Victory for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing at Sebring
17 Março 2019 - 9:37PM
JCN Newswire (English)
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing conquered the 1000 Miles of Sebring to
extend its advantage in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC)
with a one-two victory in the sixth round of the 2018-2019
season.
Sebastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Fernando Alonso in the #8
TS050 HYBRID took the chequered flag after eight hours to win their
third race of the season in front a large and enthusiastic Florida
crowd to stretch their World Championship lead to 15 points.
Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez overcame a
mid-race delay for accident repairs to earn second in the #7 TS050
HYBRID, one lap behind, achieving the team's fifth one-two of the
season. Kamui's fastest lap of 1min 41.800secs set a new race
record and wrote another chapter in Sebring's history, following
Fernando's all-time fastest-ever lap in Thursday's qualifying.
The team's first race at Sebring began in bright sunshine and with
air temperature of 28 degrees Celcius as Sebastien, in the
pole-sitting #8, established himself as race leader from the
beginning, with Jose putting pressure on just behind in the
second-placed #7.
That pattern continued until a brief rain shower just before the
two-hour mark. Soon after that the #17 SMP car crashed heavily,
causing a full course yellow and then a safety car to repair
barrier damage. That closed the field, bringing Kamui in the #7
closer to Fernando in the #8 and the battle resumed after 15
minutes.
Despite adverse forecasts, heavy rain in the local area missed the
track and the TS050 HYBRIDs kept up a close fight as darkness fell.
At half distance, Kazuki in the #8 was holding off a charging Mike
just a few seconds behind, with both cars three laps clear of the
third-placed #3 Rebellion.
But a titanic duel between the two TOYOTAs was brought to an early
end after four-and-a-half hours when Jose, at the wheel of the #7,
suffered a minor contact with the #90 Aston Martin. That required a
change of engine cover and rear bodywork, which cost four minutes
in the pits, putting the car a lap down.
With that clear margin, Sebastien in the #8 took a no-risk approach
through the famously-difficult Sebring traffic, taking care to
protect his lead. The #7 crew showed strong spirit to come back
from the disappointment of losing a lap and set competitive times
to comfortably extend their advantage over third place.
The final three hours of the race looked to be passing without
major incident as the TS050 HYBRIDs once again demonstrated
remarkable reliability on a circuit famed for being tough on cars
and drivers. However, the Florida weather intervened and rain began
to fall around half an hour from the end.
With the chequered flag approaching, the intensity of the rain
increased and both cars pitted with 20 minutes remaining to change
to wet Michelin tyres. But as conditions worsened, both cars
returned to pit lane to switch to extreme wet tyres with the target
of simply avoiding any incident and reaching the flag safely.
That became slightly easier when a safety car was called with only
12 minutes remaining due to an accident for an LMP2 car. With heavy
rain continuing, even driving behind the safety car was challenging
but Kazuki stayed calm and brought the #8 home for victory,
followed by Mike in the #7.
That means, with two races remaining in the 2018-2019 season,
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing leads the teams' World Championship by 53
points going into the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps on 4 May, when
its target will be to seal the teams' World Championship with a
race to spare.
Hisatake Murata, Team President
"I am very pleased that TOYOTA GAZOO Racing and our TS050 HYBRID is
the first winner of the 1000 Miles of Sebring. Our visit to Sebring
has been challenging but successful. Everyone in the team adjusted
very well to the different requirements here and pushed really hard
to achieve this result. Thanks to them and also a big thank you to
the fans here in Florida; they have made our first visit here
really special with their passion for endurance racing and their
warm welcome. I hope they enjoyed the race and I wish everyone an
exciting and successful Sebring 12 Hours tomorrow."
TS050 HYBRID #7
Race: 2nd, 252 laps, 13 pit stops. Grid: 2nd. Fastest lap: 1min
41.800secs
Mike Conway (TS050 HYBRID #7)
"Another one-two is a good result for everybody on the team. We
pushed hard all the way through and it was a nice fight in the
first half of the race. We all had some close moments out there;
you get so close to the GT cars. At the end the conditions were
really tricky; it was like driving on ice, particularly on the
concrete sections. It's a pity that we lost out today but we still
have Spa and Le Mans coming up so we will keep pushing."
Kamui Kobayashi (TS050 HYBRID #7)
"Car #8 did a great job and deserved this win. We fought hard but
after the contact we could not challenge. Still we showed our
spirit and continued to push in the second half of the race even
though it was not easy. It's important not to give up. For the
team, finishing one-two is a great result so thanks a lot to them
for their hard work; the big preparation paid off here."
Jose Maria Lopez (TS050 HYBRID #7)
"Congratulations to car #8; our team-mates did a fantastic job. It
was a very hard race and from my side I was struggling a bit in
traffic today. I was trying to catch Seb and I just misjudged a
move on a GT car. We were unlucky but these things can happen
sometimes and after that I just looked forward and kept pushing.
Fortunately the car wasn't badly damaged and we could finish the
race. I am pretty happy with second place in this hard race."
TS050 HYBRID #8
Race: 1st, 253 laps, 13 pit stops. Grid: 1st. Fastest lap: 1min
42.360secs
Sebastien Buemi (TS050 HYBRID #8)
"I am really pleased to be in the middle of the podium again after
quite a long wait. It was a tricky race because the traffic here is
not easy. In my first stint Jose was really quick so I had to push.
We wanted to make a gap but the #7 was within 10 seconds for many
hours until they had the contact. I did the best I could to
minimise the risk and stay cool. When the #7 had the contact we
took it easy and just got to the end without any dramas."
Kazuki Nakajima (TS050 HYBRID #8)
"It's great to win here in Sebring, especially after such a tough
race. Maybe it looked straightforward from the outside but in my
first stint I had a bit of traffic so it was already hard. When I
jumped in at the end I knew what I had to do; get to the end
without any risk. I was happy with the car in dry conditions but
not at all happy in the end in the rain. Visibility and grip were
amazingly low so I was really happy to see the chequered flag."
Fernando Alonso (TS050 HYBRID #8)
"It is a happy day for us. We came here to this very difficult
circuit and we did a lot of testing and preparation. We went into
the weekend feeling confident we would have a strong race,
particularly starting from pole position. From the lead of the
race, we tried to manage the risk. The rain was very stressful but
Kazuki did a fantastic job in difficult conditions to bring home
another win at a historic venue for endurance racing."
1000 Miles of Sebring results
1st - #8 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing - 253 laps
2nd - #7 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing - +1 lap
3rd - #11 SMP (Aleshin / Petrov / Hartley) - +11 laps
4th - #37 Jackie Chan DC (Heinemeier-Hansson / King / Stevens) -
+14 laps
5th - #36 Signatech Alpine (Lapierre / Negrao / Thiriet) - +14
laps
6th - #31 Dragonspeed (Gonzalez / Maldonado / Davidson) - +16
laps
About Toyota Motor Corporation
Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) is the global mobility company that
introduced the Prius hybrid-electric car in 1997 and the first
mass-produced fuel cell sedan, Mirai, in 2014. Headquartered in
Toyota City, Japan, Toyota has been making cars since 1937. Today,
Toyota proudly employs 370,000 employees in communities around the
world. Together, they build around 10 million vehicles per year in
29 countries, from mainstream cars and premium vehicles to
mini-vehicles and commercial trucks, and sell them in more than 170
countries under the brands Toyota, Lexus, Daihatsu and Hino. For
more information, please visit www.toyota-global.com.
Source: Toyota Motor Corporation
Contact:
Public Affairs Division
Global Communications Department
Toyota Motor Corporation
Tel: +81-3-3817-9926
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