It was a tough weekend for Mike Conway and his Toyota Gazoo Racing team in the action packed six hours of Suzuka.
In front of a 66,400-strong crowd, the team fought its way into a spectacular battle at the front. Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries, in their #7 GR010 HYBRID, led midway through the race after an intense charge through the field. An ill-timed safety car proved costly, but they fought back to finish eighth.
Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa endured an even more difficult race in their #8 GR010 HYBRID and they took the chequered flag in 16th, two laps behind.
Their troubles began in the opening minutes when, from eighth on the grid, Sébastien was hit by the #35 Alpine. He pitted under full course yellow to change a punctured left rear tyre and dropped to 17th. A further setback followed with a three-minute stop-go penalty for an infringement, which dropped them to 18th, two laps behind.
After starting from 14th, Mike had a clean opening 45 minutes before Nyck took over the #7 during a virtual safety car period. He moved into the top 10 during an exciting stint, decisively passing the #6 Porsche and #36 Alpine in quick succession to move into ninth.
An accident at the two-hour mark helped the #7 make further progress. Nyck was in pit lane when a virtual safety car was called, minimising time loss and elevating him to third. He brilliantly took second just after half distance and even led the race during the next pit stop window, before a safety car undid all that good work.
Running low on energy, the #7 had to refuel when pit lane was closed which, according to the regulations, required another stop when it re-opened. The gaps across the Hypercar field were erased and the #7, with Kamui at the wheel, fell to 13th. Meanwhile, the #8 crew was too far behind to make up positions from 16th. Brendon handed over to Ryo for the final two hours.
Kamui began a determined fightback in the fifth hour and quickly battled back into the top 10. A final fuel stop with an hour to go helped him make further progress and he was eighth at the flag. Ryo completed a clean and uneventful stint to finish 16th.
The team has a final chance to earn its first podium of a difficult year when the season concludes at the 8 Hours of Bahrain on Saturday 8 November.
Speaking after the weekend, Conway said: “It was looking good for a while, but our luck ran out when the safety car came at exactly the wrong time. We were looking good and hanging in there at the front. A top-eight and some points is okay but ultimately, we didn’t have enough pace.
“There were so many TOYOTA GAZOO Racing fans in the grandstand, as well as lots of Toyota employees and partners with their families. It was great to have their support, and we did everything to give them a good result. We’ll come back fighting next year.”