Kobayashi: “Shanghai is a circuit that suits us”

A l’issue des 6 Heures de Fuji, épreuve tronquée par le brouillard, Toyota a renoué avec la victoire en WEC. On its land, the Japanese manufacturer even signed a double, the TS050 Hybrid n°8 of Sébastien Buemi-Anthony Davidson-Kazuki Nakajima having beaten n°7 of Mike conway-Kamui Kobayashi-José Maria Lopez. Arrivé au Japon avec l’espoir d’y décrocher les deux titres mondiaux, Porsche est donc reparti bredouille.

This weekend in Shanghai, scene of the antepenultimate round of the season, Toyota will have difficulty, on a regular basis, in pushing back the deadline once again. But Hisatake Murata's men have already given up on the coronation. “ So far, we have had three wins compared to Porsche's four, underlines the president of the team. It is now more than complicated to compete for titles, so our goal is to win more races. »

The three successes of the team being to the credit of the No. 8, the Conway-Lopez-Kobayashi trio is therefore still chasing a first victory in 2017. But the latter believes in it. “ Generally, Shanghai is a circuit that suits us well, He said. We could have won last year. Despite two punctures, we still finished in second place. If we manage to play at the same level, then we will be able to fight for victory. »

« After our double in Fuji, we are determined to fight for victory again, confirms his compatriot Kazuki Nakajima, who is racing in the sister car. As a team, we generally perform well in Shanghai. So I'm optimistic about our chances of being in the mix. As always, against Porsche it will be complicated, but the team is more than motivated to finish the season with more victories. »

It is certain that if Toyota managed to triumph in Shanghai then in Bahrain, it would somewhat spoil the end of the season for its German rival.