Breaking news
WEC Austin
Toyota puzzled by "really bad" qualifying pace
Toyota remains mystified by the giant performance deficit to Porsche during qualifying for this weekend's Austin round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Gary Watkins
Edited: Sep 16, 2017, 11:22 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The Japanese manufacturer described the gap to Porsche "as the biggest of the season" after the fastest lap from a Toyota TS050 Hybrid fell nine tenths short of the best time set by the pole-winning Porsche 919 Hybrid.
Toyota Motorsport GmbH technical director Pascal Vasselon described the team's performance as "really bad", though he stressed that the gap to the Porsche's had been exacerbated by a number of factors.
"We are chasing four of five tenths, which is the biggest gap we have had in qualifying this year," Vasselon told Motorsport.com. "We are not happy, but there is no clear explanation at the moment.
"It is difficult to have a clear view of what the problem is, but we are not giving up – we will review all the performance factors."
Toyota had been expecting to be closer to Porsche after an encouraging run in final free practice on Friday morning.
Kamui Kobayashi set the fastest time of free practice on a qualifying simulation in the #7 Toyota, but only found two tenths during the official session - whereas the Porsches gained more than a second.
The two Toyotas ended up 1.6s and 2.3s behind pole winners on aggregate.
Sebastien Buemi made a mistake on his first lap and had to go again in the #8 car after his tyres were past their best and ended up half a second behind Kobayashi.
Toyota opted not to put its second drivers onto fresh rubber because it was not going to challenge Porsche, further increasing the gap between the two manufacturers.
Kazuki Nakajima moved the #8 car ahead of #7 after Mike Conway encountered traffic on his run.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Austin WEC: Tandy grabs last-gasp pole for #1 Porsche despite scare
Next article Austin WEC: Team orders dictate order of another Porsche 1-2
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Gary Watkins
When Can-Am made its controversial comeback
General
When Can-Am made its controversial comeback
More from
Toyota Racing
Toyota answers critics who doubted it could win in WEC’s competitive Hypercar era
WEC
WEC
Barcelona
Toyota answers critics who doubted it could win in WEC’s competitive Hypercar era
WEC Barcelona: Toyota scores dominant 1-2 to seal manufacturers’ title
WEC
WEC
Barcelona
WEC Barcelona: Toyota scores dominant 1-2 to seal manufacturers’ title
Latest news
Complete NASCAR Cup points standings after 2026 Talladega II
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Talladega II
14 min
Complete NASCAR Cup points standings after 2026 Talladega II
Official race results: NASCAR Cup Talladega Chase race
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Talladega II
44 min
Official race results: NASCAR Cup Talladega Chase race
How will Kimi Antonelli become F1 world champion at Mexico GP?
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
48 min
How will Kimi Antonelli become F1 world champion at Mexico GP?
Kyle Larson wins wild Talladega NASCAR Cup race after charging from 11th on final lap
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Talladega II
1 h
Kyle Larson wins wild Talladega NASCAR Cup race after charging from 11th on final lap
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe