A month after the blow that Ferrari gave him at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Toyota Gazoo Racing team took revenge on the fifth round of the World Endurance Championship (WEC), and even more so at the home of its archrival, lAfter the #7 GR010 driven by Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and ‘Pechito’ López won the 6 Hours of Monza.
The Japanese car finished the test with a 16-second advantage over the Ferrari 499P #50 of Miguel Molina, Antonio Fuoco and Nicklas Nielsen, while in clear proof that the improvements had worked, the Peugeot 9X8 #93 driven by Paul di Resta, Michel Jensen and Jean-Éric Vergne finished on the podium 1’18” behind the winners. The first three were the only ones to finish on the same lap.
Photos: FIA WEC.
Although the three free tests held at Monza this weekend had finished with three different brands in first place, it seemed clear that Toyota would have advantages over Ferrari due to its higher top speed, something essential in a circuit like this. Ferrari lapped better, and for this they opted for a somewhat strange tire strategy, putting a hard compound on the left front and a medium compound on the other three, in order to try to lengthen the stints.
With the #7 Toyota starting on pole and the #50 Ferrari sitting in second, the first corner of the race saw the #8 Toyota collide with the #51 Ferrari, earning the Japanese car a 10-second penalty and a second stop&go, which took him out of the fight for the win.
With some changes of command at the start, the first full hour came with the Peugeot leading the race, and the second with the #6 Porsche in command, although much is explained by out-of-sequence stops by some supporting actors. The real battle was always between the Toyota “7 and the #50 Ferrari, and in the middle of the race, “Pechito” López was already dominating ahead of the two Italian cars and the Peugeot of Jean-Eric Verge.
By the fourth hour, Toyota had a 40-second lead, and despite other safety cars diluting the advantages, the Toyota seemed to have no more trouble building up enough of a lead to win its third race of the year and the team’s fourth. japanese.
6 Hours of Monza – Qualifying
1 – Conway-Kobayashi-Lopez (Toyota GR010 / Toyota) at 200 v.in 6h.00.31.022
2 – Fuoco-Molina-Nielsen (Ferrari 499P / Ferrari) at 16,520
3 – Di Resta-Jensen-Vergne (Peugeot 9X8 / Peugeot) at 1:18.179
4 – Buemi-Hartley-Hirakawa (Toyota GR010 / Toyota) at 1 v.
5 – Pier Guidi-Calado-Giovinazzi (Ferrari 499P / Ferrari) at 1 v.
6 – Cameron-Christensen-Makowiecki (Porsche 963 / Penske) at 1 v.
7 – Estre-Lotterer-Vanthoor (Porsche 963 / Penske) at 1 v.
8 – Dumas-Pla-Berthon (Glickenhaus 007 / Glickenhaus) at 1 v.
9 – Ye-da Costa-Stevens (Porsche 963 / Jota) at 2 v.
10 – Bamber-Lynn-Westbrook (Cadillac V-LMDh / Cadillac) at 2 v.
Driver Ranking
1 – B. Hartley / R. Hirakawa / S. Buemi (Toyota) – 115
2 – JM Lopez / M. Conway / K. Kobayashi (Toyota) – 92
3 – A. Pier Guidi / A. Giovinazzi / J. Calado (Ferrari) – 92
4 – A. Fuoco / M. Molina / N. Nielsen (Ferrari) – 85
5 – A. Lynn / E. Bamber / R. Westbrook (Cadillac) – 71
6 – D. Cameron / F. Makowiecki / M. Christensen (Porsche) – 52
7 – JE Vergne / M. Jensen / P. Di Resta (Peugeot) – 44
8 – A. Lotterer / K. Estre / L. Vanthoor (Porsche) – 41
9 – O. Pla / R. Dumas (Glickenhaus) – 34
10 – R. Briscoe (Glickenhaus) – 24
Builders Ranking
1 – Toyota – 152
2 – Ferrari – 126
3-Cadillac-72
4 – Porsche – 66
5-Peugeot-50
6 – Glickenhaus – 36
7 – Vanwall – 6
