Kazuki Nakajima worried about Rebellion R13 pace

On a purely statistical level, Toyota Gazoo Racing hit hard again in qualifying at the 6 Hours of Shanghai, securing a double with the #050 and #7 TS8 Hybrid. But the two Japanese hybrid LM P1s only narrowly beat the Rebellion R13 n°1 of Neel Jani – André Lotterer – Bruno Senna, only two tenths from pole.

However, the Toyotas used all the power available with their hybrid powertrain, which leaves some fears for the race according to Kazuki Nakajima, resident of No. 8, second on the grid.

“In qualifying, the No. 7 was a little faster, comments the Japanese. The interesting thing is that the non-hybrids were very fast. We used our optimized hybrid boost for qualifying but they were still on the same pace.

Without this boost we would have been behind, which is a bit worrying for the race. So we must choose tires carefully and avoid making mistakes. »

Fernando Alonso, Nakajima's teammate, also adds that Toyota did not make concessions on the use of rubber during qualifying, putting on new tires at each attempt.

Remember that the Equivalence of Technology (EoT) had been revised before this last 2018 round of the 2018-2019 Super-Season, offering more fuel consumption per lap to non-hybrid LM P1s.

It now remains to be seen what the weather will be like in China, with rain potentially expected for the race, which will start tomorrow morning at 4 a.m. French time.