Toyota: Le Mans incident now "closed" after Capillaire apology
Toyota says it has received an apology from LMP2 driver Vincent Capillaire for the incident that indirectly caused the leading #7 car to retire from the Le Mans 24 Hours.
Photo by: Marc Fleury
The #7 TS050 HYBRID driven by Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Stephane Sarrazin held a comfortably lead in the 10th hour of the race before stopping out on track with a clutch problem.
Conway had pitted the car during a safety car period before handing over to Kobayashi, who was forced to wait at the end of the pitlane waiting for the safety car and train of following cars to go by.
Kobayashi mistook Capillaire for a marshal waving him through the pits and started to pull away, but was quickly instructed by Toyota to stop once more.
That process overheated the car’s clutch, with Kobayashi coming to a stop on the first racing lap after the safety car period had ended and failing to recover the car to the pits.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Toyota said it had accepted an apology from Capillaire for his actions.
It read: "Toyota Gazoo Racing can confirm it has received an apology from Vincent Capillaire regarding his actions during the Le Mans 24 Hours.
"We have fully accepted his apology and acknowledge that his sporting gesture was never intended to cause any negative consequences for our #7 car.
"We remain on good terms with Vincent and we consider the matter is now closed."
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Hamilton secures BTCC return with Team Hard
Ekstrom joins Cupra for first Pure ETCR season
The driver who gained most from F1's famous farce
First 24 Hours of Le Mans pole position for the ORECA 05 LM P2 and KCMG !
LMP2 teams testing in Estoril, Tincknell leaves Jota
Fifth edition of the Sarthe Endurance photo contest: always a success!
Toyota not “getting over excited” over WEC Imola triumph
WRC Croatia: Ogier takes shock lead as Neuville, Evans crash
Can Evans win the race to replace Rovanpera in WRC 2024?
Adrian Newey set to leave Red Bull F1 team
F1 24: New features for revamped career mode include icon drivers, two-player mode
Hadjar and Marti complete Campos 1-2 in F2 testing
A2RL launches new era of autonomous motorsport in Abu Dhabi
The Le Mans oddities that have added to the race's legend
The Peugeot rookies who conquered Le Mans but missed out on F1
Why the stars have aligned to bring Aston Martin back to the top class at Le Mans
Inside Toyota’s alternative path to the future of motorsport
Subscribe and access Motorsport.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.
Top Comments