Toyota reveals cause of Le Mans failure

Toyota Gazoo Racing has today revealed the cause of the car failure that cost the team a certain victory at last week's Le Mans 24 hours race. The team's #5 car was leading its nearest competitor by a minute until a failure halted the car on the penultimate lap.

A statement of the team reveals an air hose connector was to blame.

"Car #5 suffered a technical defect on a connector on the air line between the turbo charger and the intercooler, causing a loss of turbo charger control.

"The team attempted to modify the control settings to restore power and this was eventually achieved, allowing the car to complete the final lap. However, it was achieved too late to complete that lap within the required six minutes.

"Currently it is not clear exactly why this failure occurred as we have verified the process used to produce the part here in Cologne. Further analysis is required to determine the root cause."

Toyota said the failure was unrelated to the engines issues experienced at the Spa 6h race earlier this year, and said thorough investigations are ongoing at the TMG factory in Cologne, Germany, with the aim of "establishing countermeasures to avoid any repeat in the future".