Floury made the remark after new recruit Nyck de Vries finished just 0.146s off pole position in the #7 Toyota GR010 HYBRID in Friday afternoon’s Hyperpole qualifying at the Losail International Circuit.
“Tyre usage is really tricky on our side,” he said. “On this track and with the weight we are having here, it is really difficult.
“It will be difficult in the race as well. We should not get overexcited by the quali result. We have to focus on the race.”
Toyota had struggled for pace in the lead-up to the Qatar 1812Km, the opening round of the 2024 WEC season, with tyre graining particularly holding back its two LMH cars in the Prologue test.
It appeared to turn a corner with its race simulation in Thursday practice, but its ultimate pace remained a question mark until de Vries plucked a 1m39.511s flier out of the bag to grab second on the grid behind the polesitting #5 Porsche of Daytona 24 Hours winner Matt Campbell.
“I think we have all been surprised because we didn't expect to do such a laptime,” Floury said. “We had made some bets before the quali session.
“Expectations were far from this. No one will win that one, for sure.”
Source: Autosport