1000 Miles of Sebring – Sébastien Buemi (Toyota): “We are in tough conditions”

With a single riding session dominated by Toyota since the arrival of WEC at Sebring, optimism does not seem to be the order of the four-time World Champion team. “We are in tough times, confesses Sébastien Buemi in the Florida paddock. There is no other solution than to have a great race. We must neither tap nor break down, and we will see in the end. We will do our best, but I think we don't have the performance to win. »

The Performance Balance indeed seems to undermine the two GR010s. The fact of increasing the trigger speed of the energy recovered by the hybrid system of the Toyota Hypercar, in order to allow it to switch to four-wheel drive, to 190 km/h is very expensive for the Japanese prototypes which find themselves stuck in the LM P2 peloton. Certainly, the difference in autonomy between the two classes should allow the Toyotas to come back if they find themselves far behind, but this represents an additional danger, especially on a circuit as demanding as that of Sebring. Proof, if any, that Mike conway touched down with an LM P2 this Wednesday during testing at the wheel of the #010 GR7.

“It will be very difficult”

The radical change in climate, with much higher temperatures since Wednesday unlike what the cars experienced during the Prologue, will also penalize the Oreca 07-Gibson against the Hypercar's turbo. " It is not negligible ", confirms Buemi. However, this will not serve to close the gap with Glickenhaus and Alpine who dominated the three Free Practice sessions before the event. “The Glickenhaus looks extremely fast, let's see if they have any problems and make no mistakes during the 8 hours, judges the Helvetian. It's up to us to optimize everything we can. It's difficult to compare until we've driven in the same conditions with the same amount of fuel and the same tires. The justice of the peace will be the qualifications, or even the race. Overall, it will be very difficult. »

This will be the moment when no one will be able to hide. It is also normal to wonder to what extent the Toyotas have been able to bluff since the start of the week. A theory refuted by Sébastien Buemi: “With all the current data, I don’t see how we can hide. I don't think it's in our interest to continue driving the LM P2s and risk an accident. » This will be the challenge for Toyota this Friday if this lack of performance is confirmed: to survive and hope that the racing events turn out in the right direction or at least limit the damage. A retirement will indeed be extremely costly over a six-race championship. 

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