Toyota aiming high in Sao Paulo
Photo: TMG
Fresh from its podium finish, in only its second race, at Silverstone last month, Toyota Racing is looking forward to maintaining the positive momentum and fighting for its first FIA World Endurance Championship victory in this weekend’s 6 Hours of Sao Paulo.
Alex Wurz and Nicolas Lapierre will share the No.7 TS030 HYBRID for the race at Interlagos, their team mate Kazuki Nakajima missing this round due to Super GT commitments in Japan.
The 4.340km Interlagos circuit is well known to Toyota Motorsport’s engineers, many of whom came to the team from the Toyota F1 programme, and the team feels this knowledge, coupled with their unique hybrid technology, puts them in a strong position for success.
Interlagos has five designated hybrid braking zones, where the TS030 HYBRID is permitted to recharge its super capacitors ready to unleash a significant power boost via its electric motor.
Yoshiaki Kinoshita, Team President: “It was fantastic to fight at the front at Silverstone; to achieve a runner-up place and set the fastest lap is a remarkable achievement in only our second race. It was particularly satisfying to have perfect reliability during this race, as this gives us a lot of confidence for the future. Now we want to keep the momentum going in Brazil where we will again face a tough challenge. Once again we want to fight at the front and finish on the podium; of course we dream about the top step but we are still early in this project and we have to take it one step at a time.”
Alex Wurz, No.7 TS030 HYBRID LMP1: “It’s great to be racing again on a regular basis; Silverstone was only two weeks ago, now we have Brazil then pretty soon we go to Bahrain. So it feels like our racing season has really started now and I can’t wait to get going again at Interlagos. Actually this is the first time for me to drive this circuit in an LMP1 car, but I know it really well from Formula 1 so I am looking forward to the challenge. It’s a fast, bumpy circuit which is unusual being anti-clockwise and, with almost 30 cars on the grid, it’s going to be a busy afternoon. Hopefully we can quickly find the right direction on set-up and have another exciting race.”
Nicolas Lapierre, No.7 TS030 HYBRID LMP1: “Our second place in Silverstone was a great boost for the whole team. Everyone has worked so hard this year so it was both a relief and a joy to stand on the podium. We learnt a lot about our aerodynamic package during the Silverstone weekend and I am sure we can take this knowledge into the Six Hours of Sao Paulo. We know every race this season will be a tough fight so we need to start positively on Thursday then fine-tune the set-up to be ready to attack in the race. We already set ourselves a high standard by leading Le Mans and finishing runners-up at Silverstone in our first two races so our aim is to enjoy more great moments like that.”
Fiona Miller (quotes from Toyota team press release)
PHOTO: SILVERSTONE CIRCUIT (SILVERSTONE, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE, UK), 6 HOURS OF SILVERSTONE, 26TH AUGUST 2012. The No.7 Toyota TS030 Hybrid.