Toyota Racing on Pole at Le Mans

World Championship leaders Toyota Racing and the #7 TS040 Hybrid took pole position for the 82nd Le Mans 24 Hours at the Circuit de la Sarthe.

Kazuki Nakajima, who shares the #7 with Alex Wurz and Stéphane Sarrazin, became the first Japanese driver to earn the honour with a lap of 3 mins 21.789 secs, which also marked Toyota’s second pole position at Le Mans.

The #8 car of Anthony Davidson, Nicolas Lapierre and Sébastien Buemi will start Saturday’s race from third on the grid.

Despite a 25% reduction in fuel consumption, the efficient 1000 PS Toyota Hybrid System – Racing powertrain helped Toyota Racing record a 0.557 secs improvement on last year’s pole position time of 3 min 22.346 secs.

With two wins from the opening two FIA World Endurance Championship races, the TS040 Hybrid is setting the standard for efficiency and performance in the new era of endurance racing and that was indicated again.

The starting grid at Le Mans is decided by the fastest single lap from each car for any of the three qualifying sessions.

Kazuki and Sébastien took the wheel for the start of final qualifying, which had been extended by 30 minutes due to several red flags in the opening two sessions. They immediately set better lap times than in either earlier session.

Fine-tuning continued with all drivers taking turns to evaluate tyres and set-up before a final shoot-out for pole position, with Kazuki and Sébastien returning to the cockpit.

However, a late yellow flag zone denied a big crowd the spectacle but confirmed that Toyota Racing will start from first and third.

The team now turns its attentions to preparing for Saturday’s race when it will challenge to win Toyota’s first Le Mans 24 Hours at the 16th attempt, with the race beginning at 15:00.

TS040 Hybrid #7

(Alex Wurz, Stéphane Sarrazin, Kazuki Nakajima)
Qualifying 1 (Wednesday): 3rd (3 min 25.313 secs), 12 laps
Qualifying 2 (Thursday): 1st (3 min 22.589 secs), 20 laps
Qualifying 3 (Thursday): 1st (3 min 21.789 secs), 37 laps
Grid: 1st

Alex Wurz:

“I am mega happy; it is a really good result. Kazuki did really well and he did a banzai lap. It is not only that we are happy for pole position but also the work we did today was very good. I think it makes us all positive ahead of the race. It was really cool team work, every step we did with the set-up and the way we operated was very nicely executed. So I am very proud of our team.”

Stéphane Sarrazin:

“It is amazing to be on pole again. It was a great job from the team and Kazuki did a brilliant lap. Yesterday we had a good car but today we had a very good car. The set-up was brilliant so big thanks to the team. It is promising for the race because we feel so confident in the car. We can push on every corner, every lap. Like that everything is positive. The race will be very long, we know that we have to be very calm and not attack it like a short sprint.”

Kazuki Nakajima:

“Even though it is a 24-hour race it is a very good feeling to be on pole position. I am really happy with the car so many thanks to team; we have prepared a great car for the race. I was struggling with the traffic but I managed to get one lap and it was just enough to get the pole. It’s going to be a tough race but tonight I am happy. We didn’t have to compromise our programme and we managed to put in the lap time for the right moment. Now I think we are well prepared for the race.”

TS040 Hybrid #8

(Anthony Davidson, Nicolas Lapierre, Sébastien Buemi)
Qualifying 1 (Wednesday): 4th (3 min 25.410 secs), 12 laps
Qualifying 2 (Thursday): 5th (3 min 23.661 secs), 19 laps
Qualifying 3 (Thursday): 3rd (3 min 22.523 secs), 36 laps
Grid: 3rd

Anthony Davidson:

“I am over the moon for the whole team for this lap that Kazuki put together. Congratulations to car #7 and the team. It feels like I didn’t really get to drive much at all in the final round of qualifying. The way it worked out, Séb was on a roll and we saw that the time was right to throw some new tyres his way and I am glad we did because the track was at its best at that point. He just kept running into traffic but finally managed to pop it into third. To start the race from the second row is good enough.”

Nicolas Lapierre:

“It is a great result starting first and third considering our competitors also pushed hard for pole position. We had a few attempts at pole but it was not our only target; we had a long run as well. The car balance is looking strong in the day and at night so we are looking forward to this race and I think we are more prepared than ever. Kazuki’s lap was fantastic and I want to say congratulations to him.”

