Vasselon: Bahrain First Corner Incident Was ‘Like Club Racing’

Toyota’s FIA World Endurance Championship technical director Pascal Vasselon strongly criticized Cadillac driver Earl Bamber in the wake of the Turn 1 incident that spun around Mike Conway, describing it as “absolutely unprofessional.”

The No. 7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, which Conway shared with Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez, needed to finish above its No. 8 teammate car in the 8 Hours of Bahrain season finale to have any chance of capturing the Hypercar drivers’ world title.

However, their championship bid effectively came to an end on the opening lap after the light contact from Bamber’s No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R which locked up its front tires under braking for the first corner.

The resulting spin dropped the No. 7 Toyota down the order and although Conway recovered to third before Kobayashi returned the car to second place, it gave them an almost impossible task with the No. 8 running in control throughout.

“When you see a Cadillac locking tires for 100 meters, you wonder where you are,” said Vasselon.

“Is it club racing? It’s absolutely unprofessional. No words for that. We’ve seen it coming. It was 100 meters before.

“Fortunately, our car is [OK]. But it could have been the end of the race. So here, we have no words for that.”

Vasselon’s frustrations were made worse because it was the second race in a row to have a messy start, following on from the 6 Hours of Fuji where a number of cars ran off the track at Turn 1.

“It has happened in Fuji,” he said. “In Fuji, I don’t know if you remember, but our two cars have been pushed [off] the track.

“And here’s the same. Again, it’s absolutely unprofessional.”

Vasselon felt that the one-minute stop-and-hold given to the No. 2 Cadillac was justified and that strong penalties should be used to police driver behavior on opening laps.

“It’s sad that this kind of thing happens at that level,” he said.

“It’s really sad. You can have locking wheels for the last five meters, [but] 100 meters… It’s club racing.”

Conway told Sportscar365 that the hit and resulting delay “killed the race” for the No. 7 car, ending any hopes of a potential title swing.

“We just kind of wanted to win the race and then whatever happened with the championship was going to happen,” he said.

“Unfortunately Bamber had a different idea and took us out in turn one and that kind of just killed the race really, because then to try and catch that 30 seconds without safety cars [was difficult] because the pace was quite similar.

“We had a few issues in the car as well, so we lost the driveshaft sensor and then we were battling with trying to get the power correct.

“So we ended up running lower than we had to, just for safety. We were battling that as well. So it was kind of nothing else to do other than that.”

Bamber, for his part, said he was not attempting any overtakes into the first corner and tried unsuccessfully to avoid a collision following his lock-up.

“Tough start to the race,” Bamber said. “I was actually not trying to pass anyone; I was just braking.

“Then, in the middle of the brake zone, both front tires just locked up. I tried to avoid the left-hand side [but] just [clipped] the Toyota.

“I feel bad we affected their race and we obviously affected our own. Still, there are a lot of positives this weekend and for our first season. Third at Le Mans and there is a lot to hold our heads up high.”

Daniel Lloyd contributed to this report