Метка: Kamui Kobayashi

Kobayashi to return to WTR for Daytona Cadillac attack

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Kamui Kobayashi will return to Wayne Taylor Racing next year when he bids for a third victory in three starts at the Daytona 24 Hours IMSA SportsCar Championship season-opener.

The two-time World Endurance Championship title winner with Toyota was named in the #40 WTR with Andretti Cadillac V-Series.R for Daytona in January when the team announced an unchanged full-season driver line-up after its switch from Acura.

The regulars in the #40 car will be Jordan Taylor and Louis Deletraz, who came together when WTR expanded to two cars this year, while Ricky Taylor and Filipe Albuquerque will continue a partnership that dates back to 2021 in the #10.

The drivers who will join the two regular pairings are all veterans of previous WTR campaigns.

Kobayashi drove WTR Cadillac Daytona Prototype international machinery before the team’s four-season stint with Acura at Daytona in 2019 and 2020, winning the race both times, with Fernando Alonso among his team-mates in the first year.

The 38-year-old, who is also team principal of the Toyota Gazoo Racing WEC squad, was unable to drive for WTR on its switch to another Japanese brand and moved to the Action Express Racing Caddy DPi-V.R run in conjunction with Hendrick Motorsports under the Ally Cadillac Racing banner in 2021 and 2022.

The line-up in the #40 V-Series.R will be completed by Cadillac regular Alex Lynn, who will race the car at the Daytona, Sebring and Petit Le Mans enduros that make up part of the five-event IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup segment of the series.

Current Cadillac driver Lynn will join WTR for enduro events

Current Cadillac driver Lynn will join WTR for enduro events

Photo by: Art Fleischmann

The Briton, who looks certain to continue with Cadillac in the WEC on its switch of teams from Ganassi to Jota next year, has a 100% winning record with WTR, like Kobayashi.

Lynn contested the 2017 Sebring 12 Hours with the team, winning the race aboard a Caddy DPi shared with the Taylor brothers, who are the sons of team founder Wayne.

Ricky Taylor, who is returning to Cadillac after seven seasons with Acura that began at Penske in 2018, and Albuquerque will be joined by Will Stevens for Daytona, Sebring and Petit Le Mans.

The Briton was part of the WTR Acura line-up in 2022 at Daytona and Sebring and is expected to move over to Cadillac with Jota next year after racing one of its customer Porsche 963 LMDhs in the WEC since last season.

Brendon Hartley, also a Toyota driver in the WEC, completes the line-up in the #10 car with a one-off at Daytona.

The New Zealander has raced for WTR since 2022 when he joined the team for the end-of-season Petit Le Mans 10-hour race at Road Atlanta and this year contested three of the five IMSA enduros in one of its Acura ARX-06s.

Kobayashi described his return to WTR as a “homecoming”, adding: “I have such an amazing and fun memory of racing with his team and also with Cadillac Racing.

“I am really appreciative not only to WTR and Cadillac to give me another opportunity to race for them but also Morizo-san [Morizo is the racing alias of Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda] and TGR for allowing me to compete in this historic event in the United States.”

WTR boss Taylor said that Kobayashi’s abilities “speak for themselves”.



Source link

Kobayashi takes blame for Porsche clash as Toyota exits WEC drivers’ title race

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Kamui Kobayashi has accepted blame for the clash with Porsche’s Matt Campbell at the Fuji 6 Hours that effectively removed Toyota from contention in the World Endurance Championship drivers’ title race.

The Japanese told Motorsport.com after the penultimate round of the 2024 WEC on Sunday that “the penalty came to me, so obviously it was my fault”, in reference to the suspended drive-through awarded after the race to the #7 Toyota GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercar he shared with Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries.

Kobayashi and Campbell were battling over seventh place late in hour five at Fuji when they came together at the left-hand Turn 3 that leads into the fast 100R corner.

Campbell had pulled alongside the Toyota into the braking zone for Turn 1 at the beginning of lap 163, got the cutback on Kobayashi through Turn 2 and appeared to have sealed the move by the time they arrived at Turn 3.

Kobayashi hit Campbell as he tried to regain the position, with the cars making contact for a second time as they spun across the asphalt run-off. Both cars immediately returned to the pits where they were retired.

Toyota offered a similar interpretation of the late incident, with its technical director David Floury commenting: “It was our fault: we have nothing to complain about. Clearly we were too far behind and we made contact with the #5 Porsche — we were a bit too aggressive.”

Meanwhile, Campbell described Kobayashi as “obviously the one who was at fault”. He added: “I was completely clear: that wasn’t a passing opportunity from that far back and he just hit me in the rear.”

