Toyota "running out of words" to console #7 crew after Le Mans 24 Hours defeat
Toyota's LMP1 technical director Pascal Vasselon said he is "running out of words" to console the #7 crew after another near-miss at the 2020 Le Mans 24 Hours
For the second year in a row the #7 Toyota TS050 of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez proved to be the quickest of the two Toyota hybrids in the race, only to stumble with mechanical problems.
The #7 car was comfortably leading the race during the night when it suffered from a problem with the exhaust manifold. Toyota was forced to change the entire right-hand side turbo and exhaust assembly, which cost the #7 crew 30 minutes.
Kobayashi, Conway and Lopez dropped to fourth and only salvaged a podium after a late issue for the #3 Rebellion entry.
While Toyota celebrated a hat-trick of wins at Le Mans with the outgoing TS050 LMP1 hybrid in the hands of Kazuki Nakajima, Sebastien Buemi and Brendon Hartley, the team was also heartbroken for its unlucky trio.
"I'm definitely running out of words to talk to the drivers of car #7," Toyota's technical director Vasselon said after the race.
"Car #7 was clearly a bit faster than car #8. Two times in a row they would deserve to win and something happened that was beyond their control, so I feel very sorry for the #7 drivers.
"They do everything right, they prepare well, they are fast and every time something goes wrong that is not in their hands. The entire team feels sorry for them."
Toyota's team principal Rob Leupen revealed the #7 car's exhaust problem hit the drivers hard at the time.
"It was hard to take at that moment, because they were more dominant than last year, they were over a lap clear and were doing really well," Leupen told Autosport.
"You try to console them, but they don't really want that at that moment. It was difficult, they all have a different way of dealing with it.
"They were stronger all week, but somehow the #8 cars seems to have a little bit more luck at Le Mans. I can't explain it."
Vasselon assessed that the exhaust problem that cost the #7 car seven laps was caused by a build quality issue.
"We had an exhaust failure quite early in the race so it's clearly a quality issue on the right hand side exhaust," he said. "Apart from that we had a lot of racing things. We had a puncture on car #8.
"Then with car #8 we had a strange problem, debris which blocked the brake duct. Then the debris caught fire and burnt the inside of the brake duct.
"We had to change to brake duct itself, we did not change the brakes."
Vasselon also explained the floor issue that prevented the dejected #7 crew from making much progress in the final third of the race.
"In Mike's last stint, the car in front lost a carbon part which went below ours and damaged the floor.
"We tried to repair it but clearly it would have been a very long repair, so we decided to keep running and car #7 lost performance in the last third of the race."
Despite the mixed emotions Leupen was happy with the TS050's final Le Mans appearance, ahead of a switch to the all-new Hypercars in 2021.
"It didn't always go the way we planned, but it was a good race," the Dutchman added. "It's a shame there were no fans and no large entourage, which makes Le Mans special.
"But it was a great era with high tech cars, a lot of emotions and nice races. First with Audi and Porsche, and then with Rebellion as well.
"Next year will be very exciting and different with the new Hypercars."
The ‘slow’ Porsche that started a Le Mans legend
Lynn hails "biggest win of my career" at Le Mans 24 Hours
Castroneves: “Too early” to think about potential replacement by Blomqvist
Four-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves says it’s too soon to consider Meyer Shank Racing might want to swap him to the IMSA squad and bring Tom Blomqvist over to IndyCar.
Why some DTM teams take out crash insurance but others gamble
The 2022 DTM season featured several major pile-ups and accidents, costing teams several hundred thousands in repair costs. While some had insured cars against such damage, others weren’t so well prepared…
Ricciardo: Australian GP buzz will tell me a lot about F1 comeback
Red Bull third driver Daniel Ricciardo says attending his home grand prix in Melbourne will likely tell him whether he wants to make a full-time comeback to Formula 1 or not.
Kirkwood admits he overdrove as an IndyCar rookie
Kyle Kirkwood admits he was overdriving at AJ Foyt Racing in 2022 and is expecting to rebuild his reputation at Andretti Autosport.
Why the WEC should make space for modern garagistes in 2023
OPINION: There is plenty of excitement over the glut of manufacturers tackling the Hypercar class of the World Endurance Championship this season. The selection committee is set to face headaches over who it decides to admit and who gets turned away from the 2023 entry list, but history tells us that the smaller entrants have a place
Autosport writers' most memorable moments of 2022
The season just gone was a memorable one for many of our staff writers, who are fortunate enough to cover motorsport around the world. Here are our picks of the best (and in some cases, most eventful) from 2022
Is Qatar the price motorsport fans have to pay?
OPINION: Fresh from hosting a controversial 2022 football World Cup, Qatar has added its name to the 2024 World Endurance Championship calendar. Although questions may be asked about its presence on the calendar, is it simply the price to pay for having a healthy racing championship?
How Toyota defeated Alpine for the 2022 WEC title
Toyota #8 trio Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa outscored their rivals in the last season before the World Endurance Championship’s top class gets ultra-competitive. Here's how their Hypercar battle with Alpine and the remaining class tussles played out in LMP2, GTE Pro and GTE Am
The long road to convergence for sportscar racing's new golden age
The organisers of the World Endurance Championship and IMSA SportsCar Championship worked together to devise the popular new LMDh rule set. But to turn it from an idea into reality, some serious compromises were involved - both from the prospective LMDh entrants and those with existing Le Mans Hypercar projects...
How Porsche's Le Mans legend changed the game
The 956 set the bar at the dawn of Group C 40 years ago, and that mark only rose higher through the 1980s, both in the world championship and in the US. It and its successor, the longer-wheelbase 962, were voted as Autosport's greatest sportscar in 2020 - here's why
Why BMW shouldn't be overlooked on its return to prototypes
OPINION: While the focus has been on the exciting prospect of Ferrari vs Porsche at the Le Mans 24 Hours next year, BMW’s factory return to endurance racing should not be ignored. It won't be at the French classic next year as it focuses efforts on the IMSA SportsCar Championship, but could be a dark horse in 2024 when it returns to La Sarthe with the crack WRT squad
The problem sausage kerbs continue to cause
Track limits are the problem that motorsport doesn't seem to be able to rid itself of. But the use of so-called 'sausage kerbs' as a deterrent has in several instances only served to worsen the problem, and a growing number of voices want to see action taken
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.