Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda has made his frustration clear with the change to the World Endurance Championship’s Balance of Performance on the eve of last week’s Le Mans 24 Hours.
The competitiveness of their GR010 cars suffered after the BoP was adjusted 10 days before the race began. The minimum weight of the Toyota was increased by 37 kilograms, while it was also given a 4MJ increase in the amount of energy it could consume per stint.It meant the GR010 was the heaviest hypercar in the race by 16kg compared to the second-heaviest. This was Ferrari’s 499P, which was less severely affected by the BoP change.
Toyoda said he was disappointed by the change in light of Toyota’s commitment to WEC, which it has participated in consistently since it was revived in 2012.
“Audi withdrew in 2016, Porsche disappeared from 2018 and only Toyota remained in the top category of Le Mans and fought,” he told the Toyota Times. “We really welcomed the return of other manufacturers this year.
“What we are doing is ‘sport where athletes fight’. That is motor sports. It’s definitely not a motor ‘politics’ that exposes the stubbornness of manufacturers. I want to say I wanted drivers, engineers and mechanics to race in a place that looked ahead to the next 100 years. When I was watching the qualifiers, I thought, ‘I lost to politics’.”
Toyoda made his comments after Ferrari locked out the front row for the race. The two Toyotas, which won the opening three WEC races of the year between them, took third and fifth on the grid. Toyoda said he “doesn’t want to engage in a closed political battle that no one can see” and prefers “an open place where everyone is watching”.
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“Rivals seriously fighting each other… I think that’s what sports is all about, and I’m sure the fans want to see that sort of thing.”
The Ferrari of Alessandro Pier Guidi, Antonio Giovinazzi and James Calado won last weekend’s race by 81 seconds from the Toyota of Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa. The second Toyota retired due to damage incurred in a collision with backmarkers.
Toyota also presented a concept design for a future hydrogen-powered car at Le Mans. Toyoda said he is keen to see the technology at Le Mans, where it is planned for introduction in three years’ time.
“Two weeks ago I ran the Fuji 24-hour race,” he said. “While many people around the world are talking about BEVs [battery electric vehicles] as an option, we have been fighting for the realisation of a hydrogen society, believing that hydrogen is also an option.
“Hydrogen has an image of an explosion, and the image that it is a dangerous fuel is hard to get rid of. I think that the image has been changed from ‘dangerous’ to ‘future’.”
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Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
14th June 2023, 12:14
The ethernal BoP discussion.
Dex
14th June 2023, 13:42
They should be rid of it.
Nick T.
14th June 2023, 17:03
Of any regs at all or just BoP specifically?
Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
14th June 2023, 12:43
Toyota didn’t anymore lose to politics than they would’ve won thanks to politics.
Toyota’s mistake was in participating in a BoP-ed series at all.
Alan Dove
14th June 2023, 15:48
BoP is politics. There’s no other way to cut it. It allows direct governmental interference with relative performance. The primary reason is to elevate risk to attract manufacturers. Removing risk from sport is basically removing the sport form sport and you have to ask what you are left with? Circulating billboards. Le Mans has enough heritage to give the impression of a proper motorsport competition, but we all know, as Toyota are now stating, it is anything but.
FlyingLobster27
14th June 2023, 13:02
But the 2018 LMP1 Equivalence of Technology regulations, which stated that the Toyotas would have longer stints and shorter pit stops than the competition, all while rival teams would be penalised if their pace was significantly better than the Toyotas (yes, all this was written in the rules! check out FIA Endurance Committee Decision 18-D0001-LMP1), was probably just fine for Mr Toyoda.
This is just one example of things that happened in the 2018-2022 period that mean I have no sympathy for Toyota here. Having said that, the ACO made an error in setting a BoP at the start of the season and saying it wouldn’t be changed before Le Mans, only to change it before Le Mans – but this is just another example of decisions by the ACO I haven’t agreed with since 2015-ish.
Martin Elliott
14th June 2023, 13:36
What is the BoP algorithm currently, and what theory is it based upon?
Even more fundamental BoP have had to be invented.
Turbo to Naturally Aspirated ICE.
Wankel to Reciprocating engines.
Both became rediculous as efficiency and flywheel torque changed during development.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
14th June 2023, 13:59
Even if it did cost Toyota 2½ minutes (don’t know how they worked that out) carrying the equivalent of a Doberman in the passenger seat, Ferrari were clobbered too (about one basset hound) and the Cadillacs had the weight of a beagle on board.
Don’t become bad losers, to politics or anything else. Suck it up and beat them at Monza (I wonder what’ll happen to the car weights there?)
Darryn Smith (@darryn)
14th June 2023, 15:22
I would love it if they really had dogs or cats in the passenger seat. Would you switch them out with the drivers? My cat could easily go 24 hours asleep. Especially with the harmonics.
Alan Dove
14th June 2023, 15:45
They arne’t bad loser. This “don’t be a bad loser” is nonsence. They lost and a big factor in that was a last minute BoP change. It’s like telling Messi to wear lead lined boots in the World Cup final to even the odds up a bit, and then when he runs out of steam at half time telling him “well, stop being a bad loser”.
Toyota are 100% correct to say this. The only thing to say is they accepted the entry requirements and BoP, even if the the last minute change was egregious, obviously there was a mechanism that allowed it.
Ronny
15th June 2023, 12:01
Messi should have gotten at least 3 yellow cards against the Netherlands. So in he was helped as well..