#5 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Matt Campbell, Michael Christensen, Frederic Makowiecki

#5 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Matt Campbell, Michael Christensen, Frederic Makowiecki

Photo by: Andreas Beil

The Australian rued the luck of Porsche Penske Motorsport’s #5 car crew at Fuji. Team-mate Frederic Makowiecki was hit up the rear by the the customer AF Corse Ferrari 499P LMH when Robert Kubica locked up at the start of the second lap of the race.

Campbell suggested that he and Makowiecki, who shared the car with Michael Christensen, were “innocent bystanders both times”.

The non-score has left Kobayashi and de Vries 37 points behind Fuji race winners Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Andre Lotterer in the #6 Porsche 963 LMDh, with just 39 up for grabs in the Bahrain 8 Hours on 2 November.

Kobayashi and de Vries had gone into the Fuji event only 12 points behind Estre, Vanthoor and Lotterer and tied in second position with the factory Ferrari crew of Antonio Fucoo, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen.

Ninth place for the Ferrari trio means they are now 35 points behind the leaders ahead of the Sakhir round.

Conway lies fourth in the Hypercar class championship because he missed the Le Mans 24 Hours in June through injury.



Source link

Toyota dominates second practice with 1-2

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


The two Toyotas led the way in second free practice for Sunday’s Interlagos World Endurance Championship round as the top four cars were separated by five-hundredths of a second.

Sebastien Buemi sealed the top spot with a 1m26.727s aboard the #8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercar early in the extended session on Friday afternoon. 

Kamui Kobayashi then vaulted the sister #7 entry up from seventh in the closing minutes with a 1m26.760s that left him just three hundredths behind.

The two Ferrari 499P LMHs took third and fourth, a late run from Alessandro Pier Guidi yielding a 1m25.770s to knock team-mate Antonio Fuoco down to fourth.

Fuoco had earlier jumped to second with a 1m25.776s before the improvements from Kobayashi and Pier Guidi bumped him down to fourth, though still only 0.049s off the pace. 

Cadillac driver Alex Lynn moved up to second in the American manufacturer’s solo V-Series.R LMDh at the beginning of a flurry of quick times in the final hour of a session that had been extended as a result of the early curtailment of opening free practice. 

The British driver’s 1m25.869s was only good enough for fifth in the final classification as the second Toyota and the two Ferraris improved. 

The two Jota customer entries led the way for Porsche in sixth and seventh positions, Callum Ilott edging out Jenson Button as the two Hertz-liveried 963 LMDhs traded times. 

#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P Hypercar of Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen

#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P Hypercar of Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Ilott’s 1m25.931s gave him a margin of just four hundredths over his team-mate, who ended up on 1m25.979s.

The customer Ferrari run by AF Corse took eighth in Robert Shwartzman’s hands, while Julien Andlauer was ninth in Proton Competition’s privateer Porsche. 

Robin Frijns rounded out the top 10 in the best of the WRT BMW M Hybrid V8s with a 1m26.693s, which was still within a second of the pace. 

Top Peugeot driver was Jean-Eric Vergne in 11th place aboard the #93 9X8 2024 LMH with a time just over a second down on Buemi’s best for Toyota. 

Charles Milesi took 12th for Alpine, while the championship-leading Porsche Penske Motorsport entry was 12th in Laurens Vanthoor’s hands.

The Auto Sport Promotion LMGT3 class Lexus squad bounced back from the accident that resulted in the early stoppage of FP1. 

Jose Maria Lopez led the way in class with a 1m35.725s aboard the #87 Lexus RC F GT3. 

The Argentinian driver, back in the ASP Lexus after returning to Toyota’s Hypercar line-up at Le Mans, ended up three tenths up on late improver Franck Perera in the best of the Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2s.

Perera posted a 1m36.060s to edge out Alessio Rovera’s AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3.

Daniel Juncadella, who had topped the class leaderboard for much of the session, ended up fourth in the best of the TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs.

The second ASP Lexus that was crashed at Turn 4 by Arnold Robin in FP1 has been withdrawn from the meeting. Frenchman Robin was given a clean bill of health after a check-over at a local hospital after the big accident.

Third free practice for Sunday’s Sao Paolo 6 Hours begins at 10:30 local time, with qualifying kicking off at 14:30.

WEC Interlagos second practice result



Source link

Kobayashi leads opening test session for Toyota

Опубликовано от ASPPA IMAGES ANO


Kamui Kobayashi topped the times in the first of the two three-hour sessions of the Le Mans Test Day on Sunday with a 3m28.467s lap aboard the #7 Toyota GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercar.

That gave him a margin of more than seven tenths over Porsche driver Kevin Estre, who ended up on a 3m29.205s aboard the #6 963 LMDh fielded by the factory Porsche Penske Motorsport team.

BMW took third sport with the best of its M Hybrid V8 LMDhs run by the WRT squad, Robin Frijns getting within a second of the pace with a 3m29.433s in the #20 entry.

