Brilliant Bahrain pole for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing

Brendon Hartley stayed cool in the Bahrain heat to set a fastest lap of 1min 47.049secs and give the #8 GR010 HYBRID, which he shares with Sébastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima, its first Hypercar pole.

The two GR010 HYBRID Hypercars had been closely matched throughout practice and Kamui Kobayashi completed a perfect team result, taking second in the #7 GR010 HYBRID he drives alongside fellow reigning World Champions Mike Conway and José María López. His lap was 0.398secs off pole.

Pole position for the #8 car was achieved the hard way via a challenging start to the day, when an accident in second practice required suspension repairs and new front bodywork. The mechanics performed impressively to repair the car in time for third practice when the crucial qualifying preparations took place.

Qualifying delivered one potentially-important point in the battle for both Hypercar World Championships. By banking that point today, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing can now guarantee the teams’ championship with fourth place in Saturday’s race.

It is a particularly significant point in the battle for the drivers’ crown. Sébastien, Kazuki and Brendon have now narrowed the gap to leaders Mike, Kamui and José to eight points, with 64 still to fight for in the Bahrain double-header.

TOYOTA GAZOO Racing will challenge for a sixth victory from nine races in Bahrain when Saturday’s six-hour race begins at 11am local time (10am CEST).
 

Kamui Kobayashi (GR010 HYBRID #7): “It’s unfortunate to miss pole position but congratulations to Brendon, who did a great lap. It was tricky out there in these conditions. I didn’t make any mistakes on my flying lap but the gap to the sister car was 0.4secs so we decided to save the new tyres and not go for a second attempt at pole. The race will be long and difficult for the tyres so we prefer to focus on giving ourselves the best chance tomorrow. So let’s see what we can do in the race.”

Brendon Hartley (GR010 HYBRID #8): “It feels great to be on pole. The mechanics did an amazing job to get the car ready in time for third practice after the incident this morning. It is very hot in the garage, so they had a really tough day; this pole is for them. I was a little conservative at the beginning of my lap, but it meant at the end I had something left to build a little gap. That extra point is important for our championship campaign. There is obviously massive respect between the two cars and it’s all still to play for so we’re going flat-out. Qualifying was the first step.”

Press release
URL: https://toyotagazooracing.com/pressrelease/
 

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