Toyota Proves Itself in Six Hours of Silverstone

The Toyota TS030Toyota TS030 HYBRIDJapan, 2012 > present5 photos
2 videos
performed well in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but not great. It was still easy to be unsure of the car, its performance and drivers. Today at the Six Hours of Sebring the single car Toyota team proved itself definitively that the team could go head to head with AudiAudi R18 e-tron quattroGermany, 2012 > present8 photos
2 videos
and out perform them. While the TS030 did not win the race outright, it led the race several times, once for about 45 minutes, and beat the Audi driven by Allan McNish in a side-by-side drag race after a safety car. The Audis finished one and third to split the Toyota.

Still, Audi's win makes them the 2012 WEC Constructors Championship.

Toyota blamed its loss to its pit stops. The FIA and ACO mandate the rate at which fuel can go into the car. Because gasoline holds more energy per gallon than diesel, gasoline-fueled cars are filled more slowly than diesels. Toyota says that it was causing the team six seconds per pit stop, which it took eight of in the race. That works out to 48 seconds, which is nearly half the time of the Toyota's fastest lap. 

Further down the LMP1 field things were not as rosy. The FIA needs to find a way to make privateer LMP1 cars more competitive. The next LMP1 car after the factory Audis and Toyota was over five laps down at the end of the race. The three factory-backed cars were all within one lap.  

It is not a problem in the other classes. There are not any factory cars in LMP2, and somehow factory-backed cars do not seem to have a significant advantage in the GTE classes. Maybe the new rules on fuel use will even things out in LMP1 in 2014. 

While the racing was always close, it was helped by two safety car periods that bunched the cars up. The first was with about four hours to go in the race and was caused by a Lotus breaking down on the side of the track. The second and more important safety car came with just an hour and a half. That cut the Toyota's second place lead significantly and allowed Audi to chase it down through the end of the race. 

There were just three retirements in the whole six hours - two LMP2 cars and the #99 GTE-Am Aston MartinAston Martin Vantage GTEUnited Kingdom, 2012 > present4 photos
1 video
. 

The GTE-Pro class was as close as ever. The two AF Corse Ferraris performed quite well, but the Aston Martin Racing Vantage was also quite competitive through the day. There were just five cars racing in the class though.

On the last lap, the #97 Aston Martin and #71 AF Corse FerrariFerrari 458 Italia GTCItaly, 2011 > present5 photos
1 video
made contact. Both cars went off track, but the Ferrari spun into the gravel. The Aston Martin was able to drive into third, but it took damage. The stewards will definitely be looking into it. 

GTE-Am was even more competitive. The class pairs professional and gentlemen drivers in last year's GT cars. The AF Corse-Waltrip Ferrari won, but Larbre Competition CorvetteChevrolet Corvette C6.RUnited States of America, 2011 > present3 photos
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and Felbermayr-Proton PorschePorsche 911 GT3 RSRGermany, 2011 > present10 photos
were right behind it on the lead lap. 

There are four more WEC races this season. Next up is the Six Hours of Sao Paulo on September 15. After that there is the Six Hours of Bahrain on September 29, the Six Hours of Fuji on October 14 and the Six Hours of Shanghai on October 27.