Lamborghini, which has struggled with its SC63 LMDh so far in the WEC this year, took fourth place.

Mirko Bortolotti got down to a 3m29.639s early in the session aboard the #63 full-season WEC entry from the Iron Lynx team before leaving for Zandvoort to contest the second of the two DTM races this weekend.

Top Ferrari was the satellite entry from AF Corse in the hands of Robert Kubica, whose 3m29.732s gave the #83 499P LMH fifth place in the opening session.

The second Toyota rounded out the top six with a 3m28.823s from Sebastien Buemi.

#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 of Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer, Laurens Vanthoor

#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 of Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer, Laurens Vanthoor

Photo by: Rainier Ehrhardt

Porsche took sixth and seventh with its remaining factory entries in the Hypercar class, Michael Christensen just shading Mathieu Jaminet by under a tenth.

Peugeot got one of its revised 9X8 LMHs into the top 10 in ninth with a time from Mikkel Jensen within a second and a half of the pace, while the first of the full-factory 499Ps completed the top 10 in Alessandro Pier Guidi’s hands.

Top Cadillac V-Series.R LMDh was the #2 WEC full-season entry run by the Ganassi team with Alex Lynn at the wheel, while the two Alpine A424 LMDhs took 20th and 21st positions in the 23-strong Hypercar class.

Jose Maria Lopez got 10 laps in the #7 car after being brought back into Toyota’s Hypercar line-up following the injuries sustained by former team-mate Mike Conway in a cycling incident, the Argentine lapping almost exactly one second from Kobayashi’s session best.

Kobayashi’s session-topping time was more than a second up on the 3m30.685s with which Ferrari Antonio Fuoco went quickest in the opening session of the pre-race test last year and already a tenth up on the afternoon best of 3m29.504s set by his team-mate, Antonio Giovinazzi.

Track conditions were good from the start of the session.

Cadillac driver Jack Aitken, who went first in the Action Express Racing Caddy so he could return to Zandvoort to take up his DTM seat with the Emil Frey Ferrari squad, stated that it “felt better” than in previous years.

#28 Idec Sport Oreca 07 - Gibson of Paul Lafargue, Job Van Uitert, Reshad De Gerus

#28 Idec Sport Oreca 07 — Gibson of Paul Lafargue, Job Van Uitert, Reshad De Gerus

Photo by: Marc Fleury

The 16-strong LMP2 class, which is returning to the WEC grid for Le Mans after being axed from the full championship this year, was headed by IDEC Sport.

Job van Uitert posted a 3m37.044s in the French team’s solo ORECA-Gibson 07, which was just over a tenth up on Oliver Jarvis’s 3m37.176s for United Autosports.

Third went to the AO by TF ORECA in which Louis Deletraz got down to 3m37.394s.

The two Auto Sport Promotion Lexus RC F GT3s blocked out the top of the times in the new-for-2024 LMGT3 class.

Kelvin van der Linde led the way on a 4m00.106s, which was just over half a second up on team-mate Esteban Masson in the sister car.

Seal Gelael took third in the best of the two WRT BMW M4 GT3s.

The session was curtailed two minutes early when Lorenzo Fluxa crashed the #37 Cool Racing ORECA-Gibson 07 LMP2 in the Porsche Curves.

#78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F LMGT3 of Arnold Robin, Timur Boguslavskiy, Kelvin Van Der Linde

#78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F LMGT3 of Arnold Robin, Timur Boguslavskiy, Kelvin Van Der Linde

Photo by: Marc Fleury

It was the second red flag of the three hours after a shot stoppage when Renger van der Zande pulled over on the run from Mulsanne Corner to Indianapolis with a fuel-line issue on the #3 Cadillac.

The safety car was also deployed over the course of the session to familiarise the teams and drivers with the safety car procedure, which has undergone minor changes for 2024.

The second session is due to begin at 15:30 local time.

Results:

