Toyota on pole but it’s long day
Kiwis confident of good showing in gruelling race at the Le Mans 24 Hour event
After the carnage at the Texas Motor Speedway last weekend, where Kiwi Scott Dixon got taken out for the second time in a row, drivers are concerned about pack racing that saw multiple crashes and only six cars finishing on the lead lap.
The cars make such a big hole in the air that it is almost impossible to pull away, even in a good car.
The lack of tyre wear at Texas also compounded the problem by allowing cars three wide to race around the circuit.
Hopefully the new aero package for next year will go some way to negating pack racing. Toyota are on pole for the Le Mans 24 Hour this weekend, but that doesn’t mean anything in the scheme of flatout racing t wice around the clock. In fact, leading the race with a few laps to go also doesn’t mean you’re going to stand on the top spot on Monday. Just ask Toyota.
The Japanese manufacturer looked to have the 2016 race in the bag with less than five minutes remaining, only to grind to a halt in front of the pits allowing the trailing Porsche to win.
That heartbreak seemed to put a rocket up the tail pipe at Toyota, because this year they have been unbeatable during the opening rounds of the 2017 season.
The TS050 Hybrid in the hands of Anthony Davidson, Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima crossed the line first at Silverstone and SpaFrancorchamps and lead the World Endurance Championship by 17 points from the Porsche 919 Hybrid of Kiwis Brendon Hartley and Earl Bamber and Timo Bernhard of Germany.
Toyota has further strengthened their cause in trying to become only the second Japanese manufacturer to win the world’s most sought after prize in endurance racing. They have locked out the front row with Kamui Kobayashi ( Mike Conway and Stephane Sarrazin) going fastest and the No 7 of Nakajima ( Davidson and Buemi) right alongside.
The Porsches line up two abreast on the second row with the No 1 car of Neel Jani ( Andre Lotterer and Nick Tandy) just edging out Bernard ( Hartley and Bamber).
Porsche have been at pains all season to say Toyota have the speed advantage, but as the race is so long and the cars requiring to pit just about every hour, there’s a lot that can go wrong.
“The Toyotas have been fast all year, but there’s a lot more to this race than just speed,” Hartley said from Le Mans.
“To win here you have to first beat Le Mans and have a good car as they are pushed to the limit every minute of the race. There’s no saving anything to the end because the com- petition is too tough. We feel pretty confident, despite the Toyotas being quite fast. We’re doing everything we can to win the race despite not having the quickest car. There are a lot of factors at play, including strategy and pit stops.”
The pit stops are crucial and different to Formula One. The LMP1 cars have to come in about every 50 minutes ( small tanks holding around 50 litres) and teams have to decide whether to change tyres or not. The dilemma i s that you can’t change tyres the same time the fuel is going in, so it takes longer. It is all down to the mechanics, who can only change one tyre at a time, to make the swap as quick as possible.
Driving styles are crucial and if a team can save an entire stop it becomes a big advantage. Hartley is pleased that Bamber has joined the driver lineup this season, as he knows him well having raced karts together when they were seven.
Bamber, in particular, i s really looking forward to being back at the track. The 2015 winner had to sit out last year and is chuffed to be racing with another Kiwi.
“I really wanted to defend the title I won with Nick [ Tandy] and Nico [ Hulkenburg] but it wasn’t to be,” Bamber said. “It all worked out in the end and racing with Brendon is just great.
“The cars have changed quite a lot since 2015 but I’m getting to understand them much better now that we’ve already had two races. While we haven’t won yet, we have been on the podium twice and Le Mans is a race on its own.
“I’ve raced here a few times [ LMP1 and Porsche GTs] so I know my way around.”
There are four races going on at the same time and for the LMP1 drivers it’s all about risk management and how cleanly they can get through the LMP2, GTLM Pro and GTLM Am cars who will all be preoccupied by their own battles.