Toyota sees "very strong Ferrari" despite leading last…

Toyota was quick to play down the significance of setting the fastest time with its #8 GR010 Hybrid during the 2025 Le Mans Test Day. Still, Toyota sees areas for improvement.

Test Day ended with the #8 Toyota on top of the timesheets at Le Mans on Sunday, Brendon Hartley clocking a 3:26.246. But anyone familiar with the Japanese squad knows they’re not putting much stock in what remains a rather anecdotal result after six disrupted hours of running.

#7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 - Hybrid: Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck De Vries (Photo by: Andreas Beil)

What stands out more from this first assessment is a logically improved pace, and above all, the amount of work still left to be done to approach race week with full confidence. “It doesn't matter at all,” says Toyota technical director David Floury when asked about the lap time. “What matters is being in front one week from now, next Sunday, not today.

“We have two intact cars this evening, so that's already a good thing. That’s the first objective on a day like this, ahead of race week. We got through a certain amount of work, not everything we wanted to, but the lap time doesn’t really matter today, that wasn’t the focus.”

“It wasn’t an easy set of sessions, with Safety Cars, Full Course Yellows, lots of red flags, overall quite disrupted. We didn’t manage to do everything we had planned, but I think that’s true for everyone in the pitlane. There’s still plenty of work to do over the next few days, and I think we’ll be busy all week.”

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#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R Hypercar: Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn and Alex Palou (Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images)

Looking at the results, last year’s Test Day benchmark was beaten, and the field looks more compressed, a logical consequence of an adjusted Balance of Performance and teams getting more out of their machines. Track conditions were also more favourable than this time last year.

“We’re all running with more power than in 2024, so that was expected,” Floury confirms. “The track has also been resurfaced between Arnage and the first left-hander in the Porsche Curves, so that helps a bit too, it’s less bumpy. And we had support races today, like the Ligier Cup, which helped clean and rubber in the surface.”

When asked about the pecking order starting to emerge, the French engineer remains cautious, but not without conviction.

“It’s going to be tight, it’s going to be a great race, a real fight,” he says. “It’s hard to say just yet because we need to analyze things in more detail, but I see Ferrari looking very strong. Then behind them, I see Cadillac, Porsche, Alpine, BMW and us, all very close. So it’s going to be a serious battle.

“We have to keep working on every aspect, especially with the forecast for the week not guaranteeing dry conditions for the sessions. That might reduce the time we have to prepare.”