The six-hour Lone Star Le Mans race in Austin, Texas, the fifth round of the 2019-2020 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC), saw the #8 TS050 HYBRID of Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima and Brendon Hartley take second place, 51.524secs behind the race-winning #1 Rebellion, to close the gap at the top of the drivers’ World Championship.
Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, and José María López, in the #7 TS050 HYBRID, had no realistic chance to challenge their LMP1 rivals due to their maximum success handicap but completed a consistent race to earn third place and preserve a five-point lead in the World Championship.
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s lead in the teams’ standings has been reduced to 33 points over Rebellion Racing, with three races remaining this season. The race began under grey skies and with a strong wind, with José lining the #7 up in second at the rolling start, one place ahead of Sébastien in the #8, although the pair swapped positions on the opening lap as the effect of the different success handicaps became instantly apparent.
Sébastien pushed hard to stay within striking distance of the Rebellion #1, which made a fast start from pole position and soon established a cushion at the front. When Sébastien pitted to hand over to Brendon the 90-minute mark, the second-placed #8 was around half a minute adrift. José, a further 40secs behind in third, brought the #7 into the pits soon after for Mike’s stint.
A strong opening stint from Brendon stabilised the gap to the leader and quick work in the pits reduced the deficit to around 20secs, keeping the pressure on. After a fuel stop, Brendon, who has previously won three times in Austin, continued to set impressive lap times to keep alive the #8 car’s challenge.
Soon after half distance, the next round of driver changes saw Kazuki take over the #8 and continue the pursuit while Kamui took the wheel of the third-placed #7 as the pattern of the race continued largely as before. Brendon took the chequered flag in second place to equal TOYOTA’s best result at the Circuit of the Americas, with José completing the podium in the #7, two laps adrift.
The two TS050 HYBRIDs will stay in the US prior to the next round of the season, the 1000 Miles of Sebring in Florida on 20 March, the final flyaway race before WEC returns to Europe for the historic races at Spa and Le Mans.
With a substantial success handicap to overcome, the #8 TS050 HYBRID had little opportunity to close the gap but Kazuki pushed to minimise the time loss prior to Brendon’s final 75-minute stint. Now a lap down, Kamui handed over the #7 to José for the run to the flag shortly after.
Team President, Hisatake Murata gamely congratulated the Rebellion on their victory saying, “We had a clean race, everyone in the team did a good job and got the best performance out of our package, but we were not able to challenge today. We pushed as hard as we could and we limited the damage so the World Championship situation is still looking good. Thanks to all the fans who supported us in Texas; we are looking forward to another warm welcome when we visit Sebring next month. Our target will clearly be to return to the centre of the podium.”
