Frustration for Toyota Gazoo Racing in Brazil

Toyota Gazoo Racing fought to the chequered flag at the end of a difficult 6 Hours of São Paulo yesterday (Sunday 12 July)

After winning the Le Mans 24 Hours last month, the team faced challenges throughout the week in Brazil. A difficult qualifying meant that both cars needed to move through the field to score points, but race incidents limited their progress.

Le Mans winners Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries made up positions to finish 12^th in their No7 TR010 Hybrid, one lap behind the race-winning No15 BMW. In the No8 TR010 Hybrid, Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and RyōHirakawa lost several minutes due to a suspension change after being hit by a rival and finished 17^th.

Despite the disappointing result, Toyota Racing still lead the manufacturers' World Championship, now by five points over BMW M Team WRT at the halfway point in the season. The No7 TR010 Hybrid crew are tied with the No20 BMW drivers in the lead of the drivers' standings, while the No8 crew are fifth, 19 points behind.

Conway started from 17^th following a grid penalty, and the No7 car's troubles continued in the opening stages. A five-second penalty for a start infringement was followed by a drive-through for a full course yellow infraction in the second hour. Incidents and penalties elsewhere helped the No7 gain places and move closer to the top 10. However, further progress proved impossible over the remaining hours of a race which ended in fog and falling temperatures.

The No8 TR010 Hybrid started from 14^th but gained positions - running briefly in the top 10 after the first pit stops - until its push for World Championship points was effectively ended in the second hour. Hartley was hit by another Hypercar, causing right-front suspension damage and requiring a 16-minute stop for repairs. The No8 dropped to the back of the field, but the drivers continued pushing, ready to take advantage of any problems ahead.

Following its frustrating week in Brazil, Toyota Racing now have an eight-week break to regroup and return stronger for the next round of the WEC season, the Lone Star Le Mans on 6 September, at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

Team quotes

Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car No7): "Obviously it was a very difficult race. It's not what we wanted, but we lacked performance all week, including in the race. We also made a couple of mistakes during the race and that didn't help. We need to learn from this and improve. There is still a long way to go in the World Championship fight, so we will do our homework and come back stronger for Austin."

Mike Conway (driver, car No7): "I'm disappointed with my race because I made a couple of mistakes, including the full course yellow penalty. It's not the performance we wanted so we need to regroup now and bounce back in Austin."

Nyck de Vries (driver, car No7): "It was a very challenging weekend and a very challenging day. Ultimately, we lacked performance from the start of the weekend. Of course, we also made some mistakes but, regardless, we were not quick enough. When you don't have the baseline speed, you have little chance to move forward."

Sébastien Buemi (driver, car No8): "Clearly not the result we were hoping for. We knew it would not be easy after qualifying but we were hopeful that we could score decent points, and it started quite well. But the contact basically ended our race. After that, there was nothing we could do. We just finished the race as cleanly as possible in case of any bad luck for the others, which never came."

Brendon Hartley (driver, car No8): "It's been a very tough day for both cars. I fought hard for the first two stints, and we were up to ninth after the first pit stop. Unfortunately, we got taken out by a car diving up the inside and locking the rears, which bent our suspension. It's one of those things. Without that, I think we could have fought for points today, but we didn't have the pace for a podium."

Ryō Hirakawa (driver, car No8): "It was a hard day. The contact just ruined our race, which was a pity. We didn't have the performance to fight at the front, but we had a chance to score points. We need to learn from this and come back stronger. There are still a few races to go, and we are in a big battle for the World Championship."

6 Hours of Sao Paulo race result

ENDS