Toyota won’t appeal Silverstone WEC disqualification

Toyota Gazoo Racing will not appeal its disqualification from Sunday’s FIA World Endurance Championship round at Silverstone after its cars failed post-race technical checks.

Toyota swept to a convincing one-two finish in the 6 Hours of Silverstone led by Fernando Alonso, Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima in the #8 TS050 Hybrid, beating its nearest rival, Rebellion Racing, by four laps.

However, both the race-winning #8 Toyota and the sister #7 car were thrown out of the race when the skid blocks on the cars failed a deflection test, handing victory to the #3 Rebellion.

Toyota protested to the stewards that the skid blocks were damaged by the new kerbs laid at Silverstone, but this was rejected as fair reasoning, the stewards telling the team its cars had to “withstand the normal rigours of a 6-hour endurance race.”

A Toyota spokesperson confirmed to Crash.net on Tuesday it would not be appealing the stewards’ ruling, making Rebellion’s victory official.

“All our drivers drove our cars with their full power and the fight for victory was truly exciting for the fans so I truly feel disappointed to lose the result,” Toyota president Akio Toyoda said in a statement.

“I would like to apologise to the six drivers that we could not make a car with which they can win even though they drove all out.

“On the other hand, I would also like to thank our drivers for their trust in our cars and for pushing to the limit, as this meant we could learn about improvements which can be made.

“We will make our cars even stronger for the next race so that the drivers can drive all out again at Fuji Speedway and fight for another one-two victory to strengthen our challenge for the World Championship.

“For the fans, thank you very much for your continued support. I hope you are looking forward to see an exciting race in October.

Alonso, Buemi and Nakajima remain in the lead of the drivers’ championship despite their disqualification, sitting two points clear of the Rebellion #3 trio of Gustavo Menezes, Mathias Beche and Thomas Laurent.

Rebellion’s victory stands as the first non-hybrid win in the WEC since the 2012 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, which was Audi’s last with its diesel-powered Audi R18 ultra.