Toyota Aims for Damage Limitation at WEC Austin Round
(Dakar Rally, September XX, 2023) – Toyota Gazoo Racing is bracing itself for a “challenging weekend” at the upcoming round of the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) at the Circuit of The Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, as the Japanese manufacturer aims to keep its title chances alive.
According to Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe technical director David Floury, the characteristics of the 3.43-mile COTA circuit and the changes in the Balance of Performance (BoP) since the previous WEC round at Interlagos in Brazil are expected to impact the competitiveness of the Toyota GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercars.
“It is not the best [circuit] for us and with what I cannot talk about [the BoP] it is going to be a challenging weekend,” Floury said, alluding to the regulation that forbids manufacturers, teams, and drivers from publicly discussing the BoP.
Toyota became the first manufacturer to be penalized under this regulation last year, receiving a suspended €10,000 fine after comments made in the media by TGR race director Rob Leupen.
Floury acknowledged that the upcoming Austin round will be a case of “damage limitation” for Toyota, as the BoP changes have reduced the power and increased the weight of the GR010. The best-placed Toyota crew, the #7 trio of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway, and Nyck de Vries, currently lie third in the Hypercar class championship, 22 points behind the Porsche Penske Motorsport drivers.
One of the key strengths of the Toyota at Interlagos was its ability to manage its Michelin tires, but Floury pointed out that this factor is likely to be less of an advantage in Austin than in Brazil due to lower tire degradation.
Sebastien Buemi, who won the Interlagos round with Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa, echoed Floury’s comments, stating that the Toyota was not among the pacesetters at a collective test at COTA in July and that the team is “going into the weekend expecting to be too slow to fight for the win.”
Floury also revealed that the #7 Toyota needed to be rebuilt around a new monocoque after an incident at the three-day test in July, when the car spun over one of COTA’s infamous pyramid kerbs in the fast and sweeping Turn 4 to Turn 6 sequence, damaging the tub.
As the 2023 WEC season heads to the United States, Toyota will be focused on damage limitation in its bid to keep its title chances alive in the Hypercar class.
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