top six while Hirakawa tried to crack the top 10.
A safety car in the fourth hour brought both cars back in a strong position, coupled with a light rain that added to the tension. Buemi ran an alternative strategy in hopes of a clear track and making up lost time when the other Hypercars needed to pit later.
Kobayashi chased the No.6 Porsche for second, before he pitted. Buemi made the most of his alternative strategy and led the race after their rivals pitted.
Buemi was under threat from the No.50 Ferrari after its pit stop, but managed to hold on to the lead after the final fuel stop. A win in Ferrari’s home turf was looking more possible by the minute before the No.50 Ferrari made contact with the No.8 and suffered a puncture as a result.
At this point, it was too late for another stop, but Kobayashi and Buemi nursed their old tyres well enough to, as the latter took fifth after overtaking the No.15 BMW, while the former finished seventh.
Toyota scored 20 points, compared to Ferrari’s 26. This race could have been Toyota’s turning point, but other ill-timed factors hampered their performance.
Conway was understandably frustrated after the race: “It looked like we were in a good position for a podium at one stage, but it got away from us in the last hour or so. That’s a pity because everyone worked really hard to get into a decent position.”
“The contact certainly didn’t help because that cost us some time. Unfortunately, the [No.20] BMW tried to make two cars go into the space for one. Things didn’t go for us this weekend when it felt like we were on for a better result, but we’ll keep pushing.”
All of the No.8 drivers collectively lamented the penalty, the lack of pace and the subsequent contact at the end.
“We had a good fight, but unfortunately, we took a penalty for a full-course yellow infringement”, Hartley said. “Finishing fifth was decent damage limitation on a weekend when we didn’t have the pace. There wasn’t a lot more we could do.”
Spa: Recovery from the bottom as Ferrari steals the spotlight again
Toyota was hoping for a strong starting place, but they ended up on the wrong side of the grid as the No.8 car started 15th in front of the No.7 car. They were only faster than the Aston Martin Valkyries, and 1.8 seconds behind the No.50 Ferrari in pole position, unable to extract peak performance.
The pressure was on for Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR) to deliver on Sunday, as they were being watched by their employees from the Cologne base and the folks from Toyota Motor Europe.
Both cars opted to go aggressively from the get-go and were eyeing for top 10. But as seen from the previous race, when things were going right, it could always go wrong, as shown by Conway getting a puncture after 23 minutes of racing.
The race would be more thrilling after this stage, with the virtual safety car and the safety car at half distance, allowing the No.7 car to sit third at the restart after pitting to switch two tyres.
Kobayashi ran wide while defending from the Ferraris and dropped to seventh. De Vries and Buemi took over the cars for the final stint with the safety car deployed in the fourth hour.
Similar to Imola, the No.8 car tried to outsmart its rival by using an alternative strategy. This time, Buemi cut his penultimate stint short to clear the traffic as the other Hypercars stopped for their regular stop. This plan worked as Buemi moved into the lead before his fuel stop.
At the end, Buemi crossed the line in fourth with De Vries in seventh, maintaining the team’s 100% finishing record this season, all while Ferrari stood on top of the podium once more.
“As expected, there were plenty of incidents, but we kept it clean and stayed patient”, Hirakawa said. “It was not easy at times, but we did our best with strategy and made the right decisions.” “I think fourth and seventh were pretty much the best we could do”, Kobayashi added.
Le Mans: Missing out on big haul of points
Armed with a special livery and a competitive pace in testing and free practice, surely Toyota can deliver in one of motorsport’s largest events, where they have won many times before?
Qualifying ended in disappointment as No.8 qualified tenth and advanced to Hyperpole, and the No.7 failed to advance due to an untimely yellow flag, as the car had to settle for 16th.
The No.8 car made it to Hyperpole 2 thanks to Hartley’s sixth place, but a puncture during the session meant Buemi failed to set a lap time, leaving it stranded in 10th.
At the start of the race, both cars immediately charged for positions. The No.8 car was fighting for the top six, while there was early pain for the No.7 car as it received bodywork damage on the first lap, and then was punished with a 50-second stop-go penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
As nighttime fell upon the Circuit de la Sarthe, the No.8 fought for podium positions thanks to a strong performance with soft tyres and No.7’s quest for points was aided by a safety car with the field bunched up. The No.8 car was leading the race near lap 200.
