Toyota Gazoo Racing may be on course for a record season with its GR010 Hybrid hypercar in the FIA World Endurance Championship, but Le Mans winner Jose Maria Lopez says that the car’s debut season has been far from an easy ride.
The GR010 Hybrid has won every race it has taken part in since its introduction ahead of the 2021 season, with Toyota clinching the manufacturer title a race early in Bahrain.
While the team has been hugely successful in its maiden Hypercar campaign, the season has not been without problems. The team has suffered reliability problems, notably in the Six Hours of Monza and during the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
“It’s been a challenging year,” Lopez told MotorsportWeek.com. “A new car, new regulations, we had to understand pretty much everything, every race. It has been a challenge. It hasn’t been an easy season, even if we’ve been on the podium every time and the car has won every single race.”
“Looking back at testing, when we started with the car, we come from very far. Challenging but proud of what the team has achieved, what my teammates have done. Everyone in the team, mechanics, everyone has done a fantastic job and I think we definitely deserve this world title as a team.”
Lopez points to the two maiden races of the 2021 campaign as the most challenging part of the season. The #7 Toyota finished third behind Alpine at Spa, due to an off-track moment for Kamui Kobayashi and then finished second behind the sister car at Portimao.
“I think the most difficult part of the season was first two races, especially the first one in Spa. I remember we were leading for 40 seconds, and then we had the off from Kamui and then we had a problem with the brakes, so we ended up finishing third.”
“Then we went to the second race of the season in Portimao and we were really close but still lost the race. After that, Monza, Le Mans, the last race in Bahrain have been nice. We found a way and we kept calm.”
“I will definitely say beginning of the year was the most challenging Especially the initial part, testing with the car, trying to understand this Hypercar to be better. There’s definitely a big, big difference in terms of performance with LMP1.”
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