Brendon Hartley says it was a blessing in disguise for Toyota to discover their issues at the Monza last weekend than have them occur in next month’s Le Mans 24 Hour.
Hartley finished 33rd overall and last of all the classified runners in the third round of the World Endurance Championship.
The No.8 Toyota Hypercar the Kiwi, Kazuki Nakajima, and Sebastien Buemi were driving at Monza experienced a plethora of mechanical troubles over the race.
Four separate times Toyota was forced to wheel the car into the garage, and the crew lost several laps as a consequence.
It meant the trio’s chase of keeping their winning record this season ended abruptly.
However, Hartley says that identifying the mechanical issues now gives the team ample time to rectify them ahead of the season’s blue-riband race at Le Mans.
“That was definitely not our day,” Hartley said over the weekend.
“But it is better we had a day like this here in Monza rather than at Le Mans.
“That is the one race of the year that we really want to win.
“We had a few issues with the fuel system, which needed repairs, and then with the hub.
“We’re still in the fight for the World Championship even though obviously we lost a lot of our points advantage, but that’s motorsport, we know how it goes and we’ll come back fighting at Le Mans.”
Hartley won his second Le Mans 24 Hour at a spectator-less race last year.
The No.8 trio came from two laps down to help give Toyota its third triumph in a row.
Buemi echoed Hartley’s comments about the issues at Monza, adding his hopes the car is more reliable for next month’s race.
“In a six-hour race, you cannot recover from problems like that; there was not much we could do.
“It’s a tough one because we didn’t score many points for the championship. I hope we got our problems out of the way, and we won’t have them in Le Mans.”
The 24 Hours of Le Mans is held over August 21-22.
