MOTORSPORT: Toyota targets Le Mans 24 Hour back-to-back

The only team that can beat Toyota in the 24 Hours of Le Mans race this weekend is Toyota itself.

Based on pace, car quality, driver ability and track record, the classic French endurance race should be a cake-walk for the only factory squad in the top Le Mans Prototype 1 (LMP1) category.

But… There are always ‘buts' at Le Mans.

It only takes one bumbling back marker, or a tiny technical fault, or a single driver error, to unravel the best-laid plan. And there are 186 drivers at Le Mans and Toyota found plenty of ways to lose the race in the 19 attempts before its maiden victory last year.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans is also four races in one, with the LMP1 battle for outright, then the LMP2 prototypes, GTE-Pro for production-based cars (similar to GT3), and GTE-Am for similar cars without full-time professional crews. And the twice-around-the-clock contest throws up long hours of driving in the dark and every weather condition, with a possibility of rain this weekend.

Toyota was quickest during the traditional Le Mans pre-event test and should stage a front-row lock-out during qualifying this week with its TS050 hybrids. The petrol-electric V8s have more technology than a F1 grand prix car (including 745kW and four-wheel drive) and a higher top speed at 330km/h and change.

Last year’s winners are back for more and, once again, it is superstar Fernando Alonso who leads the driver line-up and also Toyota’s push to claim the World Endurance Championship which culminates for the first time at Le Mans in 2019.

Alonso shared victory in 2018 with Kazuki Nakajima and Sebastian Buemi, who was quickest in this year’s practice with a lap of 3min 19.44sec.

“The expectations this year are probably a little bit different. I know the race, I know what to expect,” Alonso said.

But he also admitted there is a giant challenge at the French event.

“Every lap is a new feeling. A new adrenalin.”

The nearest rival to Toyota in LMP1 is the non-hybrid Rebellion Racing team headed by former winners Neel Jani and Andre Lotterer. In testing the squad was nearly two seconds slower around the 13.6-kilometre circuit -- a big margin over 24 hours with only eight cars in the class.

There are 20 contenders in the LMP2 category and, based on 2018, one of those could easily scoop victory if the front-running LMP1s falter.

But the biggest battle will be in the GTE class, where there are 17 cars from the pace-setting Chevrolet Corvette through Ford GT, Ferrari 488, Porsche 911 RSR, and Aston Martin Vantage to BMW M8.

Organisers use a Balance of Performance calculation to even the field and there was less than 3sec between the cars’ lap times at the pre-event test.

Ryan Briscoe is one of only two Australian drivers in the field, and his Ford GT was only tenth of the GTM-Pro cars in practice.

Briscoe is nonethless hopeful of contending for victory and is a recent winner of the Daytona 24-Hour in the USA with the GT that will be making its final factory start at Le Mans.

“We’ve been battling a bit but Le Mans is a long race. Anything can happen,” he said.

The other Aussie at Le Mans is Matt Campbell, the defending champion in GTE-Am with a Porsche 911. He’s far from favourite, however -- Ferrari swept the first five places in practice and it won’t be an easy repeat even, if he has done a lot of winning in 2019 including the Bathurst 12-Hour.

“We won the GTE-Am class at Le Mans last year. That was a huge triumph that we’re keen to repeat,” Campbell said.

“But many, many factors play a role over the 24 hours; and you can’t influence some of them.

“We’ll have a fast car and we’ll try to get the most out of what’s possible again this year,” the young Aussie stated.

In addition to various live feeds, the 2019 24 Hours of Le Mans will be telecast by Eurosport, through Foxtel in Australia. The local (AEST) broadcast commencement times are as follows:

Thursday, June 13
12:45am Free Practice

Friday, June 14
6:00am Qualifying

Saturday, June 15
5:00pm Warm-Up
10:00pm Grid walk with nine-times winner Tom Kristensen
10:45pm Main race (through to late Sunday night)

Monday, June 17
2:45pm Best of Le Mans