Three out of three for TOYOTA GR010 Hybrid after #7 takes difficult win in Monza

Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López, in the #7 GR010 HYBRID, claimed their first win of the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship on 18 July at Monza. It was also TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s third victory of the WEC season – but despite maintaining its 100% record in the Hypercar class, the team undoubtedly experienced its toughest race of the year.

While both cars underwent technical difficulties, it was the #7 racing machine that was able to power through and take a narrow victory, having been second with just 35 minutes to go. The team in the #8 wasn’t able to fight for victory after repeated issues but held on to its lead in the drivers’ standings.

Unforgettable race marks historic return

This was the first WEC race to take place at Monza for nearly 30 years, and the location already held a special place in Toyota’s history. In 1992, it was the site of the Toyota team’s first ever World Championship race win. Happily, this race also saw spectators return to the championship, having been absent throughout the COVID-19 restrictions of 2020 and 2021.

Those spectators were treated to some incredible drama. The TOYOTA GAZOO machines locked out the front row of the grid, with the #7 taking pole, just 0.062 seconds ahead of the #8 in qualifying. But anyone who thought this would be an easy race for the team was about to get a surprise.

Early on, the two competitors stayed close to each other, with Mike Conway in the #7 just about holding off the #8. But 90 minutes into the race, just after Brendon Hartley took the reins, the #8 suffered a fuel pressure issue, followed shortly by a damaged hub. After stopping for parts replacement, it returned far down the field, with no chance of victory.

First place lost – and gained

The #7 was left on its own at the front of the pack – but it had difficulties of its own. With less than two hours to go, the engine management system reported an error, forcing Kamui Kobayashi to stop at the side of the track.

When it restarted, it had lost the lead, but soon won it back after the next round of pit stops. However, the drama wasn’t over: the #7 surrendered its lead once again after it had to pit to fix a puncture.

With time running out, it was down to Mike Conway to hunt down the leading Alpine car. A full course yellow with 34 minutes to go provided the necessary opportunity, and the #7 emerged in the lead after the final fuel stop, this time managing to hang on until the end.

Lessons learned after ‘good trouble’

This certainly wasn’t a perfect race for TOYOTA GAZOO Racing, even if it did finish with a win. However, that made it all the more memorable for the #7 drivers, who could celebrate a Hypercar victory for the first time. José María López summed up how they felt: “This is endurance racing and things can happen and today pretty much everything happened. It was a crazy race, but we managed to bring the car home and win the race. It’s not always the case that the quickest car wins but we had a very strong weekend and that is very motivating for Le Mans.”

Team founder, Akio Toyoda, added: “I'm glad that #7 won its first victory with the new car! However, even #7 did not finish without trouble. The sister #8 had various troubles and lost a lot of time. We were not able to prepare a car that you can drive without reliability concerns so I'm sorry to all the drivers. But, the GR010 HYBRID is a car that has just started the process of development through racing.

“There are good and bad types of trouble; the good ones help us to learn but any bad ones should be solved by Le Mans next month. No matter how much preparation is done, the unexpected can always happen in a race.”

The legendary 24-hour race at Le Mans is now just weeks away – the starting flag will wave at 4pm on 21 August. This will certainly be the GR010 HYBRID’s biggest test yet – but for now, the TOYOTA GAZOO team sits atop the leader board with three wins out of three.