Toyota Gazoo Racing net hard-earned points at Imola 

Toyota Gazoo Racing earned important FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) points in a battle at the front of a closely fought 6 Hours of Imola on Sunday (20 April), the second round of the 2025 season. 

Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa benefited from a bold strategy and inch-perfect driving to finish fifth in their No8 GR010 Hybrid. A similarly determined effort from Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries earned seventh for the No7 car. 
 
Different tyre strategies and the threat of rain meant drivers and engineers relied on all their experience to execute an effective race plan.  A close on-track fight made every second in the pits crucial; both crews performed faultlessly through a combined 13 stops to give their drivers the best possible chance. 
 
That united team effort in challenging circumstances helped Toyota Gazoo Racing in their chase for both driver and manufacturer titles. The team are third in the manufacturers’ standings, 39 points behind leaders Ferrari. The No8 crew are sixth in the drivers’ championship with their No7 colleagues seventh, 25 and 32 points respectively from the leaders. 
 
The race started with the No7 and No8 cars in fifth and fourth respectively. Conway and Hartley swapped places twice in the opening stages as they challenged for the podium positions. 
 
Late in the second hour, the team’s race took a dramatic turn when the No20 BMW bounced over a chicane and hit the No7. A full course yellow caution to clear debris saw both GR010 Hybrids pit for a driver change. De Vries resumed in a slightly damaged No7 car and Hirakawa took over the No8, which then received a drive-through penalty for speeding during the safety period. 
 
After the fuel stops at half distance, de Vries was running in the top six with Hirakawa battling to break back into the top 10. The eight Hypercar manufacturers adopted different tyre strategies, meaning engineers and drivers needed to update their approach on a lap-by-lap basis to react to conditions. 
 
A safety car late in the fourth hour saw Kobayashi and Buemi take the wheel of their respective cars, now with two new medium compound right-side tyres but much older softs on the left side. Kobayashi brought the No8 back on track in ninth although he was less than 10sec away from the race leader. 
 
That set-up a two-hour shoot-out for Hypercar honours, with light rain creating even more tension. Buemi pitted for fuel just 20 minutes later in a bold strategic move to give him a clear track and allow faster lap times than those possible within the close Hypercar battle. 
 
Kobayashi stalked the second-placed No6 Porsche throughout his stint before a brave overtake shortly before his penultimate pitstop. Meanwhile, Buemi’s alternative strategy helped the No8 lead into the final hour as the rivals ahead pitted, although he needed to defend heroically to hold that position. 
 
After his final fuel stops, Buemi kept his advantage over the No50 and the battle ended when the Ferrari hit the No8 and suffered a puncture. Both Buemi and Kobayashi nursed their old tyres through the last stint, with Buemi even managing to pass the No15 BMW with less than 10 minutes to go. 
 
Toyota Gazoo Racing’s challenge for both World Championships and its preparations for the Le Mans 24 Hours now step up a gear for the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps on Saturday 10 May, the final race before the team go into battle for a sixth win at La Sarthe. 

Team quotes 

Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car No7): “Obviously it was a tough race for us. In the end I had a lot of tyre degradation and I couldn’t attack in the last two stints. I wasn’t expecting that, but I think it was due to following the No6 Porsche in the early part of my stint. Overall, we didn’t have enough pace to fight Ferrari, so congratulations to them for winning their home race. For Spa we will be working hard to find more performance.” 
 
Mike Conway (driver, car No7): “It looked like we were in a good position for a podium at one stage, but it got away from us in the last hour or so. That’s a pity because everyone worked hard to get us into a decent position. The contact certainly didn’t help because that cost us some time. The BMW tried to make two cars go into the space for one. Things didn’t go for us this weekend when it felt like we were on for a better result but we’ll keep pushing.” 
 
Nyck de Vries (driver, car No7): “It’s hard to know what to say because I don’t really understand how we ended up in seventh. We executed a fairly clean race, so thanks to the engineers and mechanics for their big efforts. But we didn’t quite have the pace in the end which ultimately cost us a shot at the podium. We hoped for a bit more and we’ll work hard together to come back stronger for the next race.” 
 
Sébastien Buemi (driver, car No8): “It was an eventful race with a bit of contact and the penalty. Maybe a podium could have been within reach but considering everything, we scored quite a few points today. I think we did the best we could because we were not at the level of the Ferraris. I am quite happy with my performance and congratulations to the team for scoring decent points from both cars. Now we will work very hard so that hopefully in Spa we will have an opportunity to fight.” 
 
Brendon Hartley (driver, car No8): “It was a big fight today. I had a clean first two stints and was running fourth, trying to put pressure on the BMW ahead. We had a good fight but unfortunately, we took a penalty for a full course yellow infringement. Luckily it didn’t cost us much because the team had an amazing strategy after the final safety car to give us clean air and Séb had a great fight with the No50. Finishing fifth was decent damage limitation on a weekend when we didn’t have the pace. There wasn’t a lot more we could do.” 
 
Ryo Hirakawa (driver, car No8): “It was a very difficult race. We started with solid pace, but the penalty was unfortunate, and that set us back. But we never gave up and we tried a different strategy to help us come back towards the front. It worked and there were some exciting battles. Fifth was probably the most we could realistically expect after the penalty. I have quite mixed feelings because we always want to achieve more, but we will try to come back stronger for Spa.” 

6 Hours of Imola Race 

ENDS