Under pressure

Toyota may have finished first and second at Le Mans this year, but the effort required to overcome a fuel delivery problem and finish with both cars was Herculean

- ANDREW COTTON

The history books will show Toyota dominated the 2021 running of Le Mans, with opposition coming from a year-old Alpine that was hamstrung by regulations, and two Glickenhaus LMH cars that were in their first year of competition.

The GR010s finished four laps clear of the Alpine in third position, but after the race the Toyota team members were exhausted, both mentally and physically. The effort it took to bring both cars to the flag was little short of miraculous, as both cars suffered blocked fuel filters that threatened to retire them at any point in the last eight hours of the 24-hour race.

From the outside, it was clear the cars were nursing a problem as they were not running full-length stints on the fuel. At times, the cars were pitting every three laps, which put incredible strain on the team in the pit, and also lost valuable track time.

Onboard cameras also showed the drivers were pressing a set sequence of buttons at various points around the lap. At their most vulnerable point they were switching to 'DD7.3, a setting on the steering wheel that was broadcast to the outside world, in every one of the six major braking zones around the lap. What they were in fact doing was switching off the fuel pump when it was not loaded under braking, and then re-activating it when acceleration was required from corner exit in a bid to maintain engine performance.

'At 8am on Sunday, there was no one who knew about the problem who would have bet that we would be there at the end, admitted team principal, Pascal Vasselon, after the race.

The entire team was involved in either brainstorming to find a solution, or running the cars, but underlying the whole final third of the race was the fear they would lose one or both cars through a fuel starvation misfire.