The #7 TR010 HYBRID of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries will line up 14th on the grid when the race begins at 4pm CEST on Saturday, with Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa just behind, in 15th, in the #8 TR010 HYBRID.

Kamui Kobayashi and Ryō Hirakawa took the wheel of their respective cars for Hyperpole 1, aiming to be among the fastest 10 to progress. Their first flying laps initially put them in the top 10, and after a stop for new soft Michelin tyres, both looked set to improve. However, Kamui’s last attempt was cancelled after he was judged to have exceeded track limits, while Ryō was delayed in traffic. The TR010 HYBRIDs therefore fell down the order and missed out on Hyperpole 2.

Earlier in the afternoon, Thursday’s first session, third practice, offered another chance to adjust race set-ups of the TR010 HYBRIDs and compare Michelin tyre compounds. After a brief, late red flag, the three hours finished with the #8 car in 12th place thanks to Ryō’s lap. The #7 car was one place behind following Kamui’s best lap.

After sunset, fourth practice brought the curtain down on the on-track action before the race weekend. The relatively short one-hour session ran without major incident and Mike’s lap in the #7 car earned third place, with the #8 in 11th courtesy of Brendon’s best lap.

Earlier in the day, the Circuit de la Sarthe witnessed a significant milestone when the liquid hydrogen fuelled TR LH2 Racing Prototype completed its first public demonstration, bringing the sights and sounds of a hydrogen engine to fans around the track.

Although there are no track sessions, Friday is nevertheless an intense time for the team. Engineers will finalise a strategy to gain positions in the race, while mechanics will rebuild and prepare the TR010 HYBRIDs. Meanwhile, the drivers will meet their fans during the afternoon drivers’ parade in the city centre, which they will complete onboard hydrogen fuel cell Hilux prototype vehicles.

Quotes:

Kamui Kobayashi (Team Principal and driver, car #7): “I was heading for a better lap time but unfortunately, I got caught by track limits at turn seven. It wasn’t obvious for me in the cockpit, but the lap was deleted. The race will be more challenging from 14th and 15th on the grid. We need some luck, but the race is going to be long. We will work hard to be ready and execute a clean race.”

Mike Conway (Driver, car #7): “That’s our on-track preparation done. We need to study the data from today, because the schedule was pretty tight so there wasn’t much time to analyse everything. That’s our plan for Friday, when we’ll try to figure some things out and get ourselves set for the race.”

Nyck de Vries (Driver, car #7): “Today has been frustrating and we’re not where we want to be with the car yet. We need to look at all the data in detail and make some adjustments. Unfortunately, Hyperpole didn’t go our way either, so we’re not where we want to be on the grid. But we will work together as a team and fight hard come race weekend.”

Sébastien Buemi (Driver, car #8): “It hasn’t been a good day to be honest. It was unfortunate for Ryō in Hyperpole because I think he had the potential to do a quicker lap, but he was blocked on his last flying lap. It’s not ideal to be starting so far back but we will stay focused and do our best in the race.”

Brendon Hartley (Driver, car #8): “We hoped for better in qualifying, but we know that the race is long and ultimately it doesn't matter too much where we're starting. We've been focusing on long-run pace. It’s not going to be easy because we are down a bit on top speed, so it will be hard to overtake. But the car actually feels quite good to drive so we’re ready to take on the challenge.”

Ryō Hirakawa (Driver, car #8): “It was a challenging Hyperpole. I think my first flying lap was decent but on my second one I was held up by another car. I’m really disappointed because I gave everything and I couldn’t achieve the lap time I wanted. Now we need to put this behind us, reset, and focus on improving our positions in the race.”

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