Toyota continued to perform strongly with the No.8 car in the top six, battling with the Ferraris and Porsche for a possible podium. The No.7 car was in eighth, but the pace of the other Hypercars was too much for the GR010 Hybrids to handle.
The No.8’s race was effectively over after a broken component caused its front left wheel to detach on its own. The car returned to the pits limping with only three tyres, and Hirawaka rejoined in 19th after losing seven laps.
Kobayashi fought to close the one minute gap to the No.12 Cadillac for fifth until a late drive-through penalty abruptly ended its charge. The Japanese driver crossed the line in sixth, and the No.8 in 16th before both cars were elevated to fifth and 15th, respectively, due to No.50’s disqualification.
Toyota failed to gain a big haul of Le Mans points to sustain the challenge to Ferrari. Despite one car being disqualified, Ferrari was still able to outscore Toyota by 12 points. Now, another threat looms on the horizon as Porsche was the best-scoring manufacturer with 70 points, lurks closely.
Kobayashi knew it was going to be a tough race, and the fact that Ferrari is now the most successful Hypercar team in Le Mans only added to his frustration.
“We knew it would be a tough race, and it was indeed very tough. We tried to take every opportunity to get the win, but we couldn’t make it happen this time.”
“Now we have lost to Ferrari three times in a row, which is not acceptable to me. We will come back to Le Mans stronger next year and with a different mindset.”
“We were hoping for a much better result, but we were never really in the fight for the win”, Buemi said. “We were consistent and we didn’t get any penalties, which kept us in the fight until we had the technical issue.”
“That [issue] basically took us out of the race, otherwise I think we were likely to finish fifth”, Buemi concluded.
It’s now or never
A one-month break between Le Mans and São Paulo should have given Toyota enough room to regroup and analyse everything that went wrong in the first half of the season.
Due to the BoP, Ferrari’s 499P will enter Brazil with the joint-heaviest car on the Hypercar grid alongside the GR010 Hybrid. Now is the perfect time for Toyota to gain serious momentum to save their championship.
The Interlagos Circuit was the site of the team’s dramatic turnaround last year, with a pole and eventual victory on Sunday. Hartley and Hirakawa will be without Buemi’s services as the Swiss driver opted to race in Formula E’s Berlin E-Prix round, missing his first WEC race since 2012.
The No.7 crew will remain intact, and Conway said the team had already reset and regrouped for the second half of the season: “It’s good to be back in the car so soon after Le Mans. We’ve had time to rest and regroup, so we’re ready to race again.”
“I’m looking forward to racing in Brazil again because it’s a true motorsport country, and the fans are just incredible. The circuit itself is special, too, with all that history, so it’s a place I always enjoy visiting.”
“We’ve had strong results there in the past, and we’ll be pushing hard to stand on the podium again”, Conway concluded.
Hartley and Hirakawa are the defending race winners of the 6 Hours of São Paulo. The New Zealander wanted a strong result after Le Mans and welcomed the challenge to take on a six-hour race with two drivers.
“Last year we had a strong race from both cars, and that gives us some confidence for the weekend”, Hartley began. “Obviously, after Le Mans, we all want a strong result to start the second half of the season with a positive result.”
“We’ll miss Séb, of course, but it’s no problem to take on a six-hour race with two drivers.”
Only three races remain on the calendar after Brazil with the Lone Star Le Mans, 6 Hours of Fuji in front of the home crowd and the season finale, 8 Hours of Bahrain.
While it seemed difficult to win the championship with Ferrari’s monstrous 172 points, mathematically, Toyota are still able to take the fight to the wire if they can win the remaining rounds.
If somehow Toyota failed to win in Brazil and Ferrari triumphed, it would be even more impossible to catch them, and they could seal the Manufacturers’ Championship early. If it were to happen, 2025 could be Toyota’s first season without winning any championship since 2017.
No other team enters the fifth round of the season with more pressure than Toyota. This is not just any fight; it is about survival to keep their championship dreams alive. Only time will tell if Toyota can rise to the occasion.
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