The Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 Hybrid of Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi, and Ryo Hirakawa practices a pit stop ahead of Le Mans in France. Photo / Getty Images
The Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 Hybrid of Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi, and Ryo Hirakawa practices a pit stop ahead of Le Mans in France. Photo / Getty Images
Kiwi Brendon Hartley’s chances of winning this weekend’s Le Mans 24 race have become more complicated with the addition of a 37kg weight penalty.
The race, which starts at 2am tomorrow (NZ time), will be the most highly contested in recent years, and Hartley starts as one of the favouritesin the field, alongside co-drivers Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa.
However, he’s a bit miffed about the penalty his car has to start the race with.
“We have a thing called the balance of performance that tries to give everyone a chance,” Hartley said on NewstalkZB.
“We’ve been hit with a bit of a penalty this weekend, which has made it a bit tough.
“We’re feeling confident, but it won’t be a walk in the park; it never is.”
Hartley is a three-time winner of Le Mans, having stood on the top spot in 2017, 2020 and 2022.
His first success came with Porsche and since 2020 he has been a key driver at Toyota Gazoo Racing. To add to his impressive endurance racing record, the 33-year-old is also a three-time World Endurance Championship champion.
“People sometimes ask if you’d prefer to win the world championship or Le Mans. When you win the world championship you say the world championship is equally important. In reality, it is not,” says Hartley.
“This race is so much more. It’s got so much history and prestige. Although saying you’re a world champion is nice, I would say winning Le Mans means more.
“It’s also worth double points, so if you win you set yourself up nicely for the championship.”
Kiwi Brendon Hartley is hoping to claim another Le Mans title this weekend. Photo / Getty Images
The recent change in rules for the premier class in the World Endurance Championship has attracted a bumper crop of machines in the Hypercar category.
In the old LMP1 class, you’d be lucky to see half a dozen cars on the grid. With the addition of manufacturers Porsche, Ferrari, Cadillac and Peugeot along with independents Action Express, Glickenhaus and Floyd Vanwell, there will be 15 cars vying for outright honours.
“We have more competition than ever in our category with the return of a lot of big hitters with past experience at Le Mans. The weekend is building up and the pressure is slowly rising,” says Hartley.
“It’s fantastic that Ferrari are back and while I wouldn’t quite say we have been racing against ourselves the last couple of years [two Toyota Hypercars have been winning], we haven’t had the depth and previously our main competition has been the sister car.
“Having said that, we haven’t been just driving around. We’ve been working hard developing the car and you can see that with us winning the first three races [of the WEC].”
