Motorsport news: Toyota claim shock victory at WEC opener

After a postponed opening round, the World Endurance Championship kicked off at Imola, with Toyota claiming a shock victory.

Last year saw Ferrari dominate the championship, with the Japanese manufacturer struggling, but is this the start of a turnaround?

The status of the championship

The World Endurance Championship (WEC) is widely considered to be the pinnacle of global endurance racing.

It sees races all over the world, ranging from several six-hour-long races to the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans.

It is split into just two categories: Hypercar and LMGT3, featuring 35 cars across 14 manufacturers, with Ferrari taking the honours in Hypercar last year and the #92 Manthey Porsche, which took the overall win in LMGT3. 

Whilst Toyota finished second in the manufacturers’ standings, this doesn’t reflect the struggles that they had last year.

Their individual cars finished sixth and seventh, marking a tough year for the most decorated team in the championship.

A tense dash for pole position 

On Saturday, before Sunday’s Six Hours of Imola, it was Antonio Giovinazzi in the #51 Ferrari Hypercar who snatched a last-gasp pole position in qualifying.

This qualifying marked a new record for the closest top 10 in the new Hypercar era, with just 0.674 seconds covering the cars that competed for Hyperpole.

It was the #8 Toyota racing driven by Ryo Hirakawa, who qualified second, with the #50 Ferrari third and #94 Peugeot fourth; all separated by a minimal 0.072 seconds.

As for LMGT3, it was the #10 Garage 59 McLaren that took a stunning pole, set by the rookie Tom Fleming.

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Race day drama in Hypercar

It was Ferrari who had dominated the prologue, practice, and in many people’s minds, the team was to be the outright favourites for this year once again.

However, in their 100th WEC race, it was the second-place starting #8 Toyota of Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa and Sebastien Buemi who triumphed over Ferrari in their own backyard. 

The sister car, in the #7, finished third, marking a 1-3 for the Japanese manufacturer, both sandwiching the pole starting #51 Ferrari, which finished in second.

This also marks Toyota’s 50th race win as a team, having now won exactly half the races they’ve ever started.

Despite the eventual racing #8 car slipping down to third at the start, to the #50 Ferrari, which they later passed in the first pitstops, it was a racelong dogfight between the winning Toyota and #51 Ferrari, trading blows after every stint. 

Toyota’s strategic games all started to excel in the second round of pit stops, as they refused to take a new set of tyres, offering them up to the race lead.

Then, thanks to a Virtual Safety Car, the #8 Toyota was able to pit for some new tyres without having to concede the race lead, and the rest was history after that.

Ferrari tried all they could to hunt them down, but the pace of Hirakawa and Buemi was too much for the prancing horses in the second half of the race. 

A result which very few predicted coming into this opening weekend.

Toyota’s reaction

Ex-F1 driver and one of the pilots of the winning car, Brendon Hartley, told dailysportscar.com: “It feels so good to win on the TR010’s debut.

“It started yesterday with Ryo putting the car on the front row, we didn’t expect it.

“Strategy was then on point today, we managed the tyres well, and the sister car got in front of the Ferrari to give us breathing room. Fantastic.”

Ryo Hirakawa added the fact that the team “made history”, following their 100th race in the series.

LMGT3 nailbiter  

With Toyota taking the class honours and overall victory in Hypercar, it was the Team WRT #69 BMW that stole a late win in the LMGT3.

The car, driven by Anthony McIntosh, Parker Thompson and Dan Harper, had been hovering around the front of the race, but a bit of late drama led to triumph in the team’s second-ever victory.

It was the pole-sitting #10 Garage 59 McLaren that had been leading in the last hour following a fantastic battle with the TF Sport Corvette, but with 35 minutes to go, the car suddenly slowed down, crawling to the pits following an electrical issue. 

This left the #33 Corvette of Nicky Catsburg to try and chase down the #69 BMW of Dan Harper, but it wasn’t enough.

The #92 Bend Manthey Porsche rounded off the LMGT3 podium, marking a promising start to some more quality racing in the class this year.

Post-race winner Dan Harper told dailysportscar.com: “I couldn’t have asked for a better debut.

“My teammates made it a lot easier for me, put the car in the right position.

“And WRT, their strategy is always a strength, so we’re very lucky to have them running the cars for us this year.

“My job as the Pro is to close the race out. It definitely wasn’t easy, but at certain points, I felt in control.”

A promising debut

Hypercar’s newest manufacturer, Genesis Magma Racing, the premium brand of the South Korean company Hyundai, surprised many with their race-day performance. 

Whilst they finished 15th and 17th respectively, the #17 car was running in the top 10 for a good chunk of the second half of the race, able to hold onto the lead until the last few hours.

Considering how Aston Martin started last year, this is an incredibly promising sign for the newcomers. 

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