Cadillac and Toyota the defeated at Fuji

WECHyperCar

Sep 16

Fuji frustration for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing

A battling drive from Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa in their #8 GR010 HYBRID looked to have earned a podium until a late penalty dropped them down to 10th place.

The #7 GR010 HYBRID of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries had led with two hours to go but were forced to retire due to accident damage. That effectively ends the World Championship challenge of Kamui and Nyck with one race remaining.

📷 © Courtesy of FIA WEC. Both Toyota GR010 HYBRID lost ground in the early laps.

The team found itself on the back foot from the opening stages. Either side of a lap-two safety car, Sébastien dropped from second to fourth while Mike also lost ground from fourth on the grid, and spent the first stint in fifth, behind the #8.
Further position changes saw the second hour end with Mike still in fifth, but Sébastien now sixth, although those positions were swapped soon after when the #7 GR010 HYBRID suffered tyre degradation, causing it to pit earlier than planned. Nyck took over while Brendon replaced Sébastien soon after.

📷 © Courtesy of FIA WEC. Both Toyota GR010 HYBRID In fourth and fifth.

Despite the tough start, the team’s fuel and tyre strategy started to pay off. After half distance, Nyck overtook the #15 BMW and the #50 Ferrari then overhauled the #6 Porsche in the pits to lead. The #8 also made progress and Brendon boldly passed two Ferraris before handing over to Ryo, who joined the podium fight.
After almost four hours of intense competition, Kamui took over for two stints to hunt down the victory, with both cars now in a stronger strategic position in terms of fuel and tyres than their rivals. But a virtual safety car early in the fifth hour took away that advantage by giving all Hypercars the chance to pit and lose less time compared to doing so under racing conditions.

📷 © Courtesy of FIA WEC. #7 Damage to the rear suspension and bodywork could not be repaired in time.

A 90-minute sprint to the flag saw Ryo initially hold third before the #35 Alpine overtook. The #7 fared worse when Kamui and the #5 Porsche made contact in the battle for eighth. Damage to the rear suspension and bodywork could not be repaired in time, so the car was retired with an hour remaining.

Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car #7): “It was a very tough race. The second safety car brought us into a difficult situation. After that I tried to fight with Porsche #5 for a couple of laps, but our lack of straight-line speed was clear, so he tried to overtake through the first three turns. On the inside of turn three we both committed to the corner in the same moment and could not avoid contact. Unfortunately, we then had another contact, and the damage was too heavy to repair. It definitely was not our day, and I feel sorry for our home fans who supported us so much. Hopefully we will come back strong for the last race in Bahrain.” Source: Toyota Gazoo Racing

Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa in their #8 GR010 HYBRID dropped down to 10th place. — 📷 © Courtesy of FIA WEC. **Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa** in their #8 GR010 HYBRID dropped down to 10th place.

Ryo pushed hard to bring the #8 back onto the podium in the final hour, overtaking both JOTA Porsches and then moving into a comfortable third after a penalty for the #35 Alpine. But with 16 minutes to go, the #8 incurred its own drive-through penalty, for an incident with the leading #6 Porsche, and Ryo finished 10th, 58.879secs behind the winner.
Ryo Hirakawa (Driver, car #8): “Obviously it is a really disappointing day. We wanted to have a good race in front of our fans and partners but it didn’t turn out that way. We tried everything and at one point it looked promising, but then things went against us. There is one race remaining and hopefully we can finish on a high by winning the championship; we are going to keep fighting. Thanks to the team for their hard work all week, and special thanks to our partners and fans for all the support. Source: Toyota Gazoo Racing

Tire puncture, contact deny pole-sitting #2 Cadillac V-Series.R shot at podium

The #2 Cadillac V-Series.R, which Alex Lynn drove to Cadillac Racing’s maiden Hypercar pole position Saturday led the initial 1 hour, 9 minutes of the race (41 laps) with Earl Bamber at the wheel before pitting and giving way to Lynn for his initial stint. With fresh left-side tires on the hybrid racecar and running second in the 18-car order, Lynn’s charge was to stay in touch with the leader while closing the door on challengers – all of whom had taken four tires on their service stops – as the team engaged a strategy of saving new tires for a projected late-race battle for the victory. Lynn met the challenge and entered pit lane in second place after 1 hour, 19 minutes in the car covering 44 laps.

Alex Lynn (after his first stint): “It was OK. Unfortunately, we were jumped on the stops by the No. 6 and then spent the whole time behind the No. 6 Porsche and trying to keep the other cars that stopped for new tires under Safety Car behind, which we managed to do. With the temperature, everybody is struggling with tire deg.” Source: Cadillac Racing

📷 © Courtesy of FIA WEC. Bamber guided the damaged #2 Cadillac V-Series.R to the pit.

But the race unraveled for the team 20 minutes into Bamber’s next stint when the #15 BMW M under pressure from Bamber made contact, puncturing the right-front tire of the #2 Cadillac V-Series.R. Bamber limped from Turn 1 to the pit box for the unscheduled tire change, which took the Cadillac Racing Hypercar entry out of podium contention but did not diminish the strong effort in the first half of the race.

📷 © Courtesy of FIA WEC. #2 Cadillac V-Series.R Was forced to retire.

The Chip Ganassi Racing-run team’s quick work in the pits kept the #2 Cadillac V-Series.R on the lead lap to recover and be running ninth and looking to score championship points with 30 minutes left before Bamber got caught out on the marbles, wiggled and nosed into the tire barrier. Bamber guided the damaged car back to the pit box, where it was retired. Source: Cadillac Racing