POS # TEAM VEHICLE TIME Gap LAPS CLASS
1 7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 — Hybrid 3:28.467 — 35 HYPERCAR
2 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 3:29.205 +0.738 33 HYPERCAR
3 20 BMW M Team WRT BMW M HYBRID V8 3:29.433 +0.966 35 HYPERCAR
4 63 Lamborghini Iron Lynx Lamborghini SC63 3:29.639 +1.172 35 HYPERCAR
5 83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P 3:29.732 +1.265 31 HYPERCAR
6 8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 — Hybrid 3:29.823 +1.356 36 HYPERCAR
7 5 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 3:29.885 +1.418 33 HYPERCAR
8 4 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 3:29.915 +1.448 26 HYPERCAR
9 93 Peugeot TotalEnergies Peugeot 9X8 3:30.136 +1.669 28 HYPERCAR
10 51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P 3:30.367 +1.900 33 HYPERCAR
11 99 Proton Competition Porsche 963 3:30.423 +1.956 23 HYPERCAR
12 50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P 3:30.589 +2.122 30 HYPERCAR
13 94 Peugeot TotalEnergies Peugeot 9X8 3:30.853 +2.386 20 HYPERCAR
14 12 Hertz Team JOTA Porsche 963 3:31.267 +2.800 30 HYPERCAR
15 38 Hertz Team JOTA Porsche 963 3:31.269 +2.802 35 HYPERCAR
16 2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R 3:31.882 +3.415 28 HYPERCAR
17 15 BMW M Team WRT BMW M HYBRID V8 3:31.899 +3.432 29 HYPERCAR
18 19 Lamborghini Iron Lynx Lamborghini SC63 3:31.964 +3.497 25 HYPERCAR
19 311 Whelen Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R 3:32.414 +3.947 28 HYPERCAR
20 36 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424 3:32.505 +4.038 31 HYPERCAR
21 35 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424 3:32.728 +4.261 25 HYPERCAR
22 11 Isotta Fraschini Isotta Fraschini Tipo6-C 3:35.758 +7.291 30 HYPERCAR
23 28 IDEC Sport Oreca 07 — Gibson 3:37.044 +8.577 31 LMP2
24 22 United Autosports Oreca 07 — Gibson 3:37.176 +8.709 27 LMP2
25 14 AO by TF Oreca 07 — Gibson 3:37.394 +8.927 32 LMP2
26 3 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R 3:37.422 +8.955 11 HYPERCAR
27 34 Inter Europol Competition Oreca 07 — Gibson 3:37.762 +9.295 33 LMP2
28 65 Panis Racing Oreca 07 — Gibson 3:38.159 +9.692 33 LMP2
29 23 United Autosports USA Oreca 07 — Gibson 3:38.264 +9.797 34 LMP2
30 37 COOL Racing Oreca 07 — Gibson 3:38.266 +9.799 32 LMP2
31 10 Vector Sport Oreca 07 — Gibson 3:38.641 +10.174 31 LMP2
32 25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca 07 — Gibson 3:38.665 +10.198 37 LMP2
33 45 Crowdstrike Racing by APR Oreca 07 — Gibson 3:39.262 +10.795 35 LMP2
34 183 AF Corse Oreca 07 — Gibson 3:39.619 +11.152 32 LMP2
35 30 Duqueine Team Oreca 07 — Gibson 3:39.629 +11.162 33 LMP2
36 47 COOL Racing Oreca 07 — Gibson 3:40.299 +11.832 28 LMP2
37 24 Nielsen Racing Oreca 07 — Gibson 3:41.007 +12.540 26 LMP2
38 9 Proton Competition Oreca 07 — Gibson 3:41.348 +12.881 33 LMP2
39 33 DKR Engineering Oreca 07 — Gibson 3:43.812 +15.345 23 LMP2
40 78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F LMGT3 4:00.106 +31.639 33 LMGT3
41 87 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F LMGT3 4:00.668 +32.201 22 LMGT3
42 31 Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3 4:00.929 +32.462 32 LMGT3
43 59 United Autosports McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo 4:01.173 +32.706 30 LMGT3
44 70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo 4:01.194 +32.727 32 LMGT3
45 46 Team WRT BMW M4 LMGT3 4:01.329 +32.862 32 LMGT3
46 60 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 Evo2 4:01.533 +33.066 29 LMGT3
47 85 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracan LMGT3 Evo2 4:01.645 +33.178 30 LMGT3
48 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 4:01.721 +33.254 30 LMGT3
49 54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3 4:01.771 +33.304 31 LMGT3
50 88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang LMGT3 4:01.921 +33.454 27 LMGT3
51 44 Proton Competition Ford Mustang LMGT3 4:02.276 +33.809 29 LMGT3
52 82 TF Sport Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R 4:02.343 +33.876 35 LMGT3
53 95 United Autosports McLaren 720S LMGT3 Evo 4:02.388 +33.921 25 LMGT3
54 66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari 296 LMGT3 4:02.473 +34.006 29 LMGT3
55 155 Spirit of Race Ferrari 296 LMGT3 4:02.544 +34.077 33 LMGT3
56 77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang LMGT3 4:02.567 +34.100 30 LMGT3
57 86 GR Racing Ferrari 296 LMGT3 4:02.573 +34.106 31 LMGT3
58 92 Manthey PureRxcing Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 4:03.088 +34.621 34 LMGT3
59 91 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R LMGT3 4:03.128 +34.661 32 LMGT3
60 55 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 LMGT3 4:03.590 +35.123 32 LMGT3
61 81 TF Sport Corvette Z06 LMGT3.R 4:03.966 +35.499 32 LMGT3
62 777 D’Station Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR LMGT3 4:04.385 +35.918 31 LMGT3



Source link