Remember the Toyota’s TS030 win down at the fifth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship in Sao Paulo, Brazil? Unfortunately for them, they were unable to repeat such a feat as their following endurance race in Bahrain ended up in a very frustrating manner.
The driver combination of Alex Wurz and Nicolas Lapierre was going strong in the first hours of the race, where their #7 TS030 Hybrid was clutching strong to the lead position. But then, the string of bad luck came down on them starting with the light panels’ failure. As stated in the WEC’s regulations, the illuminated numbers on the car’s sides were required to function throughout the race. This malfunction had forced Toyota into an unscheduled pit stop, costing them seven minutes and dropping down into sixth position.
As they soldiered back into the race, the #7 car managed to climb into third and setting the fastest lap of the race along the way under the pitch-dark conditions. With such a momentum, they could have at least got a podium finish for this round, but unfortunately their race came to an end with a crash at the final hour. Coming in contact with another LMP1 car, the TS030’s suspension was badly damaged, forcing Nicolas to retire at the side of the track.
“After the safety car I was behind the #21 car. He had good top speed so I had to jump inside to overtake him and we made contact. If we were fighting for position I would say it is more my fault, but he had the blue flags. It’s disappointing to end the race like this because we had a chance for one more podium, not the position we hoped for but after the number illumination issue it was the best we could achieve”, said the 28-year-old French driver.
The TS030 Hybrid will again see action at the Fuji Speedway for the Six Hours of Mount Fuji on October 14, with Kazuki Nakajima resuming his position in piloting the #7 car with the duo.
