Toyota makes changes after disappointing Le Mans 24 Hours test day

The Japanese manufacturer admitted surprise that the best of its TS040 HYBRIDs was 4.2 seconds slower than the fastest Porsche and three seconds shy of the quickest Audi at the test day 10 days ago.

Toyota Motorsport GmbH technical director Pascal Vasselon explained the team has "identified a few glitches" that should allow its two cars to be near to the Porsche 919 Hybrids and Audi R18 e-tron quattros in qualifying and the race this week.

"We should be closer, but how much closer we do not know," Vasselon told AUTOSPORT.

"We found a few sub-optimum parameters after the test day, and some of them we have been able to fix."

Vasselon also suggested the gap at the test day might have been exaggerated because Toyota didn't go for a low-fuel run.

The upgraded Toyota did not go as fast at the test as in qualifying for last year's race when Kazuki Nakajima claimed pole position with a 3m21.789s

But Vasselon stressed Toyota would still be slower than its main rivals for victory in the race this weekend.

"There will be a gap; we are going to be a little bit behind, but is not the end of the world," he explained.

He pointed out that last year the winning Audi spent 25 minutes in the pits, which would negate a performance advantage of three seconds a lap.

Toyota again proved its speed in wet and mixed conditions at the test day and Vasselon said that this could help it.

"We know our car performs well in the rain and we saw [at Le Mans] in 2013 that as a team we can handle conditions that are always changing," he said.

"The key for us is going to be making sure that we are always on the right tyres at the right time."

Toyota has admitted that the revised TS040 has been leapfrogged by the latest versions of the Audi R18 and the Porsche 919.

Vasselon has stated that Toyota is evaluating all aspects of its technical package for next season.

BIG THREE TEST DAY BEST
Brendon Hartley, Porsche 919 Hybrid, 3m21.061s
Marco Bonanomi, Audi R18 e-tron quattro, 3m22.307s
Kazuki Nakajima, Toyota TS040 HYBRID, 3m25.321s