Toyota: Alpine’s speed “still quite surprising”

BD, Le Mans – Three days after the Test day, which sketched the blurred outlines of the possibilities of the new Hypercar category, things a little more serious will start at Le Mans. This Wednesday afternoon, the first three-hour free practice will precede a one-hour qualifying session, then the night free practice. In fact, for the contenders for the final victory, this day will be a continuation of last Sunday.

At Toyota, technical director Pascal Vasselon ensures not to expect “big thing” in terms of lessons. “Because actually the first six cars are going to qualify for the Hypercar and there are five of us. So all the Hypercars are going to go into Hyperpole.”, he recalls. “So for us, this session will be essentially a working session. We will do a qualifying run with the drivers to allow them to settle down, but we are not going to do an attack session. We will just give them a run. for them to settle in. This will be a driving session for us, basically. “

We will therefore have to wait a little longer to better understand the dynamics between Toyota, Glickenhaus and Alpine, the Japanese clan insisting that “The Test Day is very difficult to analyze because it really depends on the program (of each other)”. Today, the goal of the title holders in the Sarthe is not quantified. “Our goal is to optimize the car”, specifies Pascal Vasselon. “We can think that we will arrive in 3’28, but there is no objective. It will depend on the grip of the track, etc. We never set an absolute target for time at the We aim to be faster than the others.“

Toyota wants pole

A speech which does not, however, reflect any modest ambition for the Hyperpole which will take place Thursday evening. Because in fact, even if pole position in Endurance brings absolutely no guarantee of a result at the finish, or if Toyota has not always attached importance to it in the past, it is this time indeed in the viewfinder to install the new GR010 Hybrid on the front line on Saturday. “We still aim to take pole at Le Mans. All the same!” smiles Pascal Vasselon, who believes however that the competition will be there after the best time signed on Test Day by Glickenhaus.

“If we look at Monza, yes, the opposition should be the Glickenhaus, but the Alpine was still quite surprising in terms of speed in sector 2, we weren’t expecting them so quickly in this sector”, analyzes the Frenchman, who alludes to the straight line of the Hunaudières and the 329.8 km / h top speed reached by the A480 (against 331.8 for Toyota and Glickenhaus). “So the two competitors are quite capable of taking pole. In any case, for the moment we cannot say that there is one who is not in the game.”

The many hours of free practice will perhaps allow us to know a little more about consumption, in particular on the length of the stints at Alpine, if certain cards are revealed. “It depends on the program, if the teams start doing full relays, we should see how many laps there are in the relay. It’s never completely easy because there are interruptions…”, hesitates Pascal Vasselon.

As for reliability, which has enamelled the sleeve of Monza at Toyota, it is a subject which does not raise major concerns at this stage. For the countermeasures put in place, the Test Day went very well “, concludes Pascal Vasselon. “The problem is, we need countermeasures for 6,000 km. But when I say that, it’s really to leave the doors open to any possible problem, but normally that’s fine.”