Brendon Hartley and Toyota Gazoo Racing’s World Endurance Championship team have been left lamenting a challenging opening round in the Qatar 1812km after the defending champions struggled for pace all weekend.
Team Principal and driver Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and former Formula 1 driver Nyck De Vries shared the #7 GR010 Hybrid for sixth overall. Hartley and teammates Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa were ninth, gaining a place after the #93 Peugeot 9X8 was disqualified post-race.
Both cars were hit with a 9kg minimum weight increase and a maximum power reduction of 4kW (5.3bhp) under the Hypercar Balance of Performance ahead of the race at Lusail International Circuit.
Conway started the #7 entry off the front row but lost early ground under the hot midday sun, while the #8 dropped to 14th, having qualified 11th, on the opening lap at the hands of Buemi.
De Vries moved into the top six during his first stint, while Hartley battled outside the top ten. An issue with the #8’s left rear saw them lose further ground in the pit lane mid-race.
Hirakawa and De Vries were tasked with bringing the cars home, with the #7 passing the stricken Peugeot for sixth in the final meters, while the #7 settled for tenth, gaining a spot post-race.
“It has been a challenging day at the end of a challenging week, particularly on our side of the garage,” said Hartley. “Neither car had the speed to fight for the podium.
“Nevertheless, we salvaged points on both cars, and we all fought really hard for them. I am proud of all the team for the way we responded and kept fighting. We raced as hard as we could, and now we will focus on fighting back at the next race.”
Kobayashi added, “Unfortunately, for this first race of the season, we struggled all the way through the race to find strong performance. Finishing sixth was the best we could realistically achieve today, and this isn’t what we hoped for coming here.
“Obviously, our car was not well suited to this circuit; it is very surprising how challenging this event has been for us. But, despite the difficulties, all team members worked very hard to score points with both cars.
“The drivers didn’t make any mistakes, and the engineers and mechanics performed great, too. We will look at everything from this race and work hard to come back stronger at Imola.”
The second round of the 2024 World Endurance Championship, the 6 Hours of Imola, takes place on April 19.
