Alonso tops Le Mans test
Toyota reckons it is going to have a fight on its hands at the Le Mans 24 Hours. That was its conclusion after the best of the privateers edged closer during the official pre-race test last Sunday.
Le Mans debutant Fernando Alonso topped the times over the course of the day in his Toyota TS050 HYBRID, but the best of the non-hybrid privateer LMP1 cars was only six tenths away around the eight and a half miles of the Circuit de la Sarthe. That was close to the magic half-second advantage the rulemakers have given the one remaining manufacturer left in the premier class of the World Endurance Championship under the Equivalence of Technology.
Alonso posted a 3m19.066s to end up fastest, but Rebellion Racing wasn’t far behind with the best of its eponymous Gibson-engined contenders. Mathias Beche ended up on a 3m19.680s in the #3 Rebellion-gibson R-13. That put him three tenths ahead of Kamui Kobayashi in the second of the two TS050S.
Toyota Motorsport Gmbh technical director Pascal Vasselon labelled Rebellion, as well as the SMP Racing squad, as
“very serious competitors” after the test. It wasn’t just the times they set – though SMP’S pair of Aer-powered BR Engineering BR1 chassis were more than two seconds off the pace in fifth and sixth positions – more the gains they had made since the opening round of the
WEC at Spa early last month.
“They are coming strongly, so we cannot rest so much,” said Vasselon. “What we are interested in is the progress, because obviously our new competitors are not stabilised in their performance development. We have seen very large progress for the Rebellion and even more for the SMP cars.”
Asked if he thought Toyota would have a fight on its hands in the race at Le Mans on June 16-17, Vasselon replied: “It looks like that. We are already pushing and we will try to find some extra tenths.”
But Rebellion wasn’t getting too excited about its performance. Team boss Bart Hayden reckoned the R-13 was where it should have been, though he wasn’t quite sure if Toyota had shown its hand. The Japanese manufacturer didn’t go for a time in the same way as last year.
There were no qualification simulations from Toyota on the test day this time around, which explained why it ended up slower than 12 months ago, but Vasselon explained that the race pace of the TS050S had improved.
Hayden pointed out that half a second per lap multiplied by more than 300 laps would still result in a deficit of somewhere approaching a lap. And that’s before the gains Toyota will make by stopping for fuel less frequently and by spending less time in the pits are factored in.
“I wouldn’t say we are hopeful of being able to race the Toyotas,” he said, “but we are encouraged.”