TOYOTA TAKES ANOTHER BOP HIT FOR HOME WEC RACE AT FUJI

 For the second consecutive World Endurance Championship event, Toyota will have reduced maximum power and increased minimum weight.

Toyota has received a further double hit under the Balance of Performance for this weekend’s Fuji World Endurance Championship round after its near-miss last time out at Austin.

The Japanese manufacturer’s GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercar will run with reduced maximum power and increased minimum weight under the Hypercar BoP released on Tuesday for the penultimate round of the WEC in Japan on Sunday.

It follows a starring performance by Toyota at Austin earlier this month, which would have yielded victory for the #7 entry driven by Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries but for a late drive-through penalty awarded to the Japanese driver for failing to slow sufficiently under waved yellow flags.

The GR010 had been given a 9kW (12bhp) reduction in power for the US event at the Circuit of The Americas and has now had power reduced by a further 4kW (5bhp), bringing its maximum down to 493kW (661bhp).

Toyota’s minimum weight has gone up by 5kg for Fuji, the same increase as it received for Austin, meaning it will have to run at 1070kg for its home race in Japan.

That is the heaviest the GR010 has been since it ran at 1089kg at the Qatar season-opener in March when its two cars could finish only fifth and eighth when they had maximum power of 510kW (683bhp).

Toyota’s loss of performance from its hybrid powertrain will be offset under the new Power Gain element of the BoP introduced at the Le Mans 24 Hours in June: above 250km/h (155mph) the GR010 will be allowed 0.8% extra power compared with Austin

Ferrari, which took victory in Austin with the customer AF Corse-run 499P LMH shared by Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Robert Shwartzman, will race in Japan with the same BoP as in North America with the exception of a 0.6% loss of power above 250km/h (155mph).

Porsche, which leads the Hypercar drivers’ points with Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Andre Lotterer, has received a weight break of 4kg and a power increase of 3kW after its 963 LMDh dropped out of the lead battle in Austin.

Peugeot is another winner under the BoP for Fuji, its 9X8 2024 LMH being handed another 7kg reduction in weight and a 4kW increase in power.

The Cadillac V-Series.R LMDh, which took fourth position in Austin, has been given marginally more power (2kW) and less weight (1kg) for this weekend. Alpine and BMW have also received power increases of 3kW and 2kW respectively.

Lamborghini’s maximum power and minimum weight for Fuji is unchanged from Austin.

Track action for the Fuji 6 Hours, round seven of the 2024 WEC, kicks off with free practice on Friday.

- Gary Watkins