Toyota #8 trio discuss Le Mans test after third place finish

The #8 Toyota car was third fastest duꩵring testing for the 2024 24h of Le Mans race this weekend.

Toyota Le Mans
Toyota Le Mans

Beaten to top spot by two Penske Porsche’s, the #8 Toyota of Sebastien Buemi, Brendeon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa finished third fastest during Sunday’s second day of testing at Le Mans.

Buemi s💯tarted the six-hour test in the car before ending the day out on trac𒁃k and was happy with how the day went.

Buemi said: “Obviously its🐷’s always a great pleasure to be back at Le Mans. We had good weather, which may not be the case all through race week, and I was able to do quite a few laps.

“I started the day and finished it, so I saw a big track improvement but the car feels quite good and I am quite happy with how the day we�🐽�nt.

“We have time to look at the data and see what we can improve for Wedne꧟sday.”

A four-time winner of the race, Buemꦕi is the most expe🐻rienced and successful driver in the #8 car.

However, Hartley is also very experienced around tꦐhe Circuit de la Sarthe, winning the event in 2017 with Porsche, and again in 2020 and 2022 with Toyota.

“It’s really nice to be back at Le Mans,” said Hartley. “Every year when I come back here it is a re🐈al pleasure; it feels like we are back at home.

“It was a smooth day with no real drama and we got💯 through the majority of the run plan. There were a few red flags and safety cars but that’s the same for everyone.

“It looks promising for us at this stage. We never know what everyone is doin🌞g. but it’s bಞeen a positive start.”

Hirakawa also got some seat time on Sunday a🎉s he tested several different components.

Hirakawa added: “We tested a lot ꦛof different options and it has been a useful day. We ran through our programme and now we will focus over the next few days on investওigating the data and improving the set-up for race week.

“So far everything looks reasonable but we still need to improve a bit to catch up to our competitors. I am sure we can improve furth🐲er for race week.”

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