WEC: Toyota can 'run away' in Fuji race - Audi

Toyota could dominate Sunday's Fuji round of the World Endurance Championship, according to Audi.

Lucas di Grassi and Loic Duval gave Audi pole for the seventh round of the WEC season at the Japanese circuit on Saturday in a close qualifying session.

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But the German manufacturer believes that if its rival makes the same jump in performance it was able to at the Mexico City and Austin rounds last month, the Toyota TS050 HYBRIDs will be difficult to beat.

Audi Sport Team Joest team boss Ralf Juttner told Autosport: "If they make the same step as in the last two races they will run away.

"We have seen in the previous two races that they look good in the races compared with qualifying, but they have already been looking good here in practice and qualifying."

Toyota posted its best qualifying performance of the year at Fuji.

Kamui Kobayashi set the best time of the session in the #6 Toyota, while Kazuki Nakajima and Sebastien Buemi qualified third 0.169 seconds behind the pole-winning Audi and 0.144s behind the second-place Porsche.

That compares with a deficit of over a second at Austin and 0.8s for the best Toyota to the pole winner.

Toyota went on to put in competitive performances and claim podium finishes with the #6 car shared by Kobayashi, Stephane Sarrazin and Mike Conway at both events.

Anthony Davidson, who shares the #5 car with Nakajima and Buemi, agreed that Toyota should be in the hunt for victory, but suggested that it was unlikely the team would run away with the race.

"All the ingredients for us having one of our best races of the year are there and I believe that all three manufacturers will be in the fight," he said. "But we are definitely not going to walk away with it on what we've seen on the long runs in practice."

The TS050 has been at its most competitive since its near-miss at the Le Mans 24 Hours in June because the Fuji circuit requires less downforce – something that the car lacks in comparison to its rivals – than the other Formula 1 tracks on the second leg of the WEC calendar.

Originally on Autosport.com