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Toyota/Porsche's Le Mans failure show LMP1 'too extreme' - Jarvis

Former Audi LMP1 driver Oliver Jarvis believes Toyota and Porsche's failures in the 2017 Le Mans 24 Hours prove the World Endurance Championship's top-class manufacturers have pushed beyond the limit

All five factory-entered LMP1 machines suffered mechanical dramas at Le Mans this year, with two of the three Toyotas retiring by the midway point.

Both Toyota and Porsche had problems with their front hybrid systems, while Toyota also had a clutch breakage and Porsche an oil pressure issue.

How Porsche won a race everyone lost

Jarvis, an Audi LMP1 driver for five years until its withdrawal last year, ended up leading outright and finishing second in the Jackie Chan DC Racing LMP2 ORECA he shared with Ho-Pin Tung and Thomas Laurent.

"I had a bet with my engineers that a P2 would finish on the podium, but we definitely didn't see ourselves leading the race," Jarvis told Autosport.

"After the test day it was clear the P1 hybrids would have issues at some point, but what we saw last weekend was manufacturers pushing the envelope to the extreme, and it wasn't a good advert in the end."

Jarvis believes LMP1 is in danger of becoming unsustainable given the events of this year's race, in a year with Le Mans organiser the Automobile Club de l'Ouest had adjusted the rules with the intention of cutting speeds

"The ACO sets the rules to slow the cars down, yet this year we had the lap record smashed and the cars going faster than ever on less fuel than ever," Jarvis added.

"But that's clearly had a knock-on effect on reliability.

"Perhaps the cars now are just too technical.

"In my opinion something has to be done about the cost surrounding them if the class is going to be sustainable."

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