It was a disappointing qualifying for Mike Conway and his Toyota Gazoo Racing ahead of this weekend’s Le Mans 24 hour race.

After setting the fastest lap in Sunday’s test, the reigning World Champions resumed the challenge for a sixth win at La Sarthe on the 40th anniversary of Toyota’s first appearance. Either side of two practice sessions, the GR010 HYBRIDs also fought to make it into Thursday’s Hyperpole contest. 

Brendon Hartley finished 10th in qualifying and secured a place in Hyperpole for the #8 GR010 HYBRID he shares with Sébastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa. However, a badly-timed yellow flag contributed to Nyck de Vries ending up 16th in the #7 GR010 HYBRID he drives alongside Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi.

With no track action since Sunday’s test, earlier this week the mechanics rebuilt both cars and participated in Tuesday’s Pit Stop Challenge, during which crews from every team compete against the clock to record the fastest tyre change. The #8 crew won the intra-team contest but narrowly missed the podium.

First practice began early on Wednesday afternoon, in warmer weather than on Sunday, with air temperatures close to 30°C. The team used the three-hour session to check car balance in qualifying and race conditions, whilst also comparing different mechanical set-up options and control settings. Two short red flags interrupted the programme, as did a slow puncture for the #8 late in the session, but both cars made an encouraging start and recorded 44 laps each.

Qualifying followed in the evening, with 21 Hypercars battling to earn one of 15 places in Hyperpole and, with heavier fuel loads at the start, the fastest times were always likely to come in the closing minutes. Both Nyck and Brendon set solid first flying lap times but needed to improve when others moved up the order. New tyres helped Brendon go faster on his final flying lap, and Nyck was on course to do the same. However, an incident for another car caused yellow flags and forced Nyck to abandon that lap. A final attempt, on tyres which were no longer performing at their peak, could not bring any improvement, meaning the #7 provisionally holds 16th on the starting grid. Despite that disappointment, the team takes heart from last year, when the #7 fought for victory and finished a close second, despite starting 23rd.  

Second practice took place after sunset, allowing drivers to experience the circuit in darkness for the first time this year. Drivers are required to complete five laps at night and all six completed this formality alongside a programme of set-up adjustments for the cooler, night conditions, as well as comparison of the soft and medium tyres. Debris caused a 13-minute red flag just after half distance, and the team looked set to complete a trouble-free session until an incident in the final seconds. Whilst passing a slower GT car, Ryo was hit on the right side of the #8, breaking the wheel rim and causing minor bodywork damage.

Speaking after qualifying Conway said: “It’s not been an ideal day after where we ended up in qualifying. We are not in Hyperpole which is a bit disappointing.

“Now we just have to focus on the race, which actually makes our task a bit easier in the next practice sessions. We will work on preparing the fastest possible race car; there’s still some lap time left to find. The car felt a bit better in the night session so let’s see what we can do.”