Toyota Enters Two Cars for Bahrain

Photo: Toyota Racing

Toyota has provisionally entered two cars for the FIA World Endurance Championship season-ending Six Hours of Bahrain, it was revealed Thursday.

The Japanese manufacturer, which was expected to close out the season with only a single TS030 Hybrid, made the late decision to enter both the Nos. 7 and 8 entries this weekend in Shanghai, due to less-than-expected wear on its cars in last month’s rain-shortened Six Hours of Fuji.

“Our main problem has been resource limitation,” Toyota Racing technical director Pascal Vasselon told Sportscar365. “Now going to the end of the season, we know what is left.

“Materially, we can field two cars. At the end of this race, we will decide whether we can do Bahrain with two cars or not. It’s really about managing the parts. We will use them the best we can to have two cars.”

Toyota began the season with two full-season entries but its No. 7 car of Alex Wurz, Nicolas Lapierre and Kaz Nakajima was withdrawn following Le Mans in order to focus resources on its new 2014 LMP1 car.

The No. 7 entry returned to action in Fuji, which resulted in an overall victory in the rain-shortened race.

“We didn’t have enough parts to do the full season with two cars,” Vasselon admitted. “But it was planned from the beginning to have two cars in Fuji.

“Now, coming to the end of the season, we know what is left, so we are able to manage. But if we do two cars in Bahrain, we will be left with very little parts.”

If they are forced to only enter one car for the season finale, Vasselon said it would be with the No. 7 crew of Wurz, Lapierre and Nakajima.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John