WEC Toyota LMP1 Discussion - Page 402

roderick · 21 Nov 2017, 04:55 (Ref:3781897)

Toyota can only enter 2 cars due to lack of money...(they did loose alot of funding due to this year's le mans)
Running 3 cars actually is quite expensive due to all mechanics, engineers, spare + spare spare parts for 3 cars, Testing etc
Alonso did all right for the testing but I dont think he'll be faster than Kamui at Le mans ... In LMP1 hybrid, you need experience and hybrid car technique to drive.(F1 style driving wouldnt work well at all due to their regenerative braking, fuel cuts and lifting etc)

Deleted · 21 Nov 2017, 12:59 (Ref:3781940)

Yes but there's only five races next year, and only two of them outside Europe, plus they won't be developing the car really, so it's gonna result in big savings already

Coach Ep · 21 Nov 2017, 14:11 (Ref:3781955)

Plus having Alonso on board for the big one (and possibly more than that) could interest some additional sponsors to (partially) cover those costs.

I would also think Toyota received a few "special treatment cards" from the ACO for saving their beloved world championship...

Deleted · 21 Nov 2017, 14:20 (Ref:3781957)

I wonder if they could just send 1 car "to the other races" and if ACO would be fine with that. We already know partial season was what they actually wanted to do (from the reports we saw), you know Le Mans + Spa and Fuji, before ACO enforced the full season requirement for receiving LM entry

roderick · 22 Nov 2017, 00:52 (Ref:3782097)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chiana

Yes but there's only five races next year, and only two of them outside Europe, plus they won't be developing the car really, so it's gonna result in big savings already

Yes, they wont be developing the car as much but from what I hear, They had at least 1/3 of their funding cut and they still need to money to keep their 2019-2020 season development going.
All these manufacture develop their core components a year in advance at least. Next season will be big saving season for them, which means there will be more development for 2019 season.

TF110 · 22 Nov 2017, 02:11 (Ref:3782104)

And yet Vasselon said that they had budget left over to add parts to this year's car!

Which is it then? Is it they have no money? Or do we go by what we've seen from Fuji onward that they do have money and are putting it towards this year's car? That's what he said at least. There's no reason to do a brand new car for next season(s). They update this year's car a bit and work on reliability and it will do them well until the GT Prototype rules kick in over 2 years from now. Unless they fire one of their current drivers or sit one for Le Mans, Alonso will have to drive a third car. My guess is he will at Spa and Le Mans alongside a Japanese driver and maybe Sarrazin again.

roderick · 22 Nov 2017, 05:25 (Ref:3782125)

Quote:

Originally Posted by TF110

And yet Vasselon said that they had budget left over to add parts to this year's car!

Which is it then? Is it they have no money? Or do we go by what we've seen from Fuji onward that they do have money and are putting it towards this year's car? That's what he said at least. There's no reason to do a brand new car for next season(s). They update this year's car a bit and work on reliability and it will do them well until the GT Prototype rules kick in over 2 years from now. Unless they fire one of their current drivers or sit one for Le Mans, Alonso will have to drive a third car. My guess is he will at Spa and Le Mans alongside a Japanese driver and maybe Sarrazin again.

budget left over are for this years' budget. As a cooperate company, they need to spend their dedicated money this year hence they did few updates a little in advance.

There is no way Toyota will bring the 3rd car for next season. I can almost say I know they can't. but let's wait and see since that's all we can do

My guess is that they are going to pick 5 regular drivers and have 2 spare drivers (Alonso and someone else) to swap around.

chernaudi · 27 Nov 2017, 15:16 (Ref:3783505)

From SC365 so take with as much skepticism as you like, but that site's reporting that Lopez or possibly Davidson is set for demotion from a full time ride with TMG next year. Buemi is set to continue as a full time driver even though his Formula E outfit is sponsored by Nissan:

http://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/t...river-shakeup/

Ironically, if Lopez gets the short end of the stick due to wanting to have Alonso in one of their cars for multiple races and cite performance, Toyota have to blame themselves for rushing Lopez into LMP1 with no real multi-class racing experience. And who's to say that Alonso won't have the same problems, too? I can't remember Fernando doing any road racing that wasn't single seaters.

But then again, TMG reportedly still have Nico Lapierre under contract in spite of his screw up at LM.

**Adam43** · 27 Nov 2017, 18:49 (Ref:3783550)

Probably just speculation at this point, but all sounds fine to me.

hondafan37 · 27 Nov 2017, 19:02 (Ref:3783556)

Quote:

Originally Posted by chernaudi

From SC365 so take with as much skepticism as you like, but that site's reporting that Lopez or possibly Davidson is set for demotion from a full time ride with TMG next year. Buemi is set to continue as a full time driver even though his Formula E outfit is sponsored by Nissan:

http://sportscar365.com/lemans/wec/t...river-shakeup/

Ironically, if Lopez gets the short end of the stick due to wanting to have Alonso in one of their cars for multiple races and cite performance, Toyota have to blame themselves for rushing Lopez into LMP1 with no real multi-class racing experience. And who's to say that Alonso won't have the same problems, too? I can't remember Fernando doing any road racing that wasn't single seaters.

But then again, TMG reportedly still have Nico Lapierre under contract in spite of his screw up at LM.

Kamui Kobayashi also had problems with the traffic the last race and he has many years of experience.

TF110 · 27 Nov 2017, 20:15 (Ref:3783583)

Nothing indicates Toyota will let go of Davidson or Lopez, especially the latter. He's been doing Toyota promotion just being in the car for Argentinian people. It's good to see the amount of following he has that support Toyota even more because he drives for them. Not to mention him doing some Argentinian touring car races for Toyota.

chernaudi · 27 Nov 2017, 21:34 (Ref:3783593)

Fact is that unless Toyota fields a third car (which does seem unlikely), someone's getting sat for the races Alonso does, if he commits beyond LM. And if only for LM, why not a third car for two or so races? TMG should have the budget for that since they're not spending as much on R&D for the car next season.

XtC24 · 27 Nov 2017, 22:09 (Ref:3783602)

It makes sense for Alonso to do Spa and Le Mans only.
If Toyota fields three cars then it's no problem.
Why would he bother to race against weaker cars in 6h races?
Only to get experience in traffic maybe.

roderick · 28 Nov 2017, 00:09 (Ref:3783623)

Quote:

Originally Posted by chernaudi

Fact is that unless Toyota fields a third car (which does seem unlikely), someone's getting sat for the races Alonso does, if he commits beyond LM. And if only for LM, why not a third car for two or so races? TMG should have the budget for that since they're not spending as much on R&D for the car next season.

The biggest problem here is that TMG doesn't have full control over their budget towards WEC. Toyota in Japan does.
Which means, they can control what they spend their money on in regardless of what's best for the team.
Third car isn't something they want to spend their money on. unless they are willing to risk all three cars with not enough spare parts and testing times.

Deleted · 28 Nov 2017, 00:22 (Ref:3783625)

If I was in charge of deciding how many cars they'd enter (and if ACO would accept):

Prologue - 1x or 2x (depending if they do other long tests)
Spa - 2x
LM - 3x
Silverstone - 1x
Fuji - 1x or 2x
Shanghai - 1x
Sebring - 2x
Spa '19 - 2x
LM '19 - 2x or 3x (2 if they already won in 2018, 3 if still going for the first win)