TOYOTA GAZOO Racing continues strong start to the season with victory at 6 Hours of Portimão
01 May 2023
Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, and Ryo Hirakawa claim the team’s 41st WEC win in the GR010 Hybrid Electric Hypercar during second round of the 2023 season in Portugal
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing (TGR) maintained its winning start to the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) with victory in a dramatic 6 Hours of Portimão. Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, and Ryo Hirakawa, the reigning World Champions and 2023 Le Mans winners, delivered a faultless performance in the No. 8 GR010 Hybrid Electric Hypercar to dominate the race and finish a lap ahead of their closest competitors.
TGR’s fourth consecutive Hypercar win saw the team extend its World Championship advantage to 18 points with five rounds remaining. Buemi, Hartley, and Hirakawa also moved to the top of the drivers’ standings and hold an 11-point lead.
The race began with Buemi in pole position in the No. 8 GR010 Hybrid Electric Hypercar, who dropped to third and then moved up to second place with a brave overtake on lap four. Buemi then regained first place during lap 33 shortly before the first round of pit stops, before handing over to Hirakawa at the two-hour mark with a half-minute lead. Hirakawa further extended this advantage, with Hartley taking over the lead with two hours remaining.
The No. 8 GR010 Hybrid Electric Hypercar kept up the pace at the front and eventually lapped the second-placed vehicle late in the fifth hour. This earned a valuable cushion that enabled Hartley to safely navigate the closing stages and take the chequered flag after 222 laps for the team’s 41st win in its 78th WEC race.
Kei Fujita, Chief Representative, Middle East and Central Asia Representative Office, Toyota Motor Corporation, commented: “Congratulations to the entire team on this outstanding result, which further strengthens Toyota’s lead in the manufacturers’ championship and underlines the outstanding performance of the GR010 Hybrid Electric Hypercar. We are proud to contribute to a more sustainable future by developing ‘ever-better cars’ through motorsports to ensure no one is left behind. I’d like to thank our development teams and all of the fans for their support, and am looking forward to another exciting race ahead during the next round in Belgium.”
Over the years, Toyota has been participating in many different forms of motorsports, including Formula One, the World Endurance Championship (WEC), and the Nürburgring 24 Hours endurance race. Toyota’s participation in these events was overseen by separate entities within the company until April 2015, when Toyota established GR, to consolidate all of its motorsports activities under one in-house brand. Representing Toyota’s belief that ‘the roads build the people, and the people build the cars,’ GR highlights the role of motorsports as a fundamental pillar of Toyota’s commitment to making ‘ever-better’ cars. Harnessing years of experience gained under the extreme conditions of various motorsports events, GR aims to forge new technologies and solutions that bring the freedom, adventure, and joy of driving to everyone.
The WEC season resumes on Saturday 29 April with the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, which will be the final round before the centenary edition of the Le Mans 24 Hours in June.
Race Notes:
- No. 8 GR010 Hybrid Electric Hypercar (Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, and Ryo Hirakawa)
- Position: 1st
- No. of Laps: 222
- Best Lap: 1:32.378
- Elapsed Time: 6:01:26.343