After two frustrating races, the team faces a difficult task to add to its 15 WEC podiums at Fuji Speedway. But, motivated by the warm welcome and extraordinary support of its Japanese fans, partners and Toyota colleagues, it is ready for the challenge after Friday’s two free practice sessions.

A constructive practice day for the penultimate race of the season ended with Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa fourth fastest in their #8 GR010 HYBRID. Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries were just a fraction slower in the #7 GR010 HYBRID, in sixth.

Over recent days, all six drivers played their part in raising the excitement for WEC’s annual visit to Japan. They joined an event in Tokyo which showcased endurance racing and featured several cars, including a #7 GR010 HYBRID in this season’s unique Le Mans livery. Visits to partners and Toyota facilities also gave an opportunity to meet other team supporters, many of whom will watch the race from a dedicated TOYOTA GAZOO Racing grandstand.

The week’s on-track preparations began with first practice on a hot, sunny morning in air temperatures of 28°C. After missing the last race due to a training accident, Mike was back in the cockpit at the green light for a session which ran without significant interruptions. This helped the team make progress on adapting mechanical and control systems to meet the specific challenges of Fuji Speedway.

Second practice allowed both cars to analyse the degradation of the Michelin tyres during a race stint, as well as testing new set-ups. The GR010 HYBRIDs set their fastest lap times on new rubber at the beginning of the session before the focus turned to race settings. Aside from two short full course yellows, the session ran smoothly and concluded a useful day of preparation.

The team will continue to work relentlessly to optimise the GR010 HYBRIDs prior to final practice on Saturday morning. Hypercar qualifying begins at 3pm local time (8am CEST) on Saturday, setting the grid for Sunday’s race, which starts at 11am (4am CEST).

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

“It’s fantastic to be back with WEC in Fuji and I enjoyed driving the GR010 HYBRID in front of our home fans. We had two clean sessions and completed a lot of set-up work, so we have plenty of information to optimise our car. We are not the fastest yet, so we need to find some more speed before qualifying.”

Mike Conway (Driver, car #7):

“We worked hard to go through a pretty comprehensive programme over the two sessions. We will now take what we’ve learnt and put that into practice tomorrow. We felt a bit more competitive in second practice compared to the morning session, which looks promising. But we need to try to understand that and continue to improve.”

Nyck de Vries (Driver, car #7):

“It was great to be on track here in Japan and I enjoyed the two sessions. We had the chance to do quite a few changes which helped us learn a lot about our car and tyres. Now we need to analyse everything and see how we can keep getting better. It’s not going to be easy but there’s only a second covering the first 15 Hypercars so every small improvement matters, and we’ll keep working hard.”

Sébastien Buemi (Driver, car #8):

“We’ve been here in Japan for a few days already seeing our partners and fans. Now it’s nice to be back in the car. We had two sessions with clean running and good weather. The Hypercar field looks tight and we’re not at the front yet. We’ll work hard to find a bit more lap time and see what we can achieve tomorrow. It’s all about fine-tuning and getting the maximum out of our package.”

Brendon Hartley (Driver, car #8):

“We had a trouble-free Friday with no issues. We made some quite big set-up changes between the two sessions and found an improvement. Obviously, our weight and power situation doesn’t make it easy. But we are all working hard to find every fraction of a second, especially here in Japan, in front of our home fans.”

Ryo Hirakawa (Driver, car #8):

“It’s been a productive day, and we improved the car quite a lot from the morning to the afternoon. Initially it was difficult to drive but we worked very hard together and had a much better feeling in the second session. It looks like the field is tight and I am sure everyone will improve over the weekend, so we are still missing a few tenths. We will push even harder to find more speed but I’m hopeful for qualifying.”