Can Toyota be beaten at the 24 2023 Hours of Le Mans?

Facts : The new era ofEndurance opened at Sebring last weekend with the arrivals of manufacturers like Cadillac but also the returns of Porsche or even Ferrari. Competition will therefore be fiercer for Toyota, a little too alone for several years. Hence this question: can the Japanese brand be beaten in the next 24 Hours of Le Mans ?

Yes, by Dorian Grangier

On paper, it is difficult not to consider Toyota as the arch-favorite for the Centenary edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans (June 10-11). Five times reigning winner and with eleven years of experience in Sarthe since his arrival in WEC, in 2012, the Japanese manufacturer has everything going for it in its quest for a sixth consecutive coronation. The demonstration at Sebring (USA) last weekend (resounding double) only reinforced this feeling of invincibility. However, no one is master of their destiny. 

Toyota may well be the legitimate favorite for the next 24 Hours of Le Mans, but the Japanese team could well fail this summer. Toyota has certainly won the last five editions, but it has never won against a major manufacturer. Before its first coronation in 2018, the Japanese firm suffered bitter and/or frustrating failures when the competition was fierce.

How will Toyota react to pressure from other manufacturers? Faced with names as prestigious as Porsche, Ferrari or Cadillac? Can the demons of the past resurface? The painful memory of 2016 is still fresh (abandonment on the last lap while Toyota had won the race), and it was not the five successes at Le Mans without real competition that closed the wound. The Japanese manufacturer perhaps has everything to gain on June 11, but even more to lose: what would we say if Toyota failed to win? What value would the previous 5 crowns worn in Sarthe have?

If the Toyota machine has been well oiled for years, with a high-performance and above all reliable GR010, the team based in Cologne (Germany) will take a risk by only entering two machines. For its part, Porsche will arrive with an armada of 4 Hypercars (including one private) and Cadillac will enter 3 cars. Manufacturers who will have time to refine their copy before the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, just like Ferrari, which seems to be the toughest opponent in view of the results at Sebring. 

Moreover, the impressive performance of the GR010s in Florida can be explained by Toyota's experience on this atypical circuit, unlike its competitors (except Glickenhaus). To summarize, the game is far from being decided in advance at Le Mans this summer, which should reserve, as it has for 100 years, its share of surprises.

No, by Gonzalo Forbes

Last June, when Toyota won its 5^e 24 consecutive Hours of Le Mans, I was one of the first to say that the end of play had sounded for the Japanese manufacturer. Three months before the Centenary edition, I must admit that my position is very different.

With the arrival of new manufacturers in the premier Endurance category, I thought Toyota was going to be shaken up during the opening round at Sebring last weekend. Ferrari gave me hope by placing its 499P No. 50 in pole position for its return to Sport-Prototypes after half a century of absence. A short hope since barely the start was given, the Japanese clan set the record straight with its GR010s at the controls heading straight towards yet another double in the WEC.

The Scuderia was certainly unlucky but the other teams never held a candle to the reigning world champions. The private companies Vanwall and Glickenhaus fell far short of the mark, the same goes for Peugeot who encountered problems on his two 9X8s, including one which was troubled on the formation lap. Porsche was too timid while Cadillac did not miss its debut but also did not make an impression to the point of creating panic in the Japanese ranks.

So there you have it, between now and the 24 Hours of Le Mans (June 10-11), Toyota will face the competition two more times: Portimão (Portugal, April 16) and Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium, April 29). Porsche, Ferrari, Cadillac and even Peugeot will certainly have made progress with their Hypercar. But from there to saying that one of these manufacturers will manage to beat the Japanese brand, there is still a long way to go.

For 5 years, Pascal Vasselon and his men have been the only ones to take the Sarthe double clock seriously, at least to do everything possible to win. So it is not in a few months that the hierarchy will be turned upside down but in the future there is no doubt that it will be when the other manufacturers have gained experience. Because Le Mans is above all a race of experience.

ALSO READ > New WEC qualifying format: everyone validates!