Team members react to the troubles for the No. 7 Toyota. (Photo: Rainier Ehrhardt/LAT Images)
Toyota had horrid luck at the 2016 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, after the race-leading car broke down with one lap left to go and gave Porsche the win.
Surely it can’t get any worse in 2017? Especially if the team fields three cars?
Unfortunately, it did.
Within 10 hours of the race, Toyota’s chances of winning the 85th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans are nil.
Early on in the race, there were signs the race could go south for the team as the No. 9 Toyota got damage from a piece of debris on Lap 1 and had to pit after its door wedged open in the fourth hour.
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In Hour 8, the No. 8 Toyota came into the pits with smoke billowing out of it due to a front motor issue.
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This left just the No. 7 Toyota going around incident-free, leading the 60-car field for the first 10 hours.
However, as Hour 10 came to a close the No. 7 failed to get going on a restart due to a suspected clutch issue, and Kamui Kobayashi was unable to bring it home to the pits.
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Just moments later, the No. 9 joined the No. 7 in retirement after contact in Turn 1. The contact led to a punctured left-rear tire which ignited a fire at the rear of the car and drained the battery as Nicolas Lapierre tried to get it back to the pits. Unfortunately, he was unable to, and the car coast to a halt with pit entry in sight.
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