Photo: Toyota
Toyota Gazoo Racing team principal Kamui Kobayashi believes that Ferrari and Cadillac are on “another level” compared to the Hypercar competition heading into this week’s FIA World Endurance Championship season opener in Qatar.
Kobayashi made the remarks ahead of opening practice for this week’s Qatar 1812km, which followed a two-day Prologue test at the Lusail International Circuit in which the two Toyota GR010 Hybrids did not figure towards the top of the times.
The No. 7 Toyota that Kobayashi shares with Nyck de Vries and Mike Conway was eighth-fastest across the two days with a best time 0.578 seconds slower than the pace-setting No. 20 BMW M Hybrid V8.
Toyota’s No. 8 car, driven by Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa, was 11th, more than one second off Robin Frijns’ benchmark for BMW.
Looking ahead to Friday’s ten-hour season opener, Kobayashi admitted that Toyota is facing another weekend of damage limitation, having struggled during last year’s inaugural visit by the WEC to the high-speed Lusail venue.
Kobayashi told Sportscar365: “I think on pure pace, we are probably fighting for P10. Ferrari and Cadillac, that’s already five cars, and they are on another level.
“Also Porsche looks fast, Alpine looks fast. I feel like I am driving well, the car feels good, but when I see the lap time, it’s another level. This is how it is.
“We just need to score points here, because there are extra points here. Last year, the car that won here [the No. 6 Porsche] won the drivers’ championship, so it’s quite big.”
The Toyota GR010 Hybrid goes into the season opener as the joint-heaviest car in the Hypercar class according to the Balance of Performance for the Qatar round, together with the Porsche 963, at 1064 kg.
By contrast, the Cadillac V-Series.R starts the year at the minimum weight of 1030 kg, while the Ferrari 499P is at 1037 kg.
Hartley echoed Kobayashi’s comments when asked for his thoughts on Toyota’s competitiveness, tipping Alpine to be the third force behind Ferrari and Cadillac.
“When you look at the long runs, there are two teams who are clearly out in front,” the Kiwi told Sportscar365. “Maybe there’s one another team capable of fighting at the front, and then there’s a big mid-pack fighting for the remaining points.
“Looking at the Prologue, we are in that mid-pack and we need to somehow make sure we are at the front of that pack scoring as many points as possible.
“I’m not going to be unrealistic and say we have a chance of victory. At this track, and in these circumstances, I would say we don’t have a chance to win unless something [unusual] happens in the race.
“We saw last year this is not the best track for us, so it’s not that it’s doom and gloom for the rest of the year, but we are expecting a tough race.”
Nielsen Downplays Ferrari’s Chances; Cadillac “In the Mix”
Speaking to media after the Prologue, Nicklas Nielsen, who shares the No. 50 499P with Miguel Molina and Antonio Fuoco, was keen to downplay Ferrari’s chances, although he admitted that the car is more competitive than it was at last year’s Lusail opener.
“We basically focused on ourselves,” said Nielsen. “It was difficult to understand what the others were doing. Porsche didn’t really do any significant long runs and Toyota was difficult to read as well.
“We know what we have and we are pretty happy with the way our car behaves. I hope the picture is the same for the race, but we will have to wait and see.
“What is nice compared to last year is that we feel more prepared and that we’re in a better place.”
Quickest of the Ferraris in the Prologue was the third-string No. 83 AF Corse car, which Robert Kubica put third overall behind the No. 20 BMW and the quicker of the Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA cars, the No. 38 car of Sebastien Bourdais.
Kubica told Sportscar365: “In the Prologue, the car felt good. The feeling I would say is better than last year, which is promising.
“For sure I would be lying if I said I didn’t think we were competitive. We have all the ingredients to do well here. But many times I have been in a similar situation and you go home disappointed.
“A podium will be difficult – we will have to really put everything together. Maybe the Prologue makes people think that a podium is the minimum goal, but if we can do that, it would be a great achievement.”
Cadillac driver Will Stevens, part of the No. 12 crew that finished the Prologue fifth, meanwhile expressed his satisfaction with how V-Series.R performed in the Prologue ahead of its first race together with new partner JOTA.
Stevens added: “I think considering it’s our first race of everyone working together, we were happy with how we rolled off in the first session of the Prologue.
“For sure we are in the mix. There are lot of quick cars, everyone has a chance of doing well, but we should be happy with how we have started.”
