With a record audience of 101,606 people and a fierce battle at the front of the Hypercar category, TOYOTA RACING employed strategy and benefited from the determined driving of its pilots to recover from a difficult qualifying at the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, the second round of the WEC and the last race before the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and to contest for the lead.
Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, and Nyck de Vries completed the race in fifth place with the TR010 HYBRID number 7, after advancing through the pack in the closing stages of the contest. The TR010 HYBRID number 8 trio, consisting of Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, and Ryo Hirakawa, spent a large part of the race in second position, but finished tenth.
The trio of the number 7 car started from 12th position and, despite the efforts of Conway and De Vries, remained outside the top-10 in the early stages. A Kobayashi overtaking maneuver and on-track incidents elevated the team to eighth. A Safety Car entry near the end of the fifth hour propelled TOYOTA RACING to fourth place and left the race finish buzzing with excitement.
Meanwhile, the TR010 HYBRID number 8 started from 16th and adopted an alternative strategy early in the race. A brief, early pit stop helped Hartley climb to second, a position retained by Hirakawa and Buemi for portions of the race. The Swiss driver, however, lost ground after a pit-stop issue prevented full refueling, triggering another pit stop and dropping him out of the top-10 before the Safety Car was deployed.
When the race resumed with just over 20 minutes remaining, Kobayashi found himself in a thrilling four-car battle for second place. In a dramatic finish, the Japanese driver crossed the line in fifth, just 6.015 seconds behind the winner. Buemi also endured a hectic finale, finishing tenth and earning a point.
“Finishing fifth and tenth is quite decent given our pace. We faced a few challenges, but we did our best to secure strong results and managed to collect points with both cars, which is good for the championship. It wasn’t an easy week, but we delivered a solid team performance. Now we have things to study and improve before Le Mans,” said Kamui Kobayashi, driver and team principal of TOYOTA RACING in the WEC.
TOYOTA RACING now accelerates its preparations for the sport’s most important round, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, scheduled for June 13 and 14, in pursuit of a sixth victory at La Sarthe.
