Fuji Triumph for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing
October 06 2019 - 8:49PM
JCN Newswire (English)
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing maintained its perfect record in the
2019-2020 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) season with a
one-two victory on home ground in the 6 Hours of Fuji.
The reigning World Champions won at Fuji Speedway for the seventh
time in eight years, with the #8 TS050 HYBRID of Sébastien
Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley earning victory from
pole position.
Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María
López finished second, leaving both car crews tied on the
same points in the lead of the World Championship. TOYOTA GAZOO
Racing leads the teams' standings by 35 points from Rebellion.
The new success handicap system was implemented for the first time
this weekend, imposing lap time penalties on LMP1 cars based on
World Championship position and its effects became clear in the
opening laps.
With Sébastien at the wheel, the #8 TS050 HYBRID, which
carried a one second per lap handicap, held off a strong challenge
from the #5 Ginetta to lead from the start while Kamui in the #7
car, with a 1.4secs lap time penalty, had an exciting fight for
second.
Kamui lost out to Rebellion #1 through the first corners but, after
a safety car due to an accident involving GT cars, on four
consecutive occasions he overtook at the end of the lap only to be
re-passed before turn one. That was due to the Rebellion's 40km/h
top speed advantage, a consequence of fuel and hybrid boost
restrictions imposed by the success handicap system on the TS050
HYBRID.
Once established at the front, both TS050 HYBRIDs steadily
stretched their advantage, helped by the fastest pit work in the
field, although the #7 was unable to challenge for the lead due to
the 0.4secs-per-lap difference in success handicap.
With two hours gone, late in the first stints of Mike and Brendon,
light rain started. An hour later the track surface became too
slippery so both cars switched to hybrid intermediate tyres, with
José and Kazuki taking over their respective TS050
HYBRIDs.
When conditions improved enough for a switch to slick tyres, the #8
car's lead stood at around a minute but that was reduced to less
than 30secs with two hours remaining when Kazuki was forced to take
a drive-through penalty for exceeding the pit lane speed limit.
Sébastien took over the race-leading #8 for the final 90
minutes with Kamui giving chase in the #7. The gap remained stable
as the end approached and Sébastien took the chequered
flag in the TS050 HYBRID's final race in Japan, 33.955secs ahead of
Kamui. The #1 Rebellion finished two laps behind in third.
The result marked Sébastien's 16th outright WEC victory,
extending his series record, and the fourth time Kazuki has won his
home race, while Brendon stood on the top of the podium for the
first time as a TOYOTA GAZOO Racing driver.
Following the team's second one-two finish of the season, the
success handicap on both cars will be increased for the next race,
the 4 Hours of Shanghai on 10 November, although the lap time
penalty will be identical for each car as both TS050 HYBRIDs have
the same number of World Championship points.
Hisatake Murata (Team President)
"The whole team is delighted to achieve another one-two victory in
our home race. After Le Mans, Fuji is the next most important race
of the season for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing so a one-two victory was a
big target for us; thanks to everyone in the team who made this
possible. Thank you particularly to all the fans who again made the
6 Hours of Fuji such a special race with their passion; all of us
appreciate their support. I hope they enjoyed seeing the TS050
HYBRIDs competing for the final time in Japan. Now we go to
Shanghai with additional success handicap which should make for a
more difficult race but we are looking forward to the
challenge."
Mike Conway (TS050 HYBRID #7)
"A one-two finish was the goal so I'm happy to achieve that; it's
great for the team to win our home race. We would have loved to win
the race with the #7 but it was always going to be difficult. We
gave it our all and kept the sister car on its toes all the way
through; that was the most we could do. With the changing
conditions we had to stay sensible and avoid mistakes, and now we
move on to the next one when we will be looking to fight for the
win."
Kamui Kobayashi (TS050 HYBRID #7)
"Congratulations to the #8 guys and also the team for this one-two
win. It was the target for this weekend. I think second place was
the maximum we could achieve today in the #7 because we had more
handicap than our sister car, but we kept pushing and never gave up
hope. In the end, we did everything we could and had a clean race,
so I am pleased for the team to get this result and now I can't
wait to have a closer fight in Shanghai."
José María López (TS050 HYBRID #7)
"It was a good race and we did what we had to do; we made no
mistakes and got the maximum out of our car. Considering the
handicap we had a very strong pace and didn't finish too far behind
the #8, but the most important thing was to get another one-two at
our home race. The whole team did a fantastic job and we had great
support from our Japanese colleagues so thanks to everyone. I am
also happy to be part of a one-two in the TS050 HYBRID's last race
in Japan; that is pretty special."
Sébastien Buemi (TS050 HYBRID #8)
"I am really pleased with the race and the result today. It's never
easy but we executed a clean race and managed the conditions well,
so thanks a lot to the team for their hard work. Of course, it's
even more important to win this race because we have a lot of
Japanese fans supporting us and some very important guests, so
everyone is very happy. Now we're equal on points in the
championship with the #7 guys so Shanghai is going to be an
interesting weekend."
Kazuki Nakajima (TS050 HYBRID #8)
"It's great to win again here in Fuji in front of our home fans;
congratulations to everyone in the team. It was important to us to
get a one-two in the last Japanese race for the TS050 HYBRID
because we have experienced so many emotions with this car. It's
like an old friend so we had to give it a last win at home. It was
a tough race in changing conditions but we kept strong pace and
were quick on the intermediate tyres. We controlled the race and
managed the traffic well so I am very happy."
Brendon Hartley (TS050 HYBRID #8)
"It's a really nice feeling to take my first victory with TOYOTA
GAZOO Racing, especially to do it on home soil as well. It's the
last time we get to race the TS050 HYBRID at Fuji so to win was
great; I'm going to enjoy this moment. We had a pretty clean race
and Kazuki did an amazing job on the intermediate tyres. We had the
advantage over the #7 car with success handicap today but that will
not be the case in Shanghai when we can expect a very close
race."
6 Hours of Fuji results
1st - #8 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing - 232 laps
2nd - #7 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing - +33.955secs
3rd - #1 Rebellion (Senna / Menezes / Nato) - +2 laps
4th - #29 Team Nederland (Van Eerd / Van der Garde / De Vries) -
+10 laps
5th - #38 JOTA (Gonzalez / Da Costa / Davidson) - +10 laps
6th - #37 Jackie Chan (Tung / Aubry / Stevens) - +11 laps
About Toyota Motor Corporation
Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) is the global mobility company that
introduced the Prius hybrid-electric car in 1997 and the first
mass-produced fuel cell sedan, Mirai, in 2014. Headquartered in
Toyota City, Japan, Toyota has been making cars since 1937. Today,
Toyota proudly employs 370,000 employees in communities around the
world. Together, they build around 10 million vehicles per year in
29 countries, from mainstream cars and premium vehicles to
mini-vehicles and commercial trucks, and sell them in more than 170
countries under the brands Toyota, Lexus, Daihatsu and Hino. For
more information, please visit www.toyota-global.com.
Source: Toyota Motor Corporation
Contact:
Public Affairs Division
Global Communications Department
Toyota Motor Corporation
Tel: +81-3-3817-9926
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