TIME IN THE SIM

Fernando Alonso has become a regular on the Toyota Motorsport Gmbh sim in the run-up to the start of the WEC and his first Le Mans.

“I’m not a big fan of the simulator as a tool for setting up and optimising the car,” he explains. “I don’t trust the results. The tests we do in the Toyota simulator are more about driver training. It is useful for optimising the driver, rather than the car, which is the way we are using it.”

That, he says, includes “learning about all the issues the car can have and how to bring it back to the pitlane”. He reckons it can also offer vital shortcuts in how to understand the traffic he will encounter when he gets to the race.

“The more training you do, the better prepared you will be,” continues Alonso. “There will be different challenges in the real car. Here the slower car is on a reference lap. In the race, the driver ahead might react differently. He might close the door on you.

“The reality might be different, but the simulator puts a reference in your mind, which is very useful.”

Alonso has left no stone unturned in his preparations. He’s even been poring over in-car footage from the #8 Toyota from last year – a total of 22 hours so far. That’s six hours from Spa and all 16 hours available from Le Mans. He admits it hasn’t exactly been riveting viewing, however.