Quote:
Originally Posted by Akrapovic
Pandering to manufacturers is why we're in this mess in the first place. How will we solve it? We'll pander to manufacturers! Who'll then slag off the few people who do put in the effort to come and fight them despite an impossible to overcome disadvantage.
It doesn't take a genius to see the failings in everything here. What a good ecosystem the ACO and Toyota are building here.
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I'm not following your line of thought... Toyota was there for the first season of the wec and committed because of the hybrid aspect. You're saying that they should take a hike to pander to tiny names like SMP's and ByKolles's who flake and quit? Teams that can't make a full season or even stay on for more than a year? All because big bad Toyota fires on all cylinders for once and had the nerve to answer a question, oh and run a hybrid car. SMP already left and the guy gave his opinion.
Their efforts were not big investments and what did they give to the series besides a two car entry for a season or in ByKolles case, not even a single car for the entire season? Toyota otoh has been a constant since 2012, going on their 9th straight season, joined the series early and saved it from being an Audi vs 2 or 3 other cars in the series' inaugural year. The wec would have been over before it started.
I don't know about you but I wouldn't be interested in joining a series that tells you to get lost because you are running a hybrid car and others are not so it's unfair to them. I wouldn't want to join a series that caters to teams doing lower effort work then expect to be immediately winning races vs your fastest sportscar in the world. These are the things that you have to weigh when you think about their decisions. They're far from perfect and the eot is not either but you have Toyota who put forth effort in their car, joined the series to show the hybrid benefits etc. You can see how they might like to keep the one manufacturer left of what was 4 in lmp1-h, and also allow them to use the hybrid as the rules originally intended. As bad as it is that they have an advantage, they are in a bind with keeping everyone happy or losing their biggest players.