Toyota Gazoo Racing’s drivers are wary of a potential shock result at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with LMP2 cars potentially having a shot at the overall podium if the debuting Le Mans Hypercars fall foul of reliability problems.
So far during the opening races of the FIA World Endurance Championship, all teams competing in the new Hypercar category (Toyota, Alpine and Glickenhaus) have all strugged with varying degrees of reliability problems.
With only five cars in the top category, it could give some of the top teams in LMP2 a run at the overall podium if multiple cars in Hypercar fall away.
An additional factor is the decreased performance gap between what was formerly LMP1 and Hypercar compared to the LMP2 category.
With the Hypercars being considerably slower compared to the previous generation of top prototypes racing at Le Mans, it means that the Hypercar squads have less time they can afford to lose in case a mechanical issue occurs.
This is something that Toyota’s drivers, including Kazuki Nakajima and Mike Conway, are wary of.
“I think it’s true,” Nakajima told MotorsportWeek.com “Compared to the last few years, there’s a lot more chance for LMP2 and especially because the lap time gap is smaller.”
“So the affordable time for us to lose in the garage is much less. So if we have maybe one small issue maybe we just will be okay.
But if we have two small issues I think already it means that the LMP2 cars are ahead of us. I personally don’t know how much we can afford, but what they say, I think it’s true.”
Nakajima’s comments were echoed by team-mate Conway.
“It definitely could happen,” said the Briton. “I mean, we obviously don’t want that to happen.
“So we just try to focus on what we can do and things will unfold as the race goes on. You know, it’s hard for us to predict anything, apart from just focus on what we need to do.”
Conway, who has finished second at Le Mans three times since 2016, says Toyota’s objective is to walk away with the victory, but recognizes the threat from both Hypercar rivals Alpine and the faster teams in LMP2.
“We always come here to try and win the race. That’s the first part. We’ve had a few issues in terms of reliability. Hopefully, we’re on top of that and we can just focus on trying to win this thing, really.”
“But we know, obviously, the Alpine is pretty bulletproof. They did have some issues maybe in Portugal. Glickenhaus, obviously had some issues in Monza. It’s hard to say. The LMP2s we know are bulletproof.”
“So if any of us does have a problem, you could easily lose a lap, if you’ve got to go into the box. So yeah, it’s going to be it’s going to be an interesting one.”
