Hartley: Porsche Looks Stronger Than Toyota on Race Pace

Brendon Hartley believes that Porsche could have the edge over Toyota in terms of race pace for the FIA World Endurance Championship title-decider in Bahrain, despite the Japanese manufacturer locking out the front row in qualifying.

The New Zealander led a Toyota 1-2 in Hyperpole on Friday evening ahead of Nyck de Vries in a boost to the marque’s chances of overhauling Porsche in what has become a winner-takes-all battle for the manufacturers’ title.

But Hartley stated post-qualifying his concern at Porsche’s strong tire degradation based on the evidence of the three free practice sessions held across Thursday and Friday.

“We came here with confidence on tire deg, but if I’m perfectly honest there were times that the Porsche looked quite a bit quicker than us in practice,” he said.

“You never know the exact program, but it also shows the steps they have made compared to one year ago. They have made steps in all areas, including tire deg.

“Before the weekend, I was thinking that our dominance in Sao Paulo, another high-deg track, might translate to here. But after free practice I’m less sure.”

Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe technical director David Floury offered a similar sentiment to Hartley, insisting there is “still a long way to go” to overturn what is now a nine-point deficit to Porsche in the manufacturers’ standings.

“At Fuji we were looking okay in qualifying and the race was difficult, so I don’t want to [allow ourselves to] think we are already champions,” said Floury.

“It’s difficult to read from free practice, but I think [Porsche] will be strong in terms of race pace. I don’t expect the race to be a walk in the park.”

Kevin Estre and Matt Campbell qualified the two works Porsche 963s in sixth and seventh places, with the No. 6 crew of Estre, Andre Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor only needing to finish ninth on Saturday to guarantee the drivers’ title.

When Hartley’s remarks were put to Campbell, the Australian downplayed the suggestion that Porsche will have an edge over Toyota in race trim.

“I’d say that’s probably a bit bold to speculate,” Campbell told Sportscar365. “The only reason I say that is that in practice, it’s so hard to gauge what everyone is really doing.

“With multiple heat cycles on the tires and everything like that, it’s really hard to judge.

“I think we were competitive at times in practice; that’s clear, but I don’t think anyone knows what anyone truly has until they get towards the end of a stint.

“For sure it’s difficult for everyone with the tire degradation. This is clear. I think it’s going to be tough tomorrow. It’s hard to say where we really are.”

Ferrari, which still has an outside chance of winning the manufacturers’ title, emerged as Toyota’s nearest challenger in Hyperpole courtesy of Antonio Giovinazzi’s best lap in the No. 51 AF Corse-run 499P, 0.366 seconds slower than Hartley.

Antonio Fuoco, who was fifth-fastest in the second works Ferrari behind Neel Jani’s Proton Porsche, said he was not surprised by Toyota’s advantage over a single lap, which he also expects to translate into the race.

“Honestly I’m not really surprised because we saw already during free practice that they were really strong, but also here last year here they were really strong all weekend, so it was not a big surprise,” said Fuoco of Toyota’s advantage in qualifying.

“I think on our side compared to last year, we made an improvement. We are a bit closer in qualifying but looking at the race pace, I think it’s going to be really tough. Not only with Toyota, but also with Porsche.”

On Hartley’s suggestion that Porsche would be the team to beat on race pace, Fuoco replied: “They [Toyota] can do whatever they want. I don’t think it’s true.

“I think they have really good pace and they will be there and they will try to manage it.”

John Dagys and Davey Euwema contributed to this report