No. 8 Toyota “Couldn’t Afford” to Take Risks With Title On Line

Photo: James Moy/Toyota

Brendon Hartley said he and co-drivers Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa “couldn’t afford” to take risks in Saturday’s 8 Hours of Bahrain that would have jeopardized their FIA World Endurance Championship title bid.

The No. 8 Toyota Gazoo Racing trio claimed the world drivers’ championship with a second place finish behind the sister No. 7 entry of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez in a dominant, title-winning day for the Japanese manufacturer.

While having started from pole, Hartley surrendered the lead to Conway just prior to halfway when the No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid developed understeer.

“Our objective from the beginning was [the title],” Hartley said. “Of course we still wanted to win the race but we couldn’t afford to take the level of risk to put everything on the table for a race win.

“Definitely we had to manage that and at the same time, in the middle of the race, we picked up a lot of understeer.

“We still have to analyze it but Car No. 7 had a pace advantage in the middle and they deserved the victory.”

Hartley, Buemi and Hirakawa entered the title-deciding weekend in a dead heat with Alpine’s Nico Lapierre, Matthieu Vaxiviere and Andre Negrao, which finished third in the race after capitalizing on misfortunes for both of the Peugeot 9X8s.

Pole by the Kiwi on Friday sent the No. 8 Toyota crew into the race with a scant single-point lead.

“They’ve been tough competitors all year,” Hartley said of Alpine. “It’s been fiercely fought all year and also with the Alpine. They deserve a mention as they’ve done an amazing season and kept us honest right until the last race.

“It looked like they had a little less pace than us today.

“Thanks to everyone on the team, my teammates. I guess it really hasn’t really sunk in yet, to be honest. I think it will later on when a few more people start to mention world champion.”

Hartley, who became the first top-class WEC champion to have achieved titles with two different manufacturers, notched his third drivers world championship, the same number as Buemi, who earned all of his with Toyota.

Both drivers praised the performance of their co-driver Hirakawa, in the Japanese driver’s rookie WEC season.

“I think a really crucial moment for me was Le Mans, the step Ryo took at Le Mans and the pressure,” said Hartley. “We were just chatting about it before.

“He had no sleep on the Friday, he was nervous, he performed amazingly and I think that was a big moment in our championship.

“To then also go to Fuji in our home race, Ryo’s home race, he was the teacher there, teaching us where the grip was.

“As a crew, I really felt we delivered a near-perfect race in Fuji and I think that gave us confidence as a car crew that we can challenge in the next years.”

Buemi added: “I think we maximized most of our opportunities [this season]. Unfortunately what happened in Spa with our DNF, it was a big blow because of a championship of six races, when you DNF like that, it’s obviously very difficult to recover.

“As a crew we’ve done a great job. I’d like to say congratulations to Ryo because he came in as a newcomer and he won Le Mans and the championship in his first year. He’s done an amazing job. It was not easy to jump in like that.

“It’s amazing to be able to win the championship. Obviously Car No. 7 is always strong and is not easy to beat them but again to do the double with Le Mans and the championship is a very nice feeling.”

Vasselon: Toyota Didn’t Want to Have Team Cars Fighting Each Other

Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe technical director Pascal Vasselon explained that the No. 8 car needed to take a more conservative approach once it became apparent the drivers world championship was within grasp.

“It’s always important when you have to make sure to be world champion,” Vasselon said. “Especially the world title for the drivers was extremely critical because we just had to finish in front [of Alpine].

“It was not just about finishing the race, so definitely there was some tension. Everything came together.

“Car No. 7 and No. 8 were not looking for the same things. Car No. 8 had to minimize all risks just to finish in front of the Alpine, so there was no point.

“The worst we could have done was to have our two cars fighting and car No. 8 doing a mistake in traffic.

“We wanted to avoid this. We did not want to have two cars fighting. They had different targets. Car No. 7 was free to win the race, but car No. 8 had to be safe.”

Vasselon said the opening part of the eight-hour race was “extremely close” between Peugeot and even the Alpine.

“If you look at the first stint, all three cars were in three-tenths on average,” he said. “The way the race has unfolded is a repeat of Fuji. We have very clearly made the difference on tire consistency.”

Daniel Lloyd contributed to this report

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John