Le Mans – Toyota positive after Test Day

After achieving a convincing second place last year, Toyota Racing returns to 24 Hours of Le Mans with the ambition to impose itself. In good spirits since the start of the season, the TS040 Hybrids once again distinguished themselves during the Test Day by finishing at the forefront after having relegated the Audi R18s to more than a second. “It was great to see the TS040 Hybrid on the Sarthe circuit today, and I am happy with the result”, commented Yoshiaki Kinoshita, the President of the team. “It's just one day of testing, it doesn't show everything, but it gives us a good idea of ​​what everyone can do. We prepared well before today and the team did an excellent job today. We now intend to continue this good work until the end of the race. We can't wait to get back for race week. »

Sébastien Buemi achieved the best test time with a lap completed in 3'23"014, just half a second off the time achieved last year by Loïc duval. The No. 8 Toyota completed 88 laps of the Le Mans circuit (42 in the morning and 46 in the afternoon). “We did a good job and covered a lot of kilometers, which was the goal”, explained the former pilot Toro Rosso. “So I’m really, really happy. It's fantastic to be at Le Mans and I'm really looking forward to coming back next week. The car was perfect and we did all the tests we wanted to do. We found some good ideas on the direction to take regarding the settings. All this data now remains to be analyzed because we still have a lot to learn. We will try to get the most out of our package and we are in a great position for the race. »

The No. 7 Toyota covered exactly the same distance as its sister car and finished in second place, just a tenth behind the best time with a lap completed in 3'23"156 by Kazuki Nakajima. " It was a positive day for us,” pointed out the Japanese. “In the morning we got into the rhythm very quickly and the car felt very good. In the afternoon we tried quite a few things and got good results. Not everything was perfect but it was still good preparation for the race. It looks like we have the speed, which is very positive. We are now very motivated for the race week but there is still a long way to go until the checkerboard. »

Discover the analysis of the 24 Hours of Le Mans Test Day carried out by our special correspondents in issue 1963 of AUTOhebdo, available this evening in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.