Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa benefited from a bold strategy and inch-perfect driving to finish fifth in their #8 GR010 HYBRID. A similarly determined effort from Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries earned seventh for the #7 GR010 HYBRID.
Different tyre strategies and the threat of rain meant drivers and engineers relied on all their experience to execute an effective race plan. A close on-track fight meant every second counted in the pits and both crews performed faultlessly through a combined 13 stops to give their drivers the best possible chance.
That united team effort in challenging circumstances helps TOYOTA GAZOO Racing contributes to its chase for both titles. It is third in the manufacturers’ standings, 39 behind leaders Ferrari. The #8 crew are sixth in the drivers’ championship with their #7 colleagues seventh, 25 and 32 points respectively from the leaders.
The race started with the #7 and #8 in fifth and fourth respectively. Mike and Brendon swapped places twice in the opening stint as they challenged for the podium positions. Early in the first stint, they were already lapping LMGT3 cars, requiring alert and disciplined driving on the narrow track whilst still racing flat-out.
Late in the second hour, the team’s race took a dramatic turn when the #20 BMW bounced over the Variante Alta chicane and hit the #7. A full course yellow to clear debris saw both GR010 HYBRIDs pit for a driver change. Nyck resumed in a slightly damaged #7 and Ryo took over the #8, which then received a drive-through penalty for speeding during the full course yellow.
When the next fuel stops were completed at half distance, Nyck was running in the top six with Ryo now battling to break into the top 10. The eight Hypercar manufacturers adopted differing tyre strategies, meaning engineers and drivers needed to update their approach on a lap-by-lap basis to react to conditions.
A safety car late in the fourth hour saw Kamui and Sébastien take the wheel of their respective cars, now with two new medium compound right-side tyres but much older softs on the left side. He brought the #8 back on track in ninth although he was less than 10secs away from the race leader.
That set-up a two-hour shoot-out for Hypercar honours, with light rain creating even more tension. Sébastien pitted for fuel just 20 minutes later in a bold strategic move to give him a clear track and allow faster lap times than those possible within a close Hypercar battle.
Kamui stalked the second-placed #6 Porsche throughout his stint before a brave overtake shortly before his penultimate pitstop. Meanwhile, Sébastien’s alternative strategy helped the #8 lead into the final hour as the rivals ahead pitted, although he needed to defend heroically from the #50 Ferrari to hold that position.
After his final fuel stops, Sébastien kept his advantage over the #50 and the battle finally ended when the Ferrari hit the #8 and suffered a puncture. Both Sébastien and Kamui carefully nursed their old tyres through the last stint, with Sébastien even passing the #15 BMW with less than 10 minutes to go.
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s challenge for both World Championships and its preparations for the Le Mans 24 Hours now step up a gear for the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday 10 May, the final race before the team goes into battle for a sixth win at La Sarthe.
Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car #7): “Obviously it was a tough race for us. In the end I had a lot of tyre degradation, and I couldn’t attack in the last two stints. I wasn’t expecting that, but I think it was due to following the #6 Porsche in the early part of my stint. Probably that damaged the tyres and caused the degradation. Overall, we didn’t have enough pace to fight Ferrari, so congratulations to them for winning their home race. For Spa we will be working hard to find more performance.”
Mike Conway (Driver, car #7): “It looked like we were in a good position for a podium at one stage, but it got away from us in the last hour or so. That’s a pity because everyone worked really hard to get into a decent position. The contact certainly didn’t help because that cost us some time. Unfortunately the BMW tried to make two cars go into the space for one. Things didn’t go for us this weekend when it felt like we were on for a better result but we’ll keep pushing.”
Nyck de Vries (Driver, car #7): “In all honesty it’s hard to know what to say because I don’t really understand how we ended up in seventh. We executed a fairly clean race on our part, so thanks to the engineers and mechanics for their big efforts this weekend. But we didn’t quite have the pace in the end which ultimately cost us a shot at the podium. We hoped for a bit more and we’ll work hard together to come back stronger for the next race.”
Sébastien Buemi (Driver, car #8): “It was an eventful race with a little bit of contact and the penalty. Maybe a podium could have been within reach but considering everything, we scored quite a few points today. I think we did the best we could because we were not at the level of the Ferraris. I am quite happy with my performance and congratulations to the team for scoring decent points from both cars. Now we will work very hard so that hopefully in Spa we will have an opportunity to fight.”
Brendon Hartley (Driver, car #8): “It was a big fight today. I had a clean first two stints and was running fourth, trying to put pressure on the BMW ahead. We had a good fight but unfortunately, we took a penalty for a full course yellow infringement. Luckily it didn’t cost us much because the team had an amazing strategy after the final safety car to give us clean air and Séb had a great fight with the #50. Finishing fifth was decent damage limitation on a weekend when we didn’t have the pace. There wasn’t a lot more we could do.”
Ryo Hirakawa (Driver, car #8): “It was a very difficult race. We started with solid pace, but the penalty was unfortunate, and this set us back. But we never gave up and we tried a different strategy to help us come back towards the front. It worked and there were some exciting battles. Fifth was probably the most we could realistically expect after the penalty. I have quite mixed feelings because we always want to achieve more, but we will try to come back stronger for Spa.”
6 Hours of Imola Race
1st #51 Ferrari AF Corse (Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi) 212 laps
2nd #20 BMW M Team WRT (Rast/Frijns/Van der Linde) +8.490secs
3rd #36 Alpine Endurance Team (Gounon/Makowiecki/Schumacher) +12.450secs
4th #83 AF Corse (Kubica/Ye/Hanson) +20.597secs
5th #8 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing +23.210secs
6th #15 BMW M Team WRT (Vanthoor/Marciello/Magnussen) +25.516secs
7th #7 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing +31.478secs
*Provisional result. Official results will be published on fiawec.alkamelsystems.com
