Le Mans: tempo record per TOYOTA GAZOO Racing nell’era Hypercar

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing set another milestone in the Hypercar era during qualifying for the 89th Le Mans 24 Hours, the fourth round of the 2021 FIA WEC. 

Kamui Kobayashi, in the #7 GR010 HYBRID he shares with Mike Conway and José María López, set the fastest lap time yet for a Hypercar at the Circuit de la Sarthe. His time of 3min 26.279secs earned top spot in qualifying.

The #8 of Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley was third quickest with the #36 Alpine splitting the two GR010 HYBRIDs in second. TOYOTA GAZOO Racing will fight for a fifth consecutive Le Mans pole position in Thursday’s Hyperpole session, when the fastest six qualifiers from each class do battle in a 30-minute session, starting at 9pm CEST. Kamui and Brendon were given the task of setting flying laps at the very beginning of qualifying, using new tyres and with a low fuel load. Kamui had a clean lap and immediately took top spot. Brendon, despite traffic, moved into second, 1.392secs away.

With flying laps in the bank, the focus switched to preparation and tyre analysis. Each car is limited to only six sets of tyres for all free practice and qualifying sessions, 11 hours running time in total, so the remainder of the session was completed on old rubber. TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s Hypercar rivals attempted to overcome the GR010 HYBRID lap times over the remaining minutes. A combination of full course yellow and slow zones limited the opportunities for clean laps but the #36 Alpine took second late on. Away from qualifying, Wednesday featured five hours of practice which gave engineers and drivers an important opportunity to validate set-up changes made following Sunday’s official test day. With plenty of work to do, a red flag one minute into the three-hour first practice session was an unwelcome start. Two relatively clean hours of running followed, but an accident between an LMP2 and GT car caused a 23-minute red flag in the final hour, which was then disrupted by a full course yellow period.

Both cars compared aerodynamic and mechanical set-up options, and assessed different compounds of Michelin tyre. José set the quickest time of the session late on, 3mins 29.309secs, while Kazuki recorded the best time for the #8, third overall but just 0.087secs adrift. Sébastien, who missed the test day due to other racing commitments, completed his first laps in the GR010 at La Sarthe during first practice before going fastest of all in the night time session. That further two hours of free practice, which followed qualifying, gave the GR010 HYBRID Hypercars their first opportunity to run at night at Le Mans. All drivers, no matter their experience, must complete five laps in darkness to be eligible to race and that obligation was met comfortably in a smooth session.

Redazione MotoriNoLimits