Toyota Completes a Century of World Championships in Portimao | (via JCN Newswire) – Toyota City, Japan, June 4, 2021 – When the GR010 HYBRID Hypercar competes in the 8 Hours of Portimao, round two of the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing will write another chapter in the history books (WEC).The race in Portugal next week will be Toyota’s 100th at the highest level of World Championship endurance racing. Toyota prototypes have competed in 99 World Championship races since the debut of the 83C vehicle at the Fuji 1000km in October 1983.
The World Champions face new challenge from Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus, who enters one vehicle, as well as Alpine, after a historic first Hypercar triumph in Spa-Francorchamps. After winning in Spa, Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima, and Brendon Hartley top the drivers’ standings, while Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, and Jose Maria Lopez started their title defense in third.
Portimao is a new WEC location, making it the 21st circuit on which Toyota has competed in World Championship sportscar racing since the first race in 1983, which was won by Derek Bell and Stefan Bellof in a Porsche 956. Kaoru Hoshino, Keiji Matsumoto, and future Le Mans winner Masanori Sekiya qualified ninth in Toyota’s first dedicated Group C car, the 83C, while Derek Daly, Geoff Lees, and Toshio Suzuki’s entry was unable to start due to a practice crash.
Results and performances improved over the years as a consequence of hard work, team spirit, and continual improvement, and Toyota won its first World Championship race with the TS010 at Monza in 1992, in its third full season. Sebastien has won the most races (18) since his initial victory, and has also competed in more Toyota races than anyone else, with 60 before to Portimao.
Toyota cars have won 31 of their 99 World Championship races so far, with over half of them landing on the podium, for a total of 78 podium places in 56 races, and the team’s goal in Portugal is to add to that number.
Although Portimao is a new location for the WEC, the 4.684km track in the Algarve region has been a frequent testing destination for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing for numerous years. When the GR010 HYBRID completed its first endurance test in December, the team returned to Portimao.
Because no changes to Hypercars are permitted during a season, the GR010 HYBRIDs will be identical to those raced at Spa. Engineers in Cologne and Higashi-Fuji, on the other hand, have spent the previous five weeks optimizing set-ups and control tactics while also dealing with technical challenges that arose in Belgium.
The GR010 HYBRIDs will undergo scrutineering and final preparations on Thursday, following a three-day truck voyage from Cologne, before their maiden practice on Friday afternoon. Saturday is a busy day of practice and qualifying in order to set the grid for the race on Sunday, which starts at 11 a.m. local time.
Hisatake Murata, Team President:
“Although we are always looking to the future, for the next challenge, the next victory and the next technical innovation, it is satisfying to take a moment and look back on Toyota’s history in endurance racing. Everyone in the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing team today is proud to be part of these 100 races. This anniversary gives us the chance to enjoy that history and remember the great names, the exciting races and the big sacrifices which are part of this fascinating story. While we celebrate our 100th race, we warmly welcome Jim Glickenhaus and his team to WEC for their first event, which I hope will be an exciting one for the fans. The Hypercar category is all about competition and it starts this year with Glickenhaus, before Audi, Ferrari, Peugeot and Porsche join us in the near future. We are ready for the challenge but we saw areas to improve in Spa. We worked hard in the last weeks to continue strengthening our reliability and our operations to be ready for Portimao.”
Mike Conway (GR010 HYBRID #7):
“It’s great that the WEC season is now in full flow and we’re back in a racing rhythm again. I’m looking forward to this race, which I hope will be the real kick off for our World Championship defence. We learned a lot in Spa about the car and we will take that into the Portimao race, trying to improve all the time. Even after a difficult Prologue, we put ourselves in a great position to win at Spa but couldn’t execute, so that will be the target in Portimao.”
Kamui Kobayashi (GR010 HYBRID #7):
“We know Portimao well from testing but nothing compares to the experience of being on track with other cars in a competitive environment. But I think we are well prepared after a challenging start to the season. It’s good to have another Hypercar competitor to race against; this will give us a better indication of where we stand and what we need to work on for Le Mans. I hope we will be part of an exciting battle at the front.”
Jose Maria Lopez (GR010 HYBRID #7):
“We went to Portimao already to test the GR010 HYBRID so, compared to Spa, we are a small step ahead in terms of preparation. It’s a nice track with a good atmosphere, and the Portuguese weather should be reliable. What I like most is the mid-section, which feels like a roller-coaster because there is a lot of elevation change. You can never relax; there is always something happening. This makes Portimao a very challenging track and I cannot wait to race there with the GR010 HYBRID.”
Sebastien Buemi (GR010 HYBRID #8):
“Of course, it’s an honour to have participated in and won more races for Toyota in endurance racing than anyone else. It’s a nice anniversary and shows Toyota’s commitment to endurance racing, but my focus is on the future: the next race and particularly Le Mans. So Portimao is the next priority and, as it’s a shorter event than Spa, we need to find the right set-up direction quickly and get a lot of information from the practice sessions. We will be working flat-out to win again.”
Kazuki Nakajima (GR010 HYBRID #8):
“It was great to put our names in the history books as the first Hypercar race winners but Spa was only the start of the season; we want to win regularly with our GR010 HYBRID. It will be interesting to have new competition in Portimao, particularly as Glickenhaus is our first true Hypercar rival. I am sure it will not be an easy weekend as the competition will be close, but it’s exciting to be part of the Hypercar fight and we are pushing to be in the centre of the podium again.”
Brendon Hartley (GR010 HYBRID #8):
“I’m looking forward to racing with the GR010 HYBRID at Portimao, particularly against new competition in the Hypercar category. It’s good to have another Hypercar to compare ourselves with. In a way, it feels a bit strange to be going to Portugal in the middle of June because usually we are in Le Mans, but this is an important step in our preparations for the big one in August so we will be pushing to keep the momentum going from Spa.”
