The squirrel destroyed Toyota’s dreams of victory. PDO
Toyota has a problem with animals.
Kalle Rovanperän when the Toyota Yaris he was driving hit a cow in the rally in Sardinia, it created quite a social media storm.
Hardly has he recovered from hitting the cow when Toyota reports another contact, this time with a squirrel.
This time, the contact that sadly ended was at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race.
The Toyota team #8 fought for the victory in the classic race until Ryo Hirakawa unexpectedly lost a lot of time in the 16th driving hour. The lost seconds dropped Toyota from the lead to behind Ferrari.
In the end, the victory escaped when Hirakawa, who was pressing too hard, slipped into the wall, losing a lot of time.
At the end of the 24-hour hard race, one Ferrari managed to overtake Toyota by a measly one and a half minute difference.
In the post-race report, Toyota explained the reason for Hirakawa’s speed freezing.
– We had moments when we outright dominated Ferrari on the track. Unfortunately, during one such moment, Ryo hit a squirrel. It must not have been the smallest of its kind, because it did a lot of damage to the front of the car. We had to change the front part of the car in the pit and it took time, Toyota’s technical director Pascal Vasselon told Autosport.
Toyota, which won the previous five Le Mans, was left licking its fingers this time. Another group of cars stopped when the slower cars jostled violently Kamui Kobayashi behind the Toyota he was driving in the yellow flag area.
Ferrari celebrated the victory of the centenary race after dramatic stages. The Italian marque’s winning team, which made its return to the main series, suffered its own problems. At one point, the car was on the sand for a long time. In addition, extra heart palpitations were offered by the last pit stop, when the car could not agree to start.