Mike Conway took his team through to Hyperpole in qualifying at the 94th Le Mans 24 Hours yesterday.
It was the first time that Conway has run in a qualifying session for his Toyota Racing team for a while, and indeed it was the first time he has run in qualifying at Le Mans.
He now hands over to his teammates today who will take the car into the Hyperpole sessions, which will set the grid for race day.
As well as making progress on race set-up during five hours of free practice on Wednesday, both TR010 HYBRIDs also made it through qualifying to reach Thursday’s decisive Hyperpole 1. Sébastien Buemi was eighth in qualifying in the #8 TR010 HYBRID he drives alongside Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa, 0.656secs away from the pace-setting #35 Alpine. Conway was 12th in the #7 car he shares with Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries.
Qualifying featured all 18 Hypercars, with the top 15 earning a place in Hyperpole. After initially starting on medium Michelin tyres, both cars improved their lap times on the soft compound in the closing minutes to safely progress. They will therefore take part in the grid-defining Hyperpole, which begins at 9.05pm on Thursday. The fastest 10 Hypercars from the 20-minute Hyperpole 1 will take part in the 15-minute Hyperpole 2 shoot-out.
Wednesday’s on-track action began early in the afternoon with a three-hour first practice session. This was the first opportunity for engineers and drivers to validate set-up changes made since Sunday’s test, alongside further analysis of the Michelin tyres on long stints. A productive and trouble-free session saw Brendon set the sixth fastest time in the #8 TR010 HYBRID, with Kamui’s lap putting the #7 car in 11th.
Second practice, from 10pm to midnight, brought the day to a close. As well as studying tyre and car performance in cooler, dark conditions, all six drivers completed their mandatory five night-time laps. The #7 car required repairs to the floor after an early spin across the kerbs but soon resumed and ended the session on top thanks to Kamui’s late lap. The #8 car was seventh, with Ryō setting its best lap.
Speaking after qualifying, Conway said: “We achieved what we wanted to do in qualifying, which was to get through today and make it into Hyperpole.
“I could have put together a better lap, to be honest. On my fastest lap I just touched the gravel and that cost me a little time. There were some things to improve, but I’ve not done qualifying for a while and it’s my first time to do it here at Le Mans. It was a fun experience and now it’s over to Kamui and Nyck tomorrow.”