Sébastien Buemi can now call himself a Toyota driver, since he has actually taken the wheel of the TS030 HYBRID, in preparation for his endurance season.
The Swiss driver shared the wheel of the No. 8 Toyota prototype with teammate Hiroaki Ishiura, in a 30-hour endurance test, aimed to "evaluate various performance developments", at the Paul Ricard circuit in France.
For Buemi, also Red Bull Racing's reserve driver, it was more about getting accustomed to both the new car, and the new discipline.
"It was nice to discover more about the endurance racing environment," he said on Toyota Hybrid's website.
"From a technical point of view the car is very impressive although we still need to make progress in some areas, which is normal at this stage of testing.
"I did some long stints and learned about new aspects of endurance racing, like driving at night, managing fuel consumption and adapting my driving style. I can see that every detail is important in order to be fast in this discipline."
TOYOTA Racing will resume testing in April, only sometime before their first race: the Six Hours of Spa-Franchorchamps, second round of the 2012 World Endurance Championship, held May 5th in Belgium.
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| Sébastien Buemi (right) in his new overalls, alongside new teammate Hiroaki Ishiura (Photo: FIA WEC) |
The Swiss driver shared the wheel of the No. 8 Toyota prototype with teammate Hiroaki Ishiura, in a 30-hour endurance test, aimed to "evaluate various performance developments", at the Paul Ricard circuit in France.
For Buemi, also Red Bull Racing's reserve driver, it was more about getting accustomed to both the new car, and the new discipline.
"It was nice to discover more about the endurance racing environment," he said on Toyota Hybrid's website.
"From a technical point of view the car is very impressive although we still need to make progress in some areas, which is normal at this stage of testing.
 |
| The Toyota Hybrid TS030 at Paul Ricard circuit (Photo: FIA WEC) |
"I did some long stints and learned about new aspects of endurance racing, like driving at night, managing fuel consumption and adapting my driving style. I can see that every detail is important in order to be fast in this discipline."
TOYOTA Racing will resume testing in April, only sometime before their first race: the Six Hours of Spa-Franchorchamps, second round of the 2012 World Endurance Championship, held May 5th in Belgium.