Toyota Drivers Hoping to Atone for “Gutting” COTA Points Loss

Toyota drivers Mike Conway and Ryo Hirakawa are aiming to make up for what Conway described as a “gutting” result in the previous FIA World Endurance Championship round at the Circuit of The Americas in the marque’s home race at Fuji this weekend.

Conway and his co-drivers in the No. 7 Toyota TR010 Hybrid, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries, were well on course to win the Lone Star Le Mans race earlier this month when it was struck by a hydraulic issue that disabled the car’s power steering.

It means that the No. 7 crew remain level on points with BMW pair Robin Frijns and Rene Rast at the head of the order heading into the final three races of the season, with the No. 20 BMW M Hybrid crew also failing to score points at COTA in 12th.

Conway said that a good result result at Fuji will be critical as Toyota has not tested at either of the final two venues on the revised schedule, Barcelona and Monza.

“[Losing the win at COTA] was pretty gutting, especially for the championship, because none of our rivals were scoring well and if we had got the win we would have had a nice advantage,” Conway told Sportscar365. “That was a real killer.

“At the same time, we were lucky that none of them scored well, which kept our championship alive.

“It has brought a lot of people closer. There are a few more cars that have a chance to win. Definitely Ferrari are back in it now, so it will be hard.

“We’ve done no testing at Barcelona and Monza. It’s a shame we haven’t, because we’ll be at a disadvantage. We’ll do our best to make it happen. We’ll have to see.”

Despite its past dominance at Fuji, Toyota has struggled as its home race the past two years, with a best result of seventh last year and tenth in 2024, but Conway believes the revised TR010 aero package should alleviate some of the difficulties.

“I think it will be better this year,” he said. “This was one circuit where the old car wasn’t as consistent as we wanted it, and there were some areas we struggled. Now the new package has dialled a lot of that out, so hopefully it’s a lot kinder to us.

“That said, others will definitely be quick here. Certain cars have been quick in the past here, like Cadillac, BMW. They will be strong. Ferrari have also been quick at times.

“We probably want it to be wet honestly, to have the best chance, but we don’t know what will happen. We’ll be up against it if it’s a dry race, I think.”

The No. 8 Toyota shared by Hirakawa, Sebastien Buemi and Brendon Hartley also suffered a setback at COTA as a penalty for pit lane speeding, caused by a system error, denied the trio a chance of a podium and left them sixth at the finish.

Hirakawa, who was speaking prior to topping first practice on Friday morning, concurred with Conway that the 2026-spec Toyota should be more at home at Fuji.

“Maybe this track will be better than last year, but it doesn’t really suit the car’s concept,” he told Sportscar365. “I think [it will be better]. We have the long straight and the high-speed corners, but it’s the slow-speed corners where it’s harder.

“There have been some driveability improvements with the new car that give you a bit more confidence. It’s a bit easier to predict the car balance.

“The two races after Le Mans were both very disappointing, so hopefully we can do a good race here.”

Like Conway, Hirakawa expressed concerns about Toyota’s title chances with the revised schedule, pointing out that the loss of the 8 Hours of Bahrain, traditionally a happy hunting ground for the marque, will also have an impact.

“The last two races are difficult to predict because we have no data there,” he said. “So hopefully we can score some good points [at Fuji].

“We went testing at COTA and we couldn’t score the points. Some teams already tested at Barcelona at Monza, but we haven’t, so it’s a disadvantage for us. We have to try and prepare as well as we can on the simulator.

“As a driver it’s nice to go to new places, but it’s a shame we can’t go to Bahrain, because it’s our good track.”