After a closed session pronounced in 2020, then in 2021 the health measurement, the legendary endurance car race was fully rediscovered by the public. In his absence, nothing has changed or almost nothing has changed: the dominant, Toyota has won the last four editions.

Even the rivalry between the two cars of the Japanese manufacturer puts an end to the misfortune of winning the N.7 2021 in recent years with the spice of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez.

With the arrival of Brendan Hartley two years ago and Rio Hiracao last year, the N.8 Hypercar changed in favor of Sebastien Bumi, taking the pole on Thursday, so looking for a chance to win again after a hat-trick victory in 2018. , 2019 and 2020.

Eighth pole for Toyota

“We are delighted to have scored the goal for the eighth time, which puts Toyota second only to Audi in racing history,” said Pascal Vasseln, director of the Japanese team. “We’re just as good as we think we can be.”

Who can compete with them? “We are not going to underestimate any of our opponents,” Vasselan said. “Klickenhouse was a bit behind in qualifying, which is a surprise, though we know they’re at our level in racing conditions.”

Performed better on Wednesdays and Thursdays during trials, although Klickenhaus N.708 and N.709 were overtaken by the Alpine Nicholas Lapierre during the hyperpole. But the French team took risks to gain speed in one lap, which is not a guarantee of dual-clock performance.

“If we want to play with them, we have to be aggressive. We’ve improved everything they do not,” the lobbyist admitted.

Alpine is the main competitor

Alpine presents itself as Toyota’s natural rival, leading the World Tolerance Championship (WEC) rankings after two races. This extraordinary delay from the Japanese manufacturer adds challenge to the Charte circuit.

But paradoxically, a small American team of New York director James Klickenhaus could come up with and title two Toyota vehicles.

The N.708 and N.709 showed order and reliability throughout the week, essential qualities that could compromise all of the minor mechanical issues in this race.

“I think we have the opportunity, the car is good, easy to drive and reliable for a long time,” the boss blows. “We can be trusted. We design and design cars. We may have a chance to survive against Toyota at 4pm on Sunday.”

Good weather has been announced for the match

The N.709 will start from the second row, next to the Alpine, while the N.708 will be installed from the third row WRT with the Oreca-Gibson, which will be the fastest in the LMP2 segment. Hyperinflation.

Its main competitor should be another Orega-Gibson, the team of Jack Brown, head of United Autosports, McLaren F1, assembling 27 smaller prototypes slightly slower than the hypercars.

At the lower level, the Corvette N.64 will start at the front, on the Vincent April wheel, ahead of the other six LMGTE-Pros (derived from production sports cars) and the AF course team’s Ferrari N.61. The other 22 LGMTE-Am are mainly operated by amateurs associated with professionals.

If the weather at Le Mans on Friday was gray, the weather announced the best conditions for the race: mild temperatures and bright sunshine.