Toyota Racing press release
Toyota Racing drove into the night at Le Mans for the first time in the first qualifying session of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, taking provisional top-six starting positions for the 24-hour race.
Wednesday’s 120-minute qualifying session, which is followed by two more on Thursday, saw the TS030 HYBRIDs participate in their first competitive action after an intense period of testing and development.
When the chequered flag fell at midnight, the No. 7 TS030 HYBRID of Alex Wurz, Nicolas Lapierre and Kazuki Nakajima was fourth. Nicolas set its best time of the session; 3m27.191.
The No. 8 TS030 HYBRID of Stéphane Sarrazin, Anthony Davidson and Sébastien Buemi ended the session in sixth, although traffic severely disrupted its fastest lap. Anthony set its fastest time of 3m28.295.
Earlier in the evening the No. 8 car lost most of the practice session after an engine failure left Anthony stranded on the track after only five laps and 34 minutes. The engine was changed in time for qualifying.
“First of all it’s great to be back in competition; this is what we have been dreaming about for many months and finally the big event is here," said
Yoshiaki Kinoshita, Team President.
"In terms of performance, we appear to be on a reasonable level and this meets our expectations following the test day. Unfortunately we lost the practice session for the #8 car due to an engine failure, which is the first time we have suffered this problem. The engines have regularly completed more than a Le Mans distance without trouble on the dynos and the track, so this looks like a one-off problem. Finally at the end of qualifying, a minor hybrid system error prevented Alex finishing his stint, which is frustrating. Therefore we still have work to do tomorrow when we aim to improve in terms of pace and reliability.”
Toyota Racing drove into the night at Le Mans for the first time in the first qualifying session of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, taking provisional top-six starting positions for the 24-hour race.
Wednesday’s 120-minute qualifying session, which is followed by two more on Thursday, saw the TS030 HYBRIDs participate in their first competitive action after an intense period of testing and development.
When the chequered flag fell at midnight, the No. 7 TS030 HYBRID of Alex Wurz, Nicolas Lapierre and Kazuki Nakajima was fourth. Nicolas set its best time of the session; 3m27.191.
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| Photo: Toyota Racing |
The No. 8 TS030 HYBRID of Stéphane Sarrazin, Anthony Davidson and Sébastien Buemi ended the session in sixth, although traffic severely disrupted its fastest lap. Anthony set its fastest time of 3m28.295.
Earlier in the evening the No. 8 car lost most of the practice session after an engine failure left Anthony stranded on the track after only five laps and 34 minutes. The engine was changed in time for qualifying.
“First of all it’s great to be back in competition; this is what we have been dreaming about for many months and finally the big event is here," said
Yoshiaki Kinoshita, Team President.
"In terms of performance, we appear to be on a reasonable level and this meets our expectations following the test day. Unfortunately we lost the practice session for the #8 car due to an engine failure, which is the first time we have suffered this problem. The engines have regularly completed more than a Le Mans distance without trouble on the dynos and the track, so this looks like a one-off problem. Finally at the end of qualifying, a minor hybrid system error prevented Alex finishing his stint, which is frustrating. Therefore we still have work to do tomorrow when we aim to improve in terms of pace and reliability.”