After three races in the new Hypercar class the Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010s have a 100% winning record, but not without dramas as the team get their heads around a very different package from their previous TS050 LMP1.
Monza saw the #8 car in trouble with a fuel system issue which cost the team time, with the damage to the front left corner of the car during the race seemingly down to ‘finger trouble when the car was released from a stop with the wheel not properly seated/ tightened.
The eventual winning car meanwhile required a full power recycle on track before restarting and claiming the victory.
Toyota has only one track test remaining ahead of Le Mans but will be undertaking a series of investigations and systems rig tests ahead of the big race.
David Floury
No doubt assisting in that process will be a relatively new signing for Toyota Gazoo racing, David Floury, now installed in a senior technical position as Chief Race Engineer, the ex-ORECA Technical Director now a full-time TGR employee though he is still involved in assisting with some current Oreca projects.
Road Car Woes, Race Car Programme Unaffected
There was some excitement in recent weeks with news from a Japanese media outlet that a serious incident at Fuji Speedway had seen a pre-production example of the roadgoing version of the GR010 badly damaged by fire.
That incident, it was reported, had seen the programme cancelled, with the media report stating that the subsequent end to the road-car programme had put the future of the race programme at risk of being cancelled due to the non-fulfillment of a required minimum level of road cars.
DSC’s investigations revealed the following:
There was a serious incident at Fuji involving a road car and that may well have seen the end of the planned road car programme – BUT – The GR010 is built against the technical regulations not for a road-car based ‘Hypercar’ but rather as a racing prototype. There is no requirement against those regulations for a parallel road car programme.
DSC also understands from a number of well placed sources that there is no current risk to the multi-year commitment that Toyota have to their programme.
US Outings
We reported from Monza on Peugeot Sport’s thoughts on the eligibility of the LMH cars in the IMSA Weathertech Sportscar Championship from 2023 – Now Toyota have had their say too with a clear indication that appearances in some of the major North American enduros are now under evaluation.
#GoHyper in 🇺🇸? That’s something we can all dream about…#GoHyper #ToyotaGAZOORacing @FIAWEC #WEC @IMSA #IMSA @24hoursoflemans #LeMans24 @BrendonHartley @Mikeconway26 pic.twitter.com/s6krlD5Lx4
— TOYOTA GAZOO Racing WEC (@TGR_WEC) July 28, 2021
Ogier Set To Test?
Multiple (and reigning) WRC World Champion Sebastien Ogier tested the GR010 in the Toyota Simulator last summer and media reports have suggested that he may also attend a future track test to get hands-on experience of the car.
Whilst Toyota would not confirm any concrete plans for a test, (though there is a clear opportunity later this year at the Bahrain Rookie test), even that would be some way short of a plan for the Frenchman to join the full race team, even for a one-off outing, particularly if the factory team does not field a third car at Le Mans next year (which at present looks unlikely).
Indeed there is a history of Toyota rally stars testing but not racing with then Toyota WRC star Carlos Sainz getting some significant test mileage in the TS020 (GTOne) in 1998.
