TOYOTA Racing: Le Mans 24 hours update 2
TS030 HYBRID #7 (Alex Wurz, Nicolas Lapierre, Kazuki Nakajima)
Grid: 5th
Alex took over from Nicolas, with the #7 in fifth. A safety car with 19 hours left moved the #7 directly behind the #8. Racing resumed briefly before an incident caused another safety car. As Alex approached the third pit stop of his stint, he lost around 30 seconds conserving fuel on his final lap but soon after two of the leading cars suffered problems, lifting the #7 to third. Alex completed four stints on the same set of slick tyres before Kazuki took over.
Alex Wurz: "We are just through a quarter of the race. We have seen Le Mans is not an easy race. You can never feel secure or too confident here, and that goes for all competitors. Now is the time, before the night, to get into a rhythm and hope that everything runs okay."
TS030 HYBRID #8 (Anthony Davidson, Sébastien Buemi, Stéphane Sarrazin)
Grid: 4th
Sébastien swapped with Anthony at the #8 car's fifth pit stop. He held on to fourth place despite pressure from Alex during the safety car periods and that became second when problems struck two cars ahead. Sébastien ran four trouble-free stints on the same set of slick tyres on a dry track before handing over second place to Stéphane.
Sébastien Buemi: "Alex was behind me in the safety car period but I was able to pull away a bit. I did my maximum. It is difficult to follow the Audi because they are quicker than us on the straight but we are pushing. The car is feeling good in the lower temperatures the track is cooler and I felt very comfortable."
Stay up to date with TOYOTA Racing's Le Mans 24 Hours challenge via the team Twitter feed @Toyota_Hybrid.
About TOYOTA Racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship:
TOYOTA first competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship in 1983, marking the start of a long period of participation in endurance racing which included several editions of the Le Mans 24 Hours. TOYOTA cars have raced in 14 Le Mans 24 Hours races, with a total of 38 vehicles taking part. For 2012, TOYOTA returned to endurance racing as a full-time entrant with a hybrid LMP1 car, the TS030 HYBRID. This car won for the first time at the Six Hours of Sao Paulo in September, just its third race and went on to win three of the six races it competed. The chassis, modified for 2013, has been designed and built by TOYOTA Motorsport GmbH (TMG), where the race team is based. TMG is the former home of TOYOTA's World Rally and Formula 1 works teams, and was responsible for design and operation of TOYOTA's TS020 (GT-One) Le Mans car in 1998-99. TMG now combines works motorsport participation with a new direction as a high-performance engineering services provider to third party companies, as well as the TOYOTA family.
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