TOYOTA Racing: Le Mans 24 hours update 1
Yoshiaki Kinoshita, Team President, statement following the fatal accident suffered by #95 Aston Martin driver Allan Simonsen: "This is extremely sad news and we send our sincere condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Allan Simonsen. Our thoughts are with them at this terrible time."
TS030 HYBRID #7 (Alex Wurz, Nicolas Lapierre, Kazuki Nakajima)
Grid: 5th
Nicolas moved into second place on the first lap as light rain fell. He fought for the lead before a safety car 10 minutes into the race. Early in his second stint Nicolas dropped to fifth, while on his second stop, he took on intermediate tyres. The #7 lost time due to a loss of fuel pressure, which quickly rectified itself and Nicolas was able to resume lapping at normal speed, in fifth, as drizzle continued.
Nicolas Lapierre: "The track hasn't been really dry since the beginning of the race the track conditions changed from one lap to another. We seemed quite competitive. The race will be tough, the weather will be difficult to predict but the pace seems okay and fuel consumption is quite good. But it's going to be a long race."
TS030 HYBRID #8 (Anthony Davidson, Sébastien Buemi, Stéphane Sarrazin)
Grid: 4th
Anthony started the race and took fourth place on the opening lap before battling fiercely for third place. He emerged from his first pit stop in fifth but overtook the other TS030 HYBRID for fourth soon after. Anthony stayed on the same dry tyres through his four pit stops, holding fourth place.
Anthony Davidson: "The crazy weather has continued and has been making everyone's job difficult. I was trying my best to keep the car on the track at a good pace. That was some of the hardest driving I have had to do slicks in the rain is tough but you have to balance that with the time you lose in the pit stop."
Stay up to date with TOYOTA Racing's Le Mans 24 Hours challenge via the team Twitter feed @Toyota_Hybrid.
About TOYOTA Racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship:
TOYOTA first competed in the FIA World Endurance Championship in 1983, marking the start of a long period of participation in endurance racing which included several editions of the Le Mans 24 Hours. TOYOTA cars have raced in 14 Le Mans 24 Hours races, with a total of 38 vehicles taking part. For 2012, TOYOTA returned to endurance racing as a full-time entrant with a hybrid LMP1 car, the TS030 HYBRID. This car won for the first time at the Six Hours of Sao Paulo in September, just its third race and went on to win three of the six races it competed. The chassis, modified for 2013, has been designed and built by TOYOTA Motorsport GmbH (TMG), where the race team is based. TMG is the former home of TOYOTA's World Rally and Formula 1 works teams, and was responsible for design and operation of TOYOTA's TS020 (GT-One) Le Mans car in 1998-99. TMG now combines works motorsport participation with a new direction as a high-performance engineering services provider to third party companies, as well as the TOYOTA family.
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