Conway: No. 7 Toyota Has “All to Play For” in Title Showdown

Mike Conway says the No. 7 Toyota Gazoo Racing crew has it “all to play for” as it tries to overcome a 15-point gap to its teammates in this weekend’s FIA World Endurance Championship title decider.

Conway, Jose Maria Lopez and Kamui Kobayashi, who share the No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, are hoping to carry the momentum of their victories at Monza and Fuji into the 8 Hours of Bahrain.

They also won at Sebring and Spa-Francorchamps, however a two-point score at Portimao and a retirement from the 24 Hours of Le Mans cost them in the points table compared to leaders Sebastien Buemi, Ryo Hirakawa and Brendon Hartley in the No. 8 car.

Both Ferrari AF Corse crews are also in mathematical contention for the Hypercar title but the third-placed lineup of James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi is 31 points adrift.

Conway feels that the No. 7 Toyota has been stronger than its No. 8 counterpart over the course of the season.

“Yeah, I think so,” the British driver told Sportscar365. “We had bad luck at Le Mans and Portimao as well. Two bad races with things that were out of control. Other than that, we’ve been solid.

“I feel like we didn’t do anything wrong as a car crew, so let’s just continue at the last race and try to bag another win. Five out of seven would be pretty cool.”

Conway reckons that he, Lopez and Kobayashi have momentum on their side after winning the last two races.

“It’s an eight-hour race, so anything can happen,” he said. “We like this track and we’re good here as a car crew. It’s all to play for.

“We’re trying to win the championship and we’ve been catching the last few races. All I’m focused on is winning the race. That’s all we can do, and the pieces will fall where they fall.

“Porsche were very good in Fuji. It wasn’t an ideal track for Ferrari, but I expect them to be strong here. It’s going to be hard. Either way, I think we can just focus on winning the race.”

Defending champion Hirakawa agreed with Conway’s sentiment that the points situation heading into Bahrain doesn’t reflect how the season played out for each Toyota crew.

“If I’m honest, car No. 7 has been stronger than us all season,” he told Sportscar365.

“They got a bit unlucky at some points in the race, like at Le Mans and Portimao when they had an issue. Otherwise, they beat us at the other races.

“Bahrain for me last year it was the championship decider. I took zero risk to be able to win the championship, but this weekend it’s going to be full attack.”

Toyota Gazoo Racing’s WEC technical director Pascal Vasselon suggested that the season “has not been kind” to the No. 7 car and that the “facts show” that it was stronger than the No. 8 in general.

“If you look at what they have achieved, they won every race where they have not been pushed from behind or when an FIA-ACO [mandated] sensor did not fail,” he said, referring to Le Mans and Portimao respectively.

“They have done, from their side, a perfect season. Of course it’s difficult for them. They would need to win and it would need some problems for car No. 8.

“We will give them the conditions which will be as fair as possible and we will really make sure that everything is equal on both cars in terms of strategy, tire plan and run plan.

“Everything should be fair so that, in the end, the sport decides.”

Different Approach to Practice Sessions

At last season’s 8 Hours of Bahrain, the No. 8 Toyota crew arrived level on points with Alpine’s Nicolas Lapierre, Matthieu Vaxiviere and Andre Negrao.

That prompted Toyota to focus more on qualifying, but the scenario is different this year.

“We were concerned by the Alpine and we wanted to make sure that the Alpine didn’t get the pole position, because they would have gone into the race with a points advantage and increased the risk-taking at the start,” Vasselon recalled.

“We did several quali sims [during practice]. Last year, car No. 7 was fully supporting car No. 8 because car No. 7 had no chance to win. And car No. 7 had the plan with two tire sets [in qualifying] to make sure it had pole position.

“[This weekend] we just do a normal plan with the two cars and the qualification will just reflect the merits of the driver.”