Photo : Pascal SAIVET - Vision Sport Agency

 

The Toyota TS030 Hybrid No.7 will be driven by the duo of Nicolas Lapierre and Alex Wurz, who won in the rain at Fuji with Kazuki Nakajima, but the latter is absent in Shanghai, taking part in another race. The second car (No. 8) will be driven by the usual trio, consisting of Anthony Davidson, Sébastien Buemi and Stephane Sarrazin. Despite a truncated race where there had  been no green flag lap, Toyota still won the 6 Hours of Fuji their first win of the season.

Alex Wurz (Toyota TS030 Hybrid No. 7 Toyota Racing LM P1): "We all came here today wanting to see a good race and unfortunately that didn’t happen due to the weather. It is really disappointing for the fans but it was the right decision. The fans waited a long time but nobody wants to see anyone getting hurt. We race hard but we all have to respect nature and today there was nothing we could do."

Nicolas Lapierre (Toyota TS030 Hybrid No. 7 Toyota Racing LM P1): "I feel sad for the fans because they are the most disappointed people around here. A win is a win so we will take it, even though it was not achieved in the way we wanted. We had showed good pace earlier in the weekend and we didn’t make any mistakes. Obviously in Shanghai the team will try to get a better win but today we get the trophy and I’m happy for that."

Kazuki Nakajima (Toyota TS030 Hybrid No. 7 Toyota Racing LM P1): "More than anything I feel really sorry for the fans who came here to see us race. I’m not sure we can really call this a win but of course P1 means a lot to the team. The decisions were correct and the race director did the right thing. It was raining so heavily and the conditions were just terrible, especially just before the second red flag. Even driving behind the safety car was difficult. Maybe it looks easy because we are driving relatively slowly but with the spray and the aquaplaning it was really hard. Considering that we have different cars with different speeds in WEC, in these conditions it was the right choice to stop the race."

Yoshiaki Kinoshita (President Toyota Racing): "I am very sorry for the fans here at Fuji Speedway. They attended in their thousands and gave all teams such fantastic support, so it is really a pity that the weather meant they did not see a race. They were very patient, waiting for hours during the rain. We really wanted to show them a dry race between Toyota and Audi because we expected to have an exciting fight. But now we will focus on getting a real win in Shanghai. Today’s result confirmed Audi has won the Manufacturers’ World Championship and I would like to congratulate them on a great achievement. They have set a very high standard and can deservedly enjoy their celebrations."

Jean-Philippe Doret / ACO - Translated by Tony Light / ACO
(According to press information from Toyota Motorsport)

PHOTO: OYAMA-CHO (PREFECTURE OF SHIZUOKA, JAPAN), FUJI INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY, 6 HOURS OF FUJI, OCTOBER 20, 2013. Despite torrential rain, it was at home that Toyota have recorded their first win of the 2013 season.