Kobayashi: "It's going to be a big challenge between car No. 7 and No. 8"

Kamui Kobayashi – Toyota Gazoo Racing, No 7 Toyota GR010-Hybrid   Hypercar

“All the crew, the mechanics and engineers, they want to win the race and want to help for the title as well for the world championship.

“I think it's going to be a big challenge between car No.7 and No.8, but this is what spectators want to watch.

“We will do our best and I think whatever is happening, the most important is  we don't give up the race, because we are racing for the endurance race not only the sprint race.

“I think we have the opportunity for the two races to make sure that we win at least one. I think this could help for our championship title.”

Giedo van der Garde – Racing Team Nederland, No.29 ORECA-Gibson   LMP2

“Last year we raced the Michelins here and this year, of course, with Goodyear so far so this is also new.

“It's the first time we run the Le Mans aero kit here. It's all new but I think this afternoon (in FP1) we will have a little bit of a knowledge already where we are and how much we can push with the tyres, and how the car behaviour is.

“Normally, our team always puts in a good setup. I think the first time we came here in 2019, we struggled a little bit and I think in 2020 we already made a big step.

“We did a good job but this year everything is new with the aero kit and with the tyres. So, hopefully we find a good setup and we can win the race on Saturday.”

Robin Frijns – Team WRT, No.31 ORECA-Gibson    LMP2

“Looking at the standings at the moment, we are up to one point behind so it's a good position to be in. But we know who we are racing with - it’s the two JOTAs basically.

“Our goal is to finish in front of them and obviously we need to look at ourselves first, and we need to have a good package here.

“It's actually the first time I'm doing an FP1 this season in WEC because I always kind of miss it due to other commitments. So that's already a better start from the weekend than normal, I would say.

“If we have a good car, we know we can be up front. I would say we have been a bit unlucky at certain occasions (in 2021).

“At Spa we had the clutch issue and Monza we had some other little issues, and Portimao we had two drive-through penalties, so we knew we had the pace to always  be on the podium. I don't see why we shouldn't be on the podium here.”

Sean Gelael – JOTA, No 28 ORECA-Gibson     LMP2

“We're really happy I think, jumping into the 2021 season we obviously have the championship in mind.

“We've been consistently up there. So, I think that's, that's one of the main objectives.

“We haven't won a race yet, but we're leading (the points standings) by one point, and we have had our close calls in Portimao and in Le Mans for the win. It just makes us even more eager to win but we just need to finish the job, I guess.”

James Calado – AF Corse, No.51 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo LMGTE Pro

(on 6 Hours and 8 Hour back-to-back races): “It’s just two hours more, so it's not chalk and cheese difference.

“I think it doesn't really change anything, as we've all got the same fuel, we've all got the same setups, tyres, and things like that. So at the end of the day, it's just different conditions, because the second race is in the night. It makes things a little bit easier for the drivers physically, and you tend to find that the second races normally are always a little bit quicker than the first one.

“We don't know where we really stand at the moment, as we've had a few changes to the Balance of Performance. We need to go out there this afternoon in FP1 and see what it's all about and know how many laps we can do. It's a big, big change unfortunately.”

Andrea Piccini – Iron Lynx, No 60 Ferrari 488 GTE Evo.   LMGTE Am

“I think we showed great pace through the season. It's not easy sometimes to achieve the results as you need to have a consistent line-up, and sometimes we've been missing a little bit that.

“Claudio (Schiavone) will not be racing this race for personal reasons. So Rino (Mastronardi) will be here with us. I think these give us an extra boost for the race because Rino showed in the ELMS, the last race (at Portimao) to be very fast. I think that can be a very good opportunity for us to achieve a good result.”