After achieving its 50th victory in the World Endurance Championship at Imola, Toyota has faced a surprising performance at the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit. Both vehicles from the brand fought to qualify for Q2, posting the worst times in the qualifying rounds.
The results showed a palpable difference, with Toyota placing 12th and 16th. In contrast to its recent triumph, the team’s technical director, David Floury, has dismissed accusations of “sandbagging,” a term that refers to the tactic of operating below true potential to gain an advantage in performance regulation.
Floury explained that there is no reason to believe the team is hiding its true speed, especially considering that the 24 Hours of Le Mans, one of the most important events on the calendar, is approaching. Despite being in the middle of the standings, he emphasized that, compared to the same period last year, they have improved their lap time.
In concrete terms, Toyota’s best qualifying time has improved from 2m01.908s in 2025 to 2m01.592s this year. Despite this increase, the team has also encountered a general slowdown in laps around the circuit, raising concerns about the team’s overall performance.
Beyond the numbers, Floury noted that the characteristics of the Spa circuit do not favor the driving style of the Toyota TR010 Hybrid, with a layout that includes more fast corners compared to the slower sections of Imola.
In response to the criticism, he stressed that the nature of the layout can be a disadvantage for vehicle setups. Nonetheless, he praised driver Kamui Kobayashi for his excellent lap time in vehicle number 7, believing that the team can still extract a small margin of improvement, ranging from a tenth to a tenth and a half.
Finally, Floury expressed optimism about the updates implemented on the car, believing that the team has improved with the shift from the GR010 to the TR010, and urged continued efforts to refine the vehicle’s performance before Le Mans.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
