TOYOTA GAZOO Racing secures first-place victory at 6 Hours of São Paulo

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 TOYOTA GAZOO Racing (TGR) won first-place in the 6 Hours of São Paulo, igniting its 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) title challenge in front of more than 73,000 passionate Brazilian fans. World Champions Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley, and Ryo Hirakawa secured their first victory of the year in their No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid Electric Hypercar with flawless driving, strong teamwork and a superior tyre strategy.

 
Akio Toyoda, TGR-WRT Chairman, commented: “Congratulations to Séb, Brendon, Ryo, and everyone in the No. 8 vehicle for winning! Ryan K. Dingle, who stood on the podium with the drivers as the engineer of the No. 8 vehicle, congratulations on your first podium! He came to Japan without a break after Le Mans and also engineered for us in Super Formula. His presence has brought the WEC team and me even closer together. There was a big cheering section in Brazil, where Toyota friends gathered at the circuit for the first time in 10 years.”
 
Toyoda added: “South America is some distance from Japan and that makes it difficult for me to visit but I often feel the warmth of my friends in South America, who call me Morizo instead of Akio. This time, the support of these friends was undoubtedly the driving force behind vehicle No. 8's victory. Thank you so much for your enthusiastic support, my Brazilian friends! Although the race was held at a distance, I felt as if I was fighting right beside the team.”
 
Hartley started off strong, settling into second after running wide into the first turn of the day and holding his competition at arm’s length. Hirakawa then took the wheel of the No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid Electric Hypercar to take up the team’s victory challenge and soon moved to the front. By half distance, he had extended his lead to 30 seconds and pitted for new tyres on the right-hand side only; a strategy to maintain tyre temperature and manage degradation.
 
Hirakawa put in a fast stint on his debut to build a lead of over 40 seconds going into the final two hours before handing over to Buemi. He maintained the No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid Electric Hypercar’s consistent speed at the front, making a final fuel stop with an hour remaining and resuming with a clear lead. Buemi protected that until the chequered flag, finishing with a comfortable margin of 1min 8.811secs.
 
Over the years, Toyota has been participating in many different forms of motorsports, including Formula One, the World Endurance Championship (WEC), and the Nürburgring 24 ‎Hours endurance race. Toyota’s participation in these events was overseen by separate entities within the company until April 2015, when Toyota established TGR, ‎to consolidate all of its motorsport’s activities under one in-house brand. Representing ‎Toyota’s belief that ‘the roads build the people, and the people build the cars,’ TGR highlights the role of motorsports as a fundamental pillar of Toyota’s commitment to ‎making ‘ever-better’ cars. Harnessing years of experience gained under the extreme conditions of various motorsports events, TGR aims to forge new technologies and solutions that bring the freedom, adventure, and joy of driving to everyone.
 
The team’s bid to retain its World Championship titles moves to North America for the next race, when the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas hosts the Lone Star Le Mans on 1 September.
 
Race Notes:
 
? No. 8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid Electric Hypercar (Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa)
o Position: 1st
o No. of Laps: 236
o Best lap: 1:25.340
o Elapsed time: 6:01:02.554?