Quote:
Originally Posted by Adam43
So, the champs. How do their drivers compare?
Sebring Average Lap time
| Rank | Car | Fastest | Top 10 | Top 20 | Top 40 | | 1 | Sébastien BUEMI (Toyota 8) | 1:47.885 | 1:48.527 | 1:48.764 | 1:49.208 | | 2 | Brendon HARTLEY (Toyota 8) | 1:48.288 | 1:48.872 | 1:49.133 | 1:49.440 | | 3 | Mike CONWAY (Toyota 7) | 1:48.362 | 1:48.854 | 1:49.102 | 1:49.631 | | 4 | Kamui KOBAYASHI (Toyota 7) | 1:48.638 | 1:48.905 | 1:49.109 | 1:49.427 | | 5 | Jose Maria LOPEZ (Toyota 7) | 1:48.958 | 1:49.026 | 1:49.151 | 1:49.487 | | 6 | Ryo HIRAKAWA (Toyota 8) | 1:49.100 | 1:49.195 | 1:49.290 | 1:49.567 |
Pretty evenly matched squad - even at Sebring which has shown up some differences, more than say Portimao...
Buemi got in a few more quick ones, but other than that it generally didn't matter who was in either car.
They even split the driving more evenly than most - the longer race seemed to mean one driver in each car got much more running for a lot of the other teams.
Professional.
Portimao Average Lap time
| Rank | Car | Fastest | Top 10 | Top 20 | Top 40 | | 1 | Mike CONWAY (Toyota 7) | 1:32.135 | 1:32.775 | 1:33.262 | 1:33.711 | | 2 | Sébastien BUEMI (Toyota 8) | 1:32.378 | 1:33.135 | 1:33.506 | 1:33.958 | | 3 | Jose Maria LOPEZ (Toyota 7) | 1:32.467 | 1:32.922 | 1:33.195 | 1:33.572 | | 4 | Brendon HARTLEY (Toyota 8) | 1:32.557 | 1:32.872 | 1:33.145 | 1:33.477 | | 5 | Ryo HIRAKAWA (Toyota 8) | 1:32.872 | 1:33.305 | 1:33.472 | 1:33.702 | | 6 | Kamui KOBAYASHI (Toyota 7) | 1:33.239 | 1:33.503 | 1:33.680 | 1:34.015 |
Again pretty consistent across all. Hartley maybe having the edge? By a teeny tiny amount.
Spa Average Lap time
| Rank | Car | Fastest | Top 10 | Top 20 | Top 40 | | 1 | Kamui KOBAYASHI (Toyota 7) | 2:02.327 | 2:05.493 | 2:06.347 | 2:07.586 | | 2 | Jose Maria LOPEZ (Toyota 7) | 2:04.322 | 2:06.418 | 2:06.966 | 2:09.007 | | 3 | Brendon HARTLEY (Toyota 8) | 2:05.284 | 2:06.463 | 2:07.197 | 2:12.302 | | 4 | Ryo HIRAKAWA (Toyota 8) | 2:05.303 | 2:07.140 | 2:07.883 | 2:09.686 | | 5 | Mike CONWAY (Toyota 7) | 2:05.831 | 2:06.587 | 2:07.085 | 2:08.507 | | 6 | Sébastien BUEMI (Toyota 8) | 2:06.929 | 2:07.640 | 2:07.967 | 2:09.468 |
A bit of a spread at the fast end of the this chart, but 10-30th best pretty consistent. Will be effected by who had the best conditions and or when they were managing the pace.
Maybe when we compare to Ferrari we see Ferrari were more consistent on the 5th to 20th best laps - but Toyota didn't have nightmare cold tyre problem.
I am just impressed looking at this. What a squad. |
Honestly, an extremely well oiled machine. They absolutely deserve to reap all the rewards for their investment and commitment.
Many naysayers online and some pundits seem to be determined to point the finger and say "They can't get it done with proper competition" but damn. They've been on it and there or thereabouts even while Porsche and Audi were around and in their prime and are now pretty much in the zone with what is a fundamentally compromised car and if we are to believe them, a
relatively shoestring budget.
I hope they get their flowers, and I can't wait to see how far they go into the future. Into the 2026 hydrogen era even perhaps?