Two titles are on the line this weekend in Bahrain, where TOYOTA GAZOO Racing is aiming for an eighth consecutive victory in the Gulf Kingdom. Another win on Saturday will secure the manufacturers’ crown, while Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries have an outside chance of the drivers’ championship.

The team’s focus on the opening day was to prepare its GR010 HYBRIDs for the challenge ahead, against a competitive field of 18 Hypercars. Drivers, engineers and mechanics worked as one to maximise time on track for the continuous improvement of car performance, using their experience, know-how and team spirit.

Those efforts were rewarded with positive progress throughout a busy day, which ended with the #7 GR010 HYBRID of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries setting the fourth fastest lap. Outgoing World Champions Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa were sixth in their #8 GR010 HYBRID.

The 5.412km Bahrain International Circuit is particularly challenging for car set-up and tyre management, with its mix of high-speed and slower corners, and its abrasive track surface. The team therefore used most of Thursday’s three hours of practice to adjust car settings in preparation for Saturday’s race.

Under midday sun and 31°C air temperatures, Mike and Sébastien immediately got to work on an intensive programme of mechanical and powertrain adjustments in first practice. The two GR010 HYBRIDs completed more laps than any other cars during a clean session, with their fastest laps set at the beginning. Sébastien earned seventh for the #8, and Mike was 10th in the #7.

Second practice began after sunset and in slightly cooler temperatures, like those expected in the second part of Saturday’s day-night race. After focusing on race set-up earlier, Nyck and Brendon used the first moments to try out qualifying settings, recording their respective fastest times of the session – and the day – in the process. The team’s efforts soon shifted back to race preparation with more set-up fine-tuning and tyre analysis.

Drivers and engineers will now analyse the data and work to optimise performance of the GR010 HYBRIDs prior to Friday’s final, one-hour practice. The starting grid will be decided during the qualifying and Hyperpole sessions, starting at 4.40pm local time (2.40pm CET), while the race begins at 2pm (midday CET) on Saturday.

Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car #7):

“There was nothing special happening for us today, just a typical free practice day when we worked through our programme. Obviously, the track is evolving all the time so we tried to learn about the tyre degradation. We are still looking into this and working out what compromises we need to take in terms of tyre management. We were quite conservative today, but we made some progress. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow.”

Mike Conway (Driver, car #7):

“It’s good to be back here in Bahrain. In today’s two sessions we were trying to get the car dialled in and start to maximise our potential for qualifying and the race. It has been a positive day, and we learned some useful things. There are still areas we can improve but it’s been a decent start. It all looks very close at the front but we are in the mix, so we just have to find a bit more performance.”

Nyck de Vries (Driver, car #7):

“I think we had a decent free practice day, considering the track conditions, because the grip levels were pretty low. We are in the fight but it’s hard to draw too many conclusions from today’s results. We seem to be there or thereabouts. We still need to find a little bit more compared to our competition and we will work hard to do that, but overall, it has been a positive first day.”

Sébastien Buemi (Driver, car #8):

“I am happy to be back in Bahrain for the season finale. The whole team is working hard to end the season with another championship on a track which is usually good for us. Today we focused on trying to extract the maximum and we will continue to give everything. It was not an easy day on our car, working on balance and braking, which was tricky. We’re not far away, we just need to find a bit of performance.”

Brendon Hartley (Driver, car #8):

“It has been a pretty smooth day, without any dramas. We worked on a few set-up items but we are not fully happy with the balance so there are some improvements to make. It’s tight at the front and we haven’t been quite up there yet with our car, but we have the potential to improve, and we are working hard to do that for tomorrow.”

Ryo Hirakawa (Driver, car #8):

“I think it has been a productive day for us and we learnt a lot about our car here. This track is really hard on the tyres, so we have been working to understand that in detail. We also spent time to optimise the car in order to have good pace in the race. We now have a lot of data, so we need to analyse this tonight to prepare for tomorrow. We will continue to improve.”