Buemi: Toyota has "no real hope" of Shanghai victory
Sebastien Buemi believes that Toyota has no chance of winning this weekend's Shanghai round of the FIA World Endurance Championship unless the LMP1 privateers slip up.

The reigning WEC champion is adamant that the success penalties carried by the two Toyota TS050 Hybrids in China mean that they will not be able to race with the Rebellion-Gibson R-13 and the two Ginetta-AER G60-LT-P1s in the Shanghai 4 Hours on Sunday.
"It is a four-hour race and things can happen, but on pure pace we have no real hope to fight the other guys," said Buemi, who shares the #8 Toyota with Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley.
"We have got such a big hit from Fuji [the previous round of the championship] that I feel that we don't have any chance.
"We're most likely going to start fourth or fifth, and we're going to try to have a fight, but right now, it looks like we won't be able to have a fight."
Buemi's comments were backed up by Toyota's pace in the opening free practice sessions.
The two TS050s ended up at the back of the P1 field in the first of Friday's two 90-minute practice sessions, before they rallied to second and fourth in FP2.
Buemi was only six hundredths behind Charlie Robertson in the #6 Ginetta-AER G60-LT-P1 in the second period, but both Toyotas set their best times of the session during qualifying simulations at the start of the 90 minutes.
The two Toyotas, which are tied head of the WEC LMP1 classification, are more than 40 points ahead of the worst-placed car in class, which means they have the maximum penalty permitted under the new system of success handicaps introduced for this season.
A reduction in the fuel available to the Toyotas and the amount of hybrid energy they can deploy is meant to slow them by 2.74s per lap.
Buemi explained this was making it difficult to pass GTE machinery on the straights.
"It's going to be difficult because they've reduced the power and boost so much that we now even struggle to pass GTs — it's really extreme," he said.
Buemi revealed that Toyota's simulations suggested that the nature of the Shanghai International Circuit with two long straights exacerbated the effect of the handicaps.
"We have made a study that this is the most sensitive track to these penalties," he said. "If we had has these kinds of penalties at Fuji, it would have been less [of a problem]."
The coefficient on which the success handicaps are calculated has been revised upwards for a second time.
It was initially announced at 0.008s per point per kilometer, was increased to 0.012s for Fuji and has now been revised upwards to 0.01255s.
This means that the solo Rebellion is penalised by 0.89s a lap and the #5 Ginetta by 0.65s.
The #6 Ginetta, in which Robertson went quickest in FP2, is unpenalised because as the lowest-scoring P1 entry it is the so-called reference car.
Qualifying and the full 4 Hours of Shanghai will be shown live on Motorsport.tv. Check times here.

Previous article
Shanghai WEC: Ginetta edges Toyota in FP2
Next article
Button will "definitely" return to Le Mans, eyes LMP2

About this article
Series | WEC |
Event | Shanghai |
Drivers | Sébastien Buemi |
Teams | Toyota Gazoo Racing WEC |
Author | Gary Watkins |
Buemi: Toyota has "no real hope" of Shanghai victory
Trending
Ferrari enters LMH from 2023
Peugeot in sportscars
WEC: 2021 Entry list revealed!
WEC: What is a Hypercar?
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing: GR010 HYBRID HYPERCAR
Why Ferrari is ending its 50-year top-flight sportscar racing exile
Making a return to top-flight sportscar racing after 50 years away, Ferrari will enter the Le Mans Hypercar ranks in 2023. The Italian marque denies the link with Formula 1's new cost cap that frees up resources, but it's certainly no coincidence...
The GTE dilemma that IMSA has created for the WEC
The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s decision to scrap its GT Le Mans class for 2022 raises the question of whether the FIA World Endurance Championship should phase out GTE cars. But it's a much harder decision than it appears on the surface.
The ground-up refresh behind Toyota's new Le Mans challenger
Toyota's new GR010 contender for the World Endurance Championship's Hypercar era has little in common with the LMP1 TS050 that preceded it. But within the confines of the scaled back new rules, its latest challenger will be no less formidable a prospect
The tiny increments that decided the final LMP1-era WEC
The system of success handicaps devised by the FIA World Endurance Championship to level the LMP1 playing field in the category's swansong season ended up having a counterproductive effect, as COVID cancellations also played in the champions' favour.
Why Audi’s shock return promises a new age for sportscars
OPINION: The news that Audi will return to Le Mans means we'll at last get to see the fight promised in 2012 against Peugeot and Toyota. It also gives LMDh a tangible form, which could open the floodgates for more like-minded marques to follow suit…
The eternal debate revived after the 2019/20 WEC season
It may have been missed amid the clamour over Lewis Hamilton's seventh F1 title, but Britain had another world champion crowned last weekend. Mike Conway's WEC crown raises an old conundrum - does title glory make up for the pain of Le Mans defeat?
The 10 greatest LMP1 races ranked
As the LMP1 class prepares to bow out of top-line sportscar racing at the World Endurance Championship season finale in Bahrain this weekend, Motorsport.com looks back over the past two decades to pick out the 10 of its best contests
Why COVID-19 didn't stop Peugeot's Le Mans commitment
When the global pandemic hit, Peugeot was given the perfect excuse to back out of its stated intention to return to Le Mans in 2022. That it hasn't done so is telling both of its unfinished business and the opportunities presented by the Hypercar rulebook