Vasselon: “Toyota very close to Porsche”

Pascal Vasselon, le directeur de Toyota Gazoo Racing, se montre confiant sur le potentiel de ses TS050 Hybrid qui affronteront les Audi R18 et les Porsche 919 Hybrid aux 24 Hours of Le Mans. The two Japanese LMP1s are on the second row of the grid, the first Japanese having finished one second from pole.

“We consider ourselves very close to Porsche, sometimes faster in the wet, and slightly ahead of Audi. But there have been so many session interruptions that it is difficult to make predictions.”, indicates Pascal Vasselon, technical director of Toyota Gazoo Racing.

With the reduction in size at Audi and Porsche who will only field two cars, a decision following the “Dieselgate” of the Volkswagen Group, Toyota Gazoo Racing sees its chances of victory improve. The R18s also seem to suffer from recurring reliability problems with the suspensions.

“We’re just seeing the facts. Audi has more recurring problems than Porsche and us, continues Pascal Vasselon. We all encounter reliability problems, but they are more occasional on the 919 Hybrid and the TS050 Hybrid. We are less likely to have problems than the R18s. Being on an equal level with the number of cars is an important statistical element. Porsche and Audi will be impacted in the same way in the event of a racing incident. »

However, the Japanese team encountered a problem during the last qualifying sessions when Stéphane Sarrazin stopped at the entrance to the pits.

“We had to reboot the system, explains the technical director of Toyota Gazoo Racing. This is a process that takes a few seconds. He was able to stop in a quiet place, but these problems are clearly to be avoided during the race. These problems are rare but they have happened before. »

Toyota does not intend to end its commitment to WEC, the Asian manufacturer is already focusing on the future regulations where a 10 MJ class is notably envisaged in two years.

“This information was released yesterday (Thursday June 16) but we have known about it for several months. The objective was to confirm the direction taken last year. We discussed a Class 10 MJ and three energy harvesting systems last summer. We had been concerned about rising costs but ultimately chose to move in this direction. We are already working on 2018. Regulatory changes will be limited to aero for 2017 and this will not change in 2018. We will not be obliged to redo a hull, even if we have the possibility., concludes the French engineer.

The Drivers' Parade will take place this Friday, June 17 from 17:30 p.m. The warm-up will follow on Saturday 18 from 9 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. The start of the 84th edition will be given at 15 p.m. The race will be followed live with our live text.