Sébastien Buemi:

“First of all I want to congratulate car #7, they did a great job, especially Kazuki. It was a very good lap from him and a fantastic result for the whole team. Of course it is a bit disappointing to be behind, you never like that as a driver but it is great for the team. The race is long so we’ll see what it brings.”

Qualifying for the Le Mans 24 Hours began with a curtailed session at the Circuit de la Sarthe which left Toyota Racing on the provisional second row.

A red flag with just under an hour to go of the two-hour qualifying session brought a premature end to the evening’s action and denied the team a chance to complete its planned programme.

The two TS040 Hybrids were lying third and fourth respectively, with Alex Wurz, Stéphane Sarrazin and Kazuki Nakajima in the #7 and Anthony Davidson, Nicolas Lapierre and Sébastien Buemi in the #8.

Qualifying started at dusk with Alex and Anthony at the wheel for a programme of set-up optimisation with a view to extracting maximum race performance.

The starting grid for the 82nd Le Mans 24 Hours is decided by the fastest single lap of each car from any of the three qualifying sessions, meaning the pole position will be decided at midnight on Thursday with the end of third qualifying.

First qualifying allowed precious little on-track action and gave an incomplete picture as to the team’s relative performance. An early 20-minute red flag set the tone and allowed a driver switch to Stéphane and Nicolas.

Just after the hour mark, Stéphane’s stint came to a premature end early into the #7 car’s 13th lap when a loss of engine oil pressure caused him to stop on track.

A separate incident at the same time caused another red flag and ended the session. That meant Kazuki and Sébastien did not get a chance to drive.

Earlier in the day, free practice allowed the team to prepare for qualifying. Both cars had an extensive task list of set-up and tyre evaluations but were interrupted by three red flags following on-track incidents.

Nevertheless, all six drivers completed productive stints, racking up 85 laps, around 1160 km, between them whilst showing encouraging performance in finishing first and third, with the #8 and #7 respectively.

Qualifying continues on Thursday with a pair of further two-hour sessions (19:00 & 22:00). The race starts at 15:00 on Saturday.

TS040 Hybrid #7

(Alex Wurz, Stéphane Sarrazin, Kazuki Nakajima)
Free practice 1: 3rd (3 min 24.291 secs), 42 laps
Qualifying 1: 3rd (3 min 25.313 secs), 12 laps

Alex Wurz:

“It was an eventful first day. I am glad that Loic Duval seems to be okay after his accident and will be back soon. In terms of our work on the car, we went through the programme but obviously there was limited time due to the red flags. We had some good tests and interesting results. Now it is a matter of studying the data and making the right choices for tomorrow.”

Stéphane Sarrazin:

“The car felt really good. Unfortunately we had the issue in qualifying but it’s better today than in the race and at least we didn’t lose any track time compared to the others. All three drivers are really happy with the car, the balance is good. We need to test a few things tomorrow to improve it but it’s not been a bad day.”

Kazuki Nakajima:

“In the end it was a positive day despite what happened at the end of qualifying. We had good pace in the first session. We had a good long run and a tire test in free practice. Then in the evening session unfortunately I didn’t drive but still we have tomorrow. The performance of the car seems to be there, we just need to put it all together.”

TS040 Hybrid #8

(Anthony Davidson, Nicolas Lapierre, Sébastien Buemi)
Free practice 1: 1st (3 min 23.652 secs), 43 laps
Qualifying 1: 4th (3 min 25.410 secs), 12 laps

Anthony Davidson:

“The session never really got going, which was a pity. But at least we got to try some important set-up items on our car which gave us some useful data. We ticked another box and we can put that to rest. We look forward to tomorrow now. The car is feeling pretty good to drive and the final two qualifying sessions should be fun; there is a long way to go and the competition looks strong.”

Nicolas Lapierre:

“That was a difficult session. We couldn’t do many laps but it is the same for everyone. The car felt strong and we are ready for the rest of qualifying. On the long run the car seems quite competitive but it is difficult to assess our competition because we did only a few laps in qualifying. We will have a better view tomorrow.”

Sébastien Buemi:

“Finally we are back on the circuit because it has been a long wait since the test. Obviously it did not go as expected, especially with the crash of Loic Duval and we all hope he will be back very soon. The red flags meant we didn’t drive much in qualifying and I didn’t get the chance to drive in the night which is a bit disappointing. There is still a long weekend ahead but we are quite confident we have a good package.”