Toyota’s FIA World Endurance Championship technical director Pascal Vasselon has slammed Cadillac driver Earl Bamber as “totally unprofessional” after his Turn 1 accident in which he spun around Mike Conway. .
The No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid that Conway shared with Kamui Kobayashi and Jose María López will race ahead of his teammate’s No. 8 car in the final round of the Bahrain 8 Hours for a chance to win the Hypercar Drivers World Title. I needed to finish.
However, on the opening lap, Bamber’s No. 2 Cadillac V Series .R made light contact, causing the front tires to lock up while braking at the first corner, effectively ending the race for the championship.
The resulting spin caused the No. 7 Toyota to drop down the order, with Conway recovering to third before Kobayashi got his car back into second place, but the No. 8 Toyota had a near-impossible task of maintaining control throughout. was given.
“When you see a Cadillac locking its tires for 100 meters, you wonder where you are,” Vasselon said.
“Club racing?” That’s not professional at all. There are no words for that. We’ve seen it coming. It was 100 meters ahead.
“Fortunately, our car [OK]. But that could have been the end of the race. So there’s no word for it here. ”
Vasselon’s frustration was compounded by a chaotic start for the second race in a row, following the Fuji 6 Hours, where a number of cars went off the track at Turn 1.
“That happened at Fuji too,” he said. “At Fuji, I don’t know if you remember, but two of our cars were pushed into it.” [off] truck.
“And so is this. Again, that’s completely unprofessional.”
Vasselon felt that the one-minute stop-and-hold given to the No. 2 Cadillac was justified and that a strong penalty should be imposed to crack down on the driver’s behavior on the opening lap.
“It’s sad that something like this happens at that level,” he said.
“It’s really sad. You can lock the wheels for the last five meters. [but] 100 meters…that’s a club race. ”
Conway told Sportscar365 that the hit and resulting delay “ruined the race” for the No. 7 car and ended any hopes for a potential title shot.
“We just wanted to win the race and then whatever happens with the championship will happen,” he said.
“unfortunately Bamber had other ideas and put us out at Turn 1, which really ruined the race. Because we were trying to catch those 30 seconds without a safety car. [was difficult] Because the pace was pretty similar.
“We had some issues with the car as well, so we lost the driveshaft sensor and had trouble adjusting the power correctly.
“So we ended up running lower than necessary for safety. We were fighting that too. So there was nothing else to do.”
Bamber said he was not trying to overtake at the first corner, but was unsuccessfully trying to avoid a collision after a lock-up.
“The race started off tough,” Bamber said. “Actually, I wasn’t trying to overtake anyone. I just braked.
“Then, in the middle of the braking zone, both front tires locked up. I tried to avoid the left side. [but] just [clipped] Toyota.
“It’s unfortunate that it affected their race and obviously it affected our race as well. Still, there are a lot of positives for this weekend and for our first season. We finished third at Le Mans, but we have a lot to be proud of.”
Daniel Lloyd contributed to this report