Toyota Confirms No Lapierre for Remainder of Season

Toyota has confirmed just Anthony Davidson and Sebastien Buemi will continue in the No. 8 Toyota TS040 Hybrid for the remainder of the FIA World Endurance Championship season, starting at Shanghai this weekend.

The team cited its effort last race at Fuji, where points leaders Davidson and Buemi led a 1-2 finish for the manufacturer, as the best option for the future.

Nicolas Lapierre, who missed the previous round at Fuji due to personal reasons, is again absent and his overall future with the team is yet to be determined.

“Toyota decided to finish the season with two drivers in car No. 8; I have to accept it,” Lapierre said on Twitter.

The No. 7 Toyota will again be driven by Alex Wurz, Stephane Sarrazin and Kazuki Nakajima in China this weekend.

Meanwhile Toyota reserve driver Mike Conway missed a Monday test for his 2014 IndyCar team, CFH Racing, as the team confirmed he had a conflict.

With IndyCar’s 2015 schedule due out this week, there are set to be several conflicts between some of its road and street course races and the FIA WEC calendar.

Conway, who has been confirmed for Bahrain with Toyota in the sister No. 7 car, will almost certainly be in just one championship or the other come 2015.