To answer this open question, we need to look at what EoT governs: performance on track, and the time spent in the pit lane to refuel. These two are inherently linked through the ability of the car to go further or faster on the same fuel quantity, but by looking at both one can get a better picture of the situation the class is currently in.









On track we will compare a sample size of around 75 laps, after the track dried from the wet start. An initial look at the lap times shows the track drying as the lap times fall, and the defined performance windows for various cars in the class. Focusing on Dragonspeed (#10) and ByKolles (#4) cars they are slower than the head of the field by 3 and 4 seconds a lap slower respectively. Unfortunately, the ByKolles car had a boost pressure leak on one bank of cylinders and lost power. The team deemed the pace was enough to avoid a lengthy repair, so they soldiered on.





At the head of the field the Toyotas are consistently the fastest, with the SMP BR1 and Rebellion R13 both right behind them.



All LMP1 cars opted for their high downforce packages except for Dragonspeed presumably due to the long straight of Fuji Speedway – they even had their rear wing gurney flap not spanning the full width just like at Le Mans. ByKolles have always had high-speed oriented bodywork with only a recent new design first used at Silverstone. This could by why these two cars were slower as they lost time through high speed corners and braking zones.









The difference was significant through the speed trap with the #10 almost 10kph faster than the highest downforce P1 Privateers and nearly 30kph faster than the Toyotas. The ByKolles was the best of the rest achieving 4kph under the fastest measure.









Interestingly the #1 Rebellion almost matched the slippery ByKolles, thanks to an interesting aero setup. They split the cars, with the #1 deviating from the Silverstone setup removing the upper dive plane. This is at an aggressive angle of attack and is presumed to be the cause of the ~3kph difference although a nice slipstream may have been another factor!









Unfortunately, the #3 wasn’t able to provide much data for comparison through the race… Comparing BR1 Aerokits By comparing the Rebellion with the Gibson engine, Dragonspeed BR1 with the Gibson and the SMP BR1 with the AER engine we can compare aerokit over a whole lap. The Gibson is not an under-powered unit, and the drivers aren’t sub-standard, so one can make the assumption that the difference in BR1s is the aerokit. SMP went for the very high downforce setup from Silverstone with the extra rear accessories alongside the very large (relatively) rear wing. SMP overtook a Toyota on the drying track thanks to superior downforce mid corner, hopefully a good sign with the improvement of competitiveness for LMP1.









Low downforce setups also can also promote tyre wear as the car can be more prone to slide. Over the stint, the SMP had a much more consistent lap time, whereas for our window of laps being looked at, the Dragonspeed got slower on average over each stint.







This setup was a risk that did not pay off – however this is good data to take forward for Le Mans as they did not race this bodywork at the start of the season unlike SMP. The Pointy End – Is There Parity? At the head of the field, the fight between SMP and Rebellion is close. They are almost matched and hinting at making the most of the EoT they have been granted.









The Toyotas are clearly able to have a consistently lower race pace than the other prototypes, primarily down to the ability to pass traffic with the hybrid system. The #11 race engineer also warned Button during the race about fuel usage per lap, something that should be no issue for the Privateers. Maybe this will require another fuel allowance increase for Shanghai. Any lift and coast removed should reduce the discrepancy between non-hybrid and hybrid cars. Pit Stops After Le Mans, where the Toyotas gained 6 laps alone in the pit lane relative to the Rebellions (who did have some short trips to the garage), the spotlight was on the rulebook in this area.

At the start of the season it was the Toyota that would be granted a faster refuelling time to demonstrate how little fuel they use – a truly remarkable difference to the conventional powertrains it must be said. The stint length advantage also allowed them to have the potential to do fewer stops saving even more time.

To remedy this, the EoT granted a larger fuel rig restrictor for the privateers allowing them to fuel faster. For Fuji, it was hoped the duration would be matched. The stint length limit was removed also. ByKolles used this available stint length to their advantage – they had low boost and therefore could run longer on the same fuel per stop.









The graph above shows the ability to service the car for each stop. The Toyota and Rebellion crews were the fastest, and surprisingly the SMP crew lost over a minute in the pit lane before requiring their longer stop. This is something for them (and ByKolles) to work on perhaps to bring the fight to Rebellion for the second half of the Superseason.







