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21st
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TOYOTA Racing arrived at the Le Mans 24 Hours for its very first race in the FIA World Endurance Championship, expecting a challenge for its new TS030 HYBRID prototypes.
The cars qualified third and fifth. After six hours of racing, Nicolas Lapierre executed a dramatic overtaking move to lead the race. However, seconds later a heavy accident for Anthony Davidson eliminated car No. 8 and changed the mood.
Then, Kazuki Nakajima made contact with another car soon after the Safety Car came in, while an alternator problem caused a delay in the pits. Ultimately, an engine failure after 10-and-a-half hours forced the retirement of car No. 7.
Team president Yoshiaki Kinoshita talked about the race in a press release published by the team based in Cologne, Germany. “It was very promising but ultimately disappointing. It was our dream to lead the race and to do so, even for only a short time, was fantastic. Of course Anthony's accident was a scary moment, and a turning point in the race. We all wish him a speedy recovery; it was difficult to enjoy the race after that,” Kinoshita said.
“Unfortunately we faced some problems on car No. 7 and had to retire. It is normal we had to deal with some technical issues in the race because our car is very young and we have not had enough testing, but nevertheless it was an extremely sad moment for us. We leave Le Mans with several areas to improve for future races but we can also be proud; the whole team gave everything they had and I want to say thank you for their great efforts,” he added.
He said he was happy that the hybrid system worked well during the race. “In the first place, it is a significant achievement from Motor Sport Division and the TOYOTA Motor Corporation Hybrid Department to bring such technology to Le Mans. In terms of performance we are happy with how the hybrid system contributed to our overall speed. I think we showed that our concept has strong promise and we continue to work hard on reliability,” Kinoshita said.
“We will compete in the rest of the FIA World Endurance Championship races with one car. That means five races in which to learn about our car and hopefully improve; our target is simply to show our best possible performance at each race,” Kinoshita ended.
The cars qualified third and fifth. After six hours of racing, Nicolas Lapierre executed a dramatic overtaking move to lead the race. However, seconds later a heavy accident for Anthony Davidson eliminated car No. 8 and changed the mood.
Then, Kazuki Nakajima made contact with another car soon after the Safety Car came in, while an alternator problem caused a delay in the pits. Ultimately, an engine failure after 10-and-a-half hours forced the retirement of car No. 7.
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| Photo: Toyota Racing |
Team president Yoshiaki Kinoshita talked about the race in a press release published by the team based in Cologne, Germany. “It was very promising but ultimately disappointing. It was our dream to lead the race and to do so, even for only a short time, was fantastic. Of course Anthony's accident was a scary moment, and a turning point in the race. We all wish him a speedy recovery; it was difficult to enjoy the race after that,” Kinoshita said.
“Unfortunately we faced some problems on car No. 7 and had to retire. It is normal we had to deal with some technical issues in the race because our car is very young and we have not had enough testing, but nevertheless it was an extremely sad moment for us. We leave Le Mans with several areas to improve for future races but we can also be proud; the whole team gave everything they had and I want to say thank you for their great efforts,” he added.
He said he was happy that the hybrid system worked well during the race. “In the first place, it is a significant achievement from Motor Sport Division and the TOYOTA Motor Corporation Hybrid Department to bring such technology to Le Mans. In terms of performance we are happy with how the hybrid system contributed to our overall speed. I think we showed that our concept has strong promise and we continue to work hard on reliability,” Kinoshita said.
“We will compete in the rest of the FIA World Endurance Championship races with one car. That means five races in which to learn about our car and hopefully improve; our target is simply to show our best possible performance at each race,” Kinoshita ended.