Toyota Expects Ferrari to Retain Edge at Spa

Toyota Gazoo Racing technical director David Floury believes that Ferrari will remain the fastest car heading into this weekend’s Spa round of the FIA World Endurance Championship, despite the changes made to the Hypercar Balance of Performance.

Ferrari proved to be the dominant manufacturer in last month’s second round of the season at Imola, locking out the top three in qualifying, only for a strategy error in mixed conditions to leave all three 499P crews off the podium.

The Italian manufacturer was given the largest weight increase heading to Spa of the nine Hypercar manufacturers, the 499P having its minimum weight increased by 12 kg, while the Toyota GR010 Hybrid was hit with a 4 kg increase.

However, Floury feels that the revised BoP will not create a fundamentally different picture in terms of performance to Imola, while also pointing out the fact Ferrari was competitive on its first visit to Spa last year.

Floury told reporters: “I think the picture should be similar, with smaller gaps. I would think so [that Ferrari will still be fastest].

“For sure we have a lot more experience [of Spa], but I’m not convinced it’s better suited [to the GR010 Hybrid than Imola].

“Ferrari showed their pace here last year, and I don’t expect a different picture.”

Asked therefore whether the BoP changes announced on Tuesday were insufficient, Floury jokingly replied: “Next question!”

However, the Frenchman said that backing up its surprise Imola victory remains the ultimate target for Toyota this weekend.

“We will need to be clever, and this time it looks like we won’t be helped by the weather,” he said, referring to predictions of fair weather throughout the Spa weekend.

“But if you ask me what the target for the weekend is, it’s to win and to close the gap in the championship.”

Floury said the difference between Toyota and Porsche at Imola was small enough that either manufacturer could emerge as Ferrari’s closest competitor this weekend.

“If you look at the lap time statistics [at Imola], we were a bit better,” he said. “But the gaps were so tiny that it could go one way or the other.”

Floury Hopes Power Gain Makes Race Debut at Le Mans

The BoP issued for the Spa event confirmed that the so-called Power Gain that sees cars given more or less power above a threshold of 210 km/h, which was trialled during the Prologue test in Qatar, will again not be used this weekend.

Toyota team director Rob Leupen previously suggested to Sportscar365 that the Japanese marque was eager for the two-stage system to be introduced in order to provide a better balance between the Hypercar manufacturers.

Asked for his thoughts on the situation, Floury said he would like to see the system implemented for the 24 Hours of Le Mans even without a trial in any of the preceding WEC races, but admitted it remains a “question mark.”

“We thought it somehow would be introduced at some stage, but it hasn’t been yet,” he said. “I would prefer to see it introduced at Le Mans.

“It’s one more of degree of freedom for the FIA and ACO to tune the cars’ performance, so I think it’s a good thing to have. To adjust the lap time is one thing, but to adjust the speed profile is another thing.

“It affects ‘raceability’, so I think it’s a good tool to have generally for the sport, not only for us in particular.

“It has been used in LMGT3 since the start of the year, so it has already been proven.”