Starting from pole position and victorious during the 8 Hours of Bahrain, the No. 8 Toyota however could hardly have experienced a more eventful race than the one it experienced this Saturday. After contact with the No. 82 Corvette at the start of the race, Buemi, Hartley and Hirakawa had to constantly move up, while having to manage medium tires in difficulty in the Bahraini heat, but which would guarantee a tire advantage at the end of the race. test. It was Sébastien Buemi who was responsible for starting and finishing the race, since with an eight-hour format, it was written that a driver had to drive twice, unlike six-hour races, more usual in WEC.
“We decided to go with the medium tires”explained the Swiss at a press conference. “It’s not something we usually do here, because there’s a lot of degradation. In Free Practice 3, we were able to do some testing and we noticed that the mediums weren’t working that badly. As we knew that it only took a good result from one of the two cars to win the title, we took the risk with our car. We knew the risk was high, but I managed my pace at the start, I didn’t want to take too big a lead because if there was a safety car we would have blown the tires for nothing. For me, everything was under control. »
Under control until an error by Hiroshi Koizumi. The Japanese driver of the No. 82 Corvette made a mistake when braking for the first hairpin, just after being overtaken by Buemi. Result, rear contact, a spin for the Toyota and a five-second penalty for the LMGT3. Above all, Buemi had everything to do again, notably finding himself stuck behind one of the BMW M Hybrid V8s. The plan had changed, so we had to ensure as much as possible that we had the advantage in terms of tires at the end of the event… while counting on a little helping hand from fate, in the form of two interventions from the car security.
Buemi “like in a dream”
“When it happened, I had to go back up. The twenty laps behind the BMW really damaged the tires. We knew the mediums were going to struggle, but the only way to make them work would have been to stay up front. I think I could have, but hey… I struggled, we cut my second stint short and put Brendon in the car, with the qualifying mediums. We wanted to get rid of them, to make sure we had new tires at the end of the race. We saw that the #5 Porsche changed three tires, so we knew they would be in trouble at some point on the tires. You always have to think long term in these races. When I got back behind the wheel, I had fresher tires than my opponents, and I think we did a good job of making sure I could pass those guys.
I think I was tenth when I got back behind the wheel. Knowing how difficult it is to overtake, I told myself that I would have no chance of getting back. Seeing the second Porsche, I knew we had to win [pour remporter le titre Constructeurs]. What happened was that with these better tires I was able to overtake someone every two or three laps. We were then able to make a final, shorter stop to overtake the #6 Porsche, the #51 Ferrari… All that remained was to catch up with the #5 Porsche. I thought I was in a dream because everything went as it should, which was not the case for the rest of the season! »
The New Zealander Brendon Hartley had to drive during the last stints on medium tires, where they had the most difficulty in lasting since they had already competed in qualifying. A difficult situation but the importance of which Hartley had measured, as we could see in particular at Fuji where the racing dynamics were completely reversed in the last hour and a half, after safety car interventions, and in view of the differences in new tires between cars.
A “roller coaster” for Hartley
“The first relay went well, then it was a bit of a roller coaster! We chose the mediums, which wasn’t necessarily the right choice at the time, but we had to use certain tires that we had used in qualifying. If we had taken the hard ones, we would not have had tires in good condition at the end of the race. My second stint was really about survival, and above all trying to minimize our losses, knowing that we were going to have the advantage at the end of the race. It hasn’t always worked this year but this time it did.
I am very proud of what Sébastien was able to do at the end of the race. Making these overtakes for victory, even with a tire advantage, is not easy. I feel like we were quick at times this season, but it didn’t work. So it’s very good to be able to finish with pole position and victory, which also allows the team to win the constructors’ title. It’s very important for the team, especially since Porsche won in the United States, in GT… we wanted to tarnish their celebration a little! They are incredible opponents, congratulations to them for the drivers’ title. »
This new title allows Toyota to remain undefeated since the 2018-2019 season in the Manufacturers’ Championship. The Japanese brand will be keen to win both crowns again in 2025, after losing the drivers’ title to Porsche this year. And we imagine that a double clock tower in Sarthe will particularly catch their attention…
READ ALSO > Toyota wins and wins the Manufacturers’ title, the Drivers’ title for Porsche
