Buemi salvages sixth after a cruel finish in Austin

The Circuit of the Americas promised TOYOTA RACING an open fight. It delivered a cruel script instead.

In punishing heat, with temperatures hitting 38°C in qualifying, Sébastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryō Hirakawa put the #8 TR010 HYBRID seventh on the grid, the quicker of the two Toyotas. The car moved into the top six within a few laps and committed to an offset fuel strategy, pitting early to run on clear track. The gamble worked: the #8 ran inside the top three through the opening two hours.

A midrace safety car reshuffled everything. Hirakawa still held third with 90 minutes left, until a drive through penalty for pit lane speeding, triggered by a system issue at the moment he took over the car, dropped him to seventh. A virtual safety car then landed at the worst possible time. Having refuelled moments earlier under racing conditions, the #8 watched its rivals gain time by stopping under the slowdown and slipped to 14th.

Buemi inherited a final stint that had to be rebuilt from scratch. The Swiss driver strung together a series of overtakes, climbed back into the points and brought the car home sixth, 21 seconds behind the winning Ferrari. The heaviest blow came from the sister car: the #7, comfortably leading, stopped with a hydraulic failure eleven minutes from the flag.

Disappointment aside, TOYOTA RACING stretched its manufacturers' championship lead to nine points, and the #8 crew closed to within eleven of the drivers' standings lead. Three rounds remain, starting with the home race at Fuji on 27 September.