No. 8 Toyota Qualifying Crash Has “Big Hit” on Tire Allocation

The accident for the No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid in qualifying for the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps is set to be a “big hit” to the car’s tire allocation, according to Toyota Gazoo Racing technical director Pascal Vasselon.

Brendon Hartley had a low-speed impact with the right-side tire barriers after losing control of the championship-leading No. 8 car during his out-lap on unheated rubber.

The vehicle sustained minor front-end damage, but Vasselon suggested that it could have a wider impact on the car’s tire strategy for the third round of the FIA World Endurance Championship season.

Hypercar teams are allowed to use four and a half sets of Michelin slick tires during qualifying and a six-hour WEC race. Wet tires are unlimited, however, so adverse conditions could negate the No. 8 car’s disadvantage after it starts from 36th on the grid.

“I would say it was a classical off with cold tires, as we know it can happen,” said Vasselon.

“The accident in itself, I would say, may not be that severe, but we are very concerned that we may have lost one set of tires.

“Losing one set of tires here in Spa where it is very difficult to do double stints, this will be a pain for [the race].

“If we have lost the four tires, it will be extremely difficult to manage. It should be seven stints with only three and a half tire sets [which] will be very difficult.

“We will try to find a clever strategy to work around that, but for sure it will be a big hit.”

Michelin has introduced its soft cold temperature compound for Spa, to cover variables including unpredictable weather at the Belgian circuit, the WEC’s ban on tire warmers and the variety of vehicles in Hypercar.

However, interruptions in Free Practice impacted the feedback that Toyota could gain on each of the specifications at this weekend’s event.

“We are just short in mileage on tires, to be able to have an educated tire choice,” said Vasselon. “But otherwise, no major surprise.

“The soft is overheating quickly, the medium is taking long to warm up, so nothing really surprising. It’s all about quantifying these differences.

“The generic differences we know about, the tricky thing is to quantify it.”

Vasselon described Toyota’s build-up to the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps as “a bit shaky” considering the red flags and changeable weather conditions that affected all cars in Free Practice.

There was also a “system issue” that impacted both Toyota GR010 Hybrids during FP1.

The problem was related to a “fault” in how Toyota managed new software controls that had been introduced upon request by championship organizers the FIA and ACO.

Despite the setbacks, Kamui Kobayashi took pole position in the No. 7 Toyota after Ferrari driver Antonio Giovinazzi had his fastest lap time deleted due to a track limits infraction.

“It was a bit shaky, but we can only be happy [with pole],” said Vasselon.

“Clearly it has not been our best race weekend so far. Starting from FP1 where we lost quite a lot of track time because of a system issue.

“This really has put us on the back foot because we needed to run, as everyone here, but maybe more than others because this year the tires are so different compared to past years that only the test sessions with the 2023 tires do matter.

“We did not test here, so we needed to run. Because of this issue in FP1 and the very high number of red flags and full course yellows, we could not run much somehow.”

Reflecting on the qualifying result where Toyota, Ferrari and the best Cadillac V-Series.R finished within a quarter of a second, Vasselon said: “For us, it is not a surprise.

“I would say still that Portimao qualifying remains a big surprise because we still have no clear explanation for that. Here, it was expected to [be] a tight fight.

“It was really expected, like it has been in Sebring, like it should have been in Portimao. We are happy that with some circumstances we end up in front.”