Le Mans 24 Hours – Scrutineering 13 – Toyota

Toyota are the great white (and blue) hope for a factory competitor to match up against the Audi steamroller in 2012 and despite the encouraging signs at the test Day with both the #7 and #8 TS030s showing great pace, it may be rather early yet to expect a full race slugfest.

The team though were here in massive force, the team gear still looking to some eyes like a 1980s central European handball team’s outfit, but this is an impressive early effort from both TMG and Oreca.

Nicholas Lapierre –

“We are all very excited by the programme, and very happy to be a part of it.  The results have been very good so far, the car is fast and the technology impressive.

“As for our objectives here – Audi is a very tough team, to lead the race would be a dream, we want to be as close as possible for as long as possible.

“It is tricky though to project the Audi pace this week and in particular with what is at the moment a very confused weather forecast.

“One advantage we now have for the first time though is that we have two cars for the first time. It will allow us to run with different strategies when the weather is changing.”  

Alex Wurz –

“We’re taking a step by step approach to all of this – We want to put as much pressure as possible on Audi, and that should be a lot of pressure!

“We must be patient though with this programme. The test day was encouraging, with absolutely no technical problems and good pace and completing more laps than we had planned for too.

“The plan though is simple – Apply pressure, see how long we can do that for, and see where that puts us.”

One Toyota driver that has had a troubled lead in to Le Mans though is Stephane Sarrazin. A late addition to the squad, he missed the Test Day running after a freak accident whilst training on his pedal cycle on the roads around the circuit left him with facial injuries and requiring a total of 30 stitches in various wounds!

“I feel fine now,” said a still rather scarred-looking Sarrazin. “It was a late call to come to the programme and I have had quite a lot of running at Paul Ricard.  It’s a one-race deal with Toyota right now and I expect to be back with Starworks for the rest of the WEC. For now though, my focus is Toyota, and it looks quite encouraging – I hope we can run as close as possible to Audi.”