The Circuit of the Americas (COTA) has established itself as the home of WEC in the United States and hosts a round for the eighth time. It is one of only two circuits on the current calendar, alongside Qatar, at which TOYOTA GAZOO Racing has yet to win.
Mike Conway is unable to participate at COTA after injuring his collar bone in a training accident last week. His place alongside Kamui Kobayashi and Nyck de Vries in the #7 GR010 HYBRID will be taken by José María López, who was originally scheduled to race in Austin with AKKODIS ASP in a Lexus RC F LMGT3.
Sébastien Buemi returns to the #8 GR010 HYBRID with Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa, who competed as a two-driver crew at the last round in Brazil in mid-July. That proved to be a difficult weekend for the team when performance and speed deficits prevented either car challenging at the front.
In Texas, the team hopes for improved circumstances to enable it to compete for its first podium of the season against another strong Hypercar field, which features 18 cars from eight manufacturers.
The 5.513km Circuit of the Americas is, like Interlagos last time out, an anti-clockwise track, characterised by the steep hill up to turn one followed by a sequence of sweeping, fast corners which create a spectacular opening sector, followed by tighter, more technical corners later in the lap.
Finding the right car set-up is particularly challenging in Austin due to the mix of different corners, as well as one of the heaviest breaking zones of the season, when cars decelerate from over 300km/h to around 60km/h for the tight turn 12.
Drivers get their first chance to optimise their GR010 HYBRIDs at COTA when practice begins on Friday with two 90-minute free practice sessions. After a one-hour final practice on Saturday, Hypercar qualifying takes place at 3.40pm (10.40pm CEST) to determine the grid for Sunday’s race, which begins at 1pm (8pm CEST).
