With its two cars in the Top 6, Toyota has "limited the damage" in Qatar

Rule #1 in Endurance : never go out Toyota of the equation. The Japanese team may find itself in difficulty, be handicapped by a more restrictive BoP, experience failed qualifications and start at the back of the grid, it will always find itself playing the leading roles in WEC. The 1812km of Qatar, Friday, were a good example of this. Transparent from the Prologue, where the two GR010s were very discreet, the Japanese team had missed the boat during the qualifications on Thursday. If the n°7 was able to interfere in Hyperpole and qualify in 7th place, the n°8 was forced to start at the back of the pack, due to a spin of Brendon Hartley in his last flying lap.

The next day, however, Toyota showed a completely different face in the race. More comfortable on long runs, with cooler temperatures than last year, the Japanese team was able to take advantage of various racing events to come back on the heels of Ferrari, who led the dance with a certain ease despite several errors and penalties. In the last hour of the race, the Italian clan was even worried about the return of the GR010s, before finally signing a hat-trick at the finish. Toyota nevertheless signed a good overall result with a grouped shot in 5th and 6th places, with the n°8 (Buemi – Hartley – Hirakawa) in front of line 7 (Kobayashi - Conway - De Vries).

Toyota powerless against Ferrari

"Ferrari was way too fast. They had a lot of penalties and they still won easily, concedes Kamui Kobayashi, Team Principal of the Japanese team and driver of the n°7, who recognizes Toyota's impotence against the Prancing Horse. We were very far away. But we could also see that Porsche was really struggling in terms of weight, obviously. The weight effect is huge, and this time the Ferrari is lighter, so I think that's what explains it. We did our best to minimise the damage."

"As a team we did the best we could with what we had. Unlike most of our competitors we didn't have any penalties and we took every opportunity that came our way from a strategic point of view., adds David Floury, technical director of Toyota Gazoo Racing, who underlines the clean race achieved by his two crews. We couldn't do better than 5th and 6th. It's a bit frustrating, but for the championship I'd say we limited the damage, given the conditions we're in. Hopefully we can be a bit more competitive in the next races."

If Toyota could not do anything against the Ferraris, it also lost against one of the two BMWs, the n°20 of the Vanthoor trio – Magnussen – Marciello. The fault lies in a strategic choice that was perhaps too cautious, but which the Japanese team does not regret. “We could have maybe gained a position [at the end of the race], but at the same time there was a risk of doing a triple stint on the same tyres. We didn’t take that risk and the result is there. Compared to BMW, we only lost two points, so it’s not too bad.”

After this first round, Toyota is in 3rd place in the Constructors' Championship with 33 points, half as many as Ferrari (66 points). A gap that is not so significant considering the performances of each in Qatar. On Toyota's side, even if one of the main objectives is to retain its world title, the number 1 mission will be above all to reclaim the crown from 24H of Le Mans, after two consecutive defeats against the Reds. Toyota vs. Ferrari: this is one of those modern duels that will not fail to keep us on the edge of our seats in 2025!

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