“I feel nothing,” Toyota Racing driver Sebastien Buemi says of reaching 100 WEC races this weekend. “To be honest, I’m a bit surprised that people are making a big deal about it. Ultimately it’s a number and a lot of people will reach it in the future.”
The 37-year-old Swiss, known for his big personality, can dismiss the milestone all he likes, but the reality is, he’s seen it all in the World Endurance Championship, having been involved in the top class with Toyota since his one-off Le Mans appearance in the inaugural season in 2012.
However, with a World Championship to fight for and just two races left in the current campaign, he’s more focused on the road ahead than on reflecting on the past ahead of Sunday’s 6 Hours of Barcelona.
It won’t be an easy weekend for Buemi and his teammates, Brendan Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa, in the #8 TR010 HYBRID, as they look to score valuable points in the Manufacturers’ World Championship and cling onto their 10-point lead in the Drivers’ tally.
The Barcelona circuit, which is new to the championship, poses huge challenges, particularly in tyre degradation. The weather forecast is also poor for tomorrow and Sunday, with Michelin’s brand-new wet compound looking destined for action.
“When you are leading the championship,” he says, “you hope for a normal weekend. But we can’t choose this, with the weather, so we just need to be sensible. We should only take risks when we should take risks. We should be conservative when it makes sense to be conservative. We have to grab opportunities when they arise, as we did in Fuji.
“But this will be a tough race. It’s massive for tyre degradation, close to Bahrain. We may see overtaking because of the drop-off between cars during stints, but it will be very, very hard to pass.”
Still, it’s somewhat fitting that Buemi has reached the 100-race milestone at such an important time in his career with Toyota. He deserves recognition for his longevity in sportscar racing across multiple eras and rulesets, earned by the hyper-competitive mentality and raw talent he possesses.
“Obviously, I’m very lucky, and I feel honoured to get this far,” he reflects. “I’m happy I stayed here with Toyota; it’s great to be a part of this team, and I know a lot of people who were at Audi and Porsche thinking they would have a long career, then they pulled the plug and stopped.
“The championship is more professional now. Before, we had more open regulations; you had to focus on reliability and performance. Now, because of BoP and the way things have evolved, it’s all about the small details because everyone’s cars have more or less the same pace. It’s about strategy and avoiding penalties; it’s so different. The mindset has changed from when I started.”
The mindset has changed from when I started
He was there through the highs of the LMP1 Hybrid era, when Toyota, Porsche and Audi were throwing the kitchen sink at their programmes. And the lows when Toyota raced as a lone full factory effort against small, under-resourced teams before the ruleset gave way to the Hypercar era we see today.
He was a key part of Toyota’s long-awaited first Le Mans victory in 2018, and on the wrong end of the infamous finish to the 2016 race, when the front-running TS050 retired from the lead at the end. He’s racked up four World Championship titles, 28 race wins (including four at La Sarthe) and remains hungry for more.
There’s no prize for guessing which race of the 99 he’s completed so far was his least favourite, though the most memorable one may come as a surprise.
“What stands out for me, picking one race, is Bahrain 2024; it was so emotional,” he says. “I was leading; the Drivers’ Championship was over, but we were going for the Manufacturers’ Championship. I got a little touch from a Corvette in Turn 1, spun; after that, we lacked pace, we were saving tyres, then when I jumped back in later in the race we were 12th or 13th, and I had new tyres; I was the only one.
“I drove through the field and won the race. The emotions were strong. You could say winning Le Mans or the Championship was the best moment, but that particular race was very nice.”
Even with 100 races in the books after Sunday, and a decision earlier this year to step back from Formula E (for the time being at least), Buemi says his story in sportscar racing with Toyota is unlikely to end any time soon.
Surpassing 150 races, he says, is realistic, and his schedule remains packed outside of WEC weekends with work as an adviser in Formula E, a sim driver, and a mentor for Red Bull Junior driver Chiara Bättig. He shows zero signs of slowing down.
“What matters is you have to be competitive; you have to be fast. As long as I’m fast, it’s ok,” he explains “I’ve always loved this. Obviously, when I had to miss a Formula E race in New York, and I lost the championship probably because of that, then when I went to the Nürburgring, and we did 100 metres before a technical issue, it was hard. At that point, both championships were growing; Formula E looked strong, and WEC looked like it was dying a bit. Then it came back.
“Trying to do both has been difficult. I wish I could have done it for a bit longer, but that’s the way it is; obviously, I still enjoy being here (in WEC). We have such a good atmosphere in the team. I was with my kids from Monday to Wednesday, but I was really looking forward to coming here. I was genuinely really happy, not because I wanted to be away from home, but because I wanted to be with the guys, working hard, fighting for the championship.
“I feel lucky to be in the championship fight still, with the same passion.”
Images courtesy of DSC & DPPI