MarkWebber (@markwebber)
14th June 2023, 16:38
The only race that matters is Le Mans, they could lap everyone at Monza nobody would care
Qeki (@qeki)
14th June 2023, 19:27
@markwebber +1
Darryn Smith (@darryn)
14th June 2023, 15:23
Funny how Toyota just yesterday announced they were pivoting more toward EV’s now that hydrogen seems dead.
Antz (@antznz)
14th June 2023, 16:56
@darryn I don’t think hydrogen is dead, it’s more niche. It’s a better option for heavy vehicles but not most private vehicles. I actually think motorsport is somewhere it could fit, I’m not sure if it can be made safe enough?
I’ve seen a lot of noise from Toyota after it become public their own shareholders exposed Toyota’s own “anti-climate” lobbying. I don’t agree with BoP but I also suspect everyone has been asked to make as much noise as they can as a distraction.
MichaelN
14th June 2023, 18:55
Hydrogen is not unsafe. It’s under enormous pressure, but it’s extremely lightweight and will disperse almost instantly.
Alan Dove
14th June 2023, 15:48
BoP is politics. There’s no other way to cut it. It allows direct governmental interference with relative performance. The primary reason is to elevate risk to attract manufacturers. Removing risk from sport is basically removing the sport form sport and you have to ask what you are left with? Circulating billboards. Le Mans has enough heritage to give the impression of a proper motorsport competition, but we all know, as Toyota are now stating, it is anything but.
F1 frog (@f1frog)
14th June 2023, 16:32
Toyota lost Le Mans, just like Lewis Hamilton lost the 2021 world championship, to the show.
Nick T.
14th June 2023, 17:37
No, that was a terrible decision by MM, but in the shake Lewis still had less bad luck/points lost to things that were not determined by their performance than Max (who I should note I thoroughly dislike). Drivers have lost WDCs over equally and/or more ridiculous calls by race directors and stewards call. The only difference is that it in happened in the last race in crazy dramatic way. If at, mid season, a driver, the media and fans knew that the ridiculous decision, penalty, etc. made by the director, stewards, FIA , etc.* would mean they lost the title, there would be at least 5-10 similarly infamous calls.
*oh, can’t forget to add if they also had social media at the time and the director to team radio feed too (the storm would have been about 95% smaller)
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
14th June 2023, 22:51
Yes, very important to point this out: hamilton would’ve only won the title through verstappen’s bad luck had it not been for masi’s decision, that was a minor luck swing for verstappen compared to what happened overall that year: hamilton deserved to win 2021 as much as rosberg deserved 2016, not much.
T
15th June 2023, 3:25
Huh?
Lewis won 8 races in 2021
Max won 10 races in 2021
2 of Max’s ‘wins’ include the one lap ‘race’ at the Belgium GP and the final race at Abu Dhabi
luck has nothing to do with this and I’m tired of you lot pretending otherwise.
source
MichaelN
14th June 2023, 18:53
“I understand that it is sometime another driver’s turn to win, and to be a good winner sometimes you have to be a good loser too. It doesn’t mean you have to be very happy about it to be second or to lose, but to give the enjoyment and pleasure for the driver who has won.”
– Mika Häkkinen, after the F1 Grand Prix in Japan 2000
Unfortunately, Akio Toyoda shows himself a poor loser.
Toyota, of course, didn’t “fight” in LMP1/LMH after Porsche left – as he claims. They ran circles around the privateer opposition, including a decent effort from Glickenhaus and – crucially – they did so while the series was supposed to be under a Equivalence of Technology regime. Was it really? Of course not. The FIA loves manufacturer involvement and was never going to let Toyota be beat whilst they were the only manufacturer in their Endurance World Championship. Never mind that the hybrid car that only Toyota had provided far superior performance, better tyre management, unrivaled traffic clearing capabilities, impressive wet weather performance, etc.
Did Mr. Toyoda complain then? Well… I guess everyone knows the answer to that.
Qeki (@qeki)
14th June 2023, 19:30
They have the rights to cry over it. Still as in any case it’s not so black and white. Toyota said themselves they lost 1.5minutes on the early stages because they failed to pit. They could have done better job at the track. Of course BOB had an effect but it wasn’t the full story.
SpaFrancorchamps (@spafrancorchamps)
14th June 2023, 21:25
Toyota lost because they insist a Japanese driver has to race for them and this Japanese driver messed up. They could had won.
ENDR
15th June 2023, 1:04
I thought Hamilton lost because he’d been overtaken in a race…
melanos
16th June 2023, 21:37
Talk about emperors without clothes
Timothy Sperisen
15th June 2023, 6:15
Well, in mid-term analysis, maybe Toyota would have been better consulted not winning all 3 rounds of WEC before. But apparently this can be seen as a lack of sandbagging, which has hurt them. I do not know much about BoP but motorsport is a tricky business, as we see in the ever-growing series of domination in F1. So, there is no right way. I am happy for Ferrari and concerned for Toyota because this P2 may put all the P1s from the earlier years in a bad light, like Alonso said about Vettels RB titles…
But the good thing: It keeps persons talking and it puts WEC in the headlines, and for some there is no bad news… Have a good day
Moshambles (@moshambles)
15th June 2023, 10:59
I’d like to care about the WEC but the BoP is really killing it for me
AlexS
16th June 2023, 16:22
I don’t like BOP but the BOP levels here did not gave Ferrari the win.
Toyota was just inferior to Ferrari.