Kobayashi Sets Unbelievable Record At Le Mans 2017 In The Toyota TS050

Kamui Kobayashi, the former Japanese Formula One driver, set a new lap record at the Le Mans 24 Hour Race as Toyota topped the time charts for the two consecutive qualifying runs. He was behind the wheel of the 2017 Toyota TS050 Hybrid when he clocked 3min 14.79secs. The previous lap record at this 13.52-kms Circuit de la Sarthe was held by Neel Jani. It was a respectable 3min 16.89sec set by Jani in the 2015 Porsche LMP1.

Kobayashi managed to get a clean lap, right after a yellow flag incident, and took full advantage of the ideal conditions to set the fastest lap ever. The entire pit crew was ecstatic as they saw Kobayashi fly down the main straight. At first, it was hard to believe the 3:14.79 to be true, as it was so much faster than any laps that had been run this weekend. Most of the drivers could not take advantage of it, but some on-the-limit driving by Kobayashi resulted in him catching great speed down  the straight aided by the strong tail wind. And on the tricky Porsche chicanes, the same acted as head wind and gave him that much more downforce to fly through.

This lap time is being compared to the 3:14.8, with which Hans Stuck claimed pole for Le Mans in 1985. Mind you, at that point, the circuit had 4 lesser corners and a shorter total length. So yes, the cars this year are really, really fast. And we are in for a good race weekend.

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A Japanese driver setting a record in a Japanese car is an occasion rare to come by. But for Toyota everything fell into place today. They have earned themselves the top position on the starting grid. They are the current favorites for this 85th edition of the Le Mans race series. Although some would argue that pole position in this legendary  24-hour endurance race does not matter, we would think that it is just a teaser of what this new Toyota is capable of. 

Qualifying times:

1 Sarrazin-Conway-Kobayashi (Toyota TS050 Hybrid) 3:14.791, 2. Buemi-Davidson-Nakajima (Toyota TS050 Hybrid) 3:17.128, 3. Jani-Lotterer-Tandy (Porsche 919 Hybrid) 3:19.596, 4. Bernhard-Bamber-Hartley (Porsche 919 Hybrid) 3:22.872, 5. Lopez-Kunimoto-Lapierre (Toyota TS050 Hybrid) 3:26.706