On just the team's third outing at this weekend's 6 Hours of Sao Paulo at the picturesque Interlagos circuit in Brazil, Toyota Racing picked up not only the first podium, but also the first time the team stood on the top step of the podium!
A storming qualifying lap by Alex Wurz on Friday when he came out at topped the time sheets on his first flying lap, followed by an even faster second lap, gave the team's best start so far.
Nicolas Lapierre led the pack away from the start into the first corner without incident, as the mid-pack bunched up too tightly resulting in some flying body panels.
During the first four rounds of pit stops, the Toyota Racing TS030 HYBRID would always come out behind the Audi competitors and retake the lead again after the Audi stops. However, the tide turned on the fifth round of stops when Lapierre came back out on lap 173, he kept the lead and extended it when the first of two Audi's came in on lap 180.
By the time Wurz took the helm again for the final stint, Toyota had the entire field lapped and was continuing to put in consistently fast lap times of around 1:23's or 1:24's when in traffic. As expected, Toyota had to come in for a quick splash and dash right before the end, but with such a commanding lead, Audi were never able to catch up.
When the no. 7 Toyota Racing TS030 HYBRID crossed the finish line, the overall classifications were clear. Toyota was over a minute ahead of the so-far dominant Audi's.
Toyota Racing now picked up it's first win after just three races since their bitter-sweet debut at Le Mans. What's also interesting to know is that Audi never won a race in their first season. And Brazil is also the first race in this year's FIA World Endurance Championship where Audi didn't take up their usual top step of the podium!
Congratulations to the amazing team based in Cologne, Germany!
Image source: Toyota Racing
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