Toyota and Alpine are level on points heading into this weekend’s title finale in Bahrain, with both the sole #36 A480-Gibson and the #8 GR010 Hybrid having won two races each from the opening five rounds.
It marks a major departure from the 2021 season, when Toyota scored a complete sweep of six wins out of six and left Alpine to play second fiddle in the Hypercar field.
While Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa and Sebastien Buemi bagged extra points by winning this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours in June, they also drew a blank in the Six Hours of Spa after Buemi was forced to park the car with a technical issue, losing 18 points relative to the #36 crew.
Hartley lauded Alpine for putting up a strong fight against Toyota in the Gibson-engined A480 LMP1 car's final campaign, but also feels the title standings don't provide a fair reflection of the competitive battle between the two squads.
Asked if he expected to be locked in such a title battle with the French manufacturer ahead of the Bahrain 8 Hours, Hartley told Motorsport.com: “[Alpine] are a strong team, they have experience. It's [a] Balance of Performance [category], so in the end, everyone should have quite an equal opportunity in terms of the performance of the car.
“They've been driving this car for many years, so it has the reliability.
“Obviously the thing that really hurt us was the DNF in Spa. We had a high voltage system issue which is the reason we are in this [situation].
“I think we had quite a dominant year without mistakes from the crew, it's just that we had one reliability issue which made it tough and I think they haven't had any; it's a reliable car.
“And they have been fast, they won on merit in Sebring and at Monza. It was a tough battle at Monza, we were only a few seconds behind at the finish line.
“So no, it's been a tough challenge fighting them all year. And it's nice it's come down to the last race.”
Alpine has been racing in the WEC since last year with an Oreca-built LMP1 car that was previously campaigned by Rebellion Racing as part of a special dispensation by the championship.
There have been varying opinions about the potential impact of a previous-generation car winning the title against a modern Le Mans Hypercar, with Toyota’s Kamui Kobayashi saying earlier this year that the organisers didn’t want Alpine to win its blue riband event at Circuit de la Sarthe.
However, Hartley was coy when asked if an Alpine title triumph in Bahrain would not be a good look for the championship.
“I think people want to see racing,” he said. “Of course, it's been a bit of a transitional year with Toyota being the first to introduce a Hypercar. Obviously, we know in the next [few] years it's going to be amazing competition and it's a bright future for sportscar racing.
“In the end, we are here to race and compete. We should all have an equal chance to win on Saturday and whatever happens, it is still a bright future going forward into the next era.
“We know these cars are slower than LMP1 cars, [Alpine] have a detuned car to compete with us.”
Toyota goes to Bahrain on the back of a dominant 1-2 finish on its home turf at Fuji, although its pace has been slightly pegged back compared to the Alpine as part of the WEC’s Balance of Performance system.
Hartley feels the #8 Toyota crew has the momentum going into the bonus points finale and doesn’t need to make any changes to its approach in order to add the Hypercar title to its victory at Le Mans.
“We are highly motivated,” said the 32-year-old. “I think the goal is pretty clear, we need to be in front of the Alpine.
“Of course, the race victory is nice but obviously if we are ahead of the Alpine that becomes the priority. We need to secure the drivers' championship and also the constructors' championship for Toyota.
“But honestly, we don't approach it any differently from the last races. We had a very nice race in the car #8 side of the garage at Fuji, faultless from the mechanics and engineers.
“We had a very dominant race, all three drivers performing, working well together, understanding, putting the car in the right place with the right set-up, so I think we just have to keep the same momentum and not change too much.
“I mean all year we haven't had any mistakes or accidents on track. I think the simplest way is to keep doing what we are doing.”
