24h Le Mans
A little over a month after Toyota’s cruel defeat in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, it is time to get back on track for the 6 Hours of Nürburgring. Concentrating on a new race is bound to help the team look to the future and prevent them from dwelling on the closing stages of this year’s Le Mans.
The #5 Toyota TS050 Hybrid seemed on course for a well-deserved victory when it slowly ground to a halt as the #2 Porsche 919 Hybrid whisked past. The Japanese team will be doing all they can to erase that memory with a sparkling performance in Germany this weekend.
Toshio Sato, chairman of Toyota Motorsport GmbH had some heartfelt words: “We want to put our Le Mans disappointment behind us, but first I would like to express my sincere thanks to all the fans, rivals and friends who sent us such touching messages of support over the last weeks. We will not forget this. As a motorsport team, we want to race again and we do so with even more motivation and team spirit; the Nürburgring race is a great opportunity for us. It is also a home race which means we will have the support of plenty of our colleagues from Cologne. Last year there was a great crowd, so I hope we will again have packed grandstands and I am sure we can fight for the win.”
The drivers feel the same. They give the impression of wanting to wipe the slate clean and moving on. “After putting the heartache of Le Mans behind me, I am definitely more fired up than ever to get back behind the wheel of our TS050 HYBRID”, says Anthony Davidson. Sébastien Buemi adds “I’m very much looking forward to the Nürburgring; it’s good that it is pretty close to Le Mans and we can go back racing.” The championship has no summer break. Kazuki Nakajima who was in the driving seat for the now legendary finish of the 2016 Le Mans says: “I’m pleased to be racing again quite soon after Le Mans. In previous years, WEC had a long summer break but it’s only a month since Le Mans which is perfect for us. We showed at Le Mans that we have a really strong car so we should be in the fight again this weekend. I know we have a lot of colleagues from Cologne visiting this race so I am really motivated to give them a good result, especially after what happened at Le Mans. Like everyone in the team, they are working really hard so this is a great chance for us to repay them.”
Photo: 2016 was a bad year for Toyota at Le Mans, but they are already looking forward to 2017.
