Terrible news for Toyota from the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the leading #7 TS040 forced out of the race due to a technical fault with the wiring loom.
Kazuki Nakajima was driving the #7 car and pulled to the side of the track without incident. Toyota has since confirmed the car’s official retirement and the lead of the race has been handed to the #2 Audi R18. The #20 Porsche 919 now sits in second place, three laps behind the leader.
A further 40 seconds behind the Porsche is the #1 Audi R18 in third place. Mark Webber’s car may yet have a fight for P2 with the chances of the chasing Audi remaining strong during the remaining nine hours of racing quite high.
The #8 TS040 is in P4, but 11 laps behind the leader. In P5 the #14 Porsche is the remaining LMP1 car circulating and well out of contention.
We regret to announce car #7 has officially retired due to electrical problem with wiring loom #FIAWEC #LM24 #toyota pic.twitter.com/vKNeU1jhDI
— TOYOTA Racing (@Toyota_Hybrid) June 15, 2014
2 replies on “2014 LM24: #7 Toyota retires from lead”
The #1 Audi is now ahead of Mark Webber in the #20 Porsche.
Current standings at 2:10pm AEST
1. #2 Audi (Lap 238)
2. #1 Audi (+3 Laps)
3. #20 Porsche (+18s)
4. #8 Toyota (+11 Laps)
5. #14 Porsche (+12 Laps)
Just three more retirements (or long spells in the pits) for the big manufacturer teams to get the remaining Rebellion (the prettiest of the LMP1 cars) onto the LMP1 podium! Another Toyota fire and a Webber-Di Grassi collision while racing for position would do the trick.