Toyota race ruined when it hit a squirrel at 24 Hours of Le Mans
Ryo Hir🌳akawa was leading the race in its 16th hour but his 12 second-lead was disappearing, and a visit to the pits resulted in the entire front end of his car being replaced.
The #51 Ferrari took the lea🍌d which was converted into a historic victory - but Toyota’s woes havಌe now been attributed to the local wildlife.
Pascal Vasselon, their technical director, ex🐭plained: “There were some windows 🎐where we were sometimes dominating Ferrari. There is a logic behind that.
“After one of these moments 🐭where we🐽 were competitive, Ryo hit a squirrel.
“It was probably not a very small ജone because it has done bꦆig damage to the front end.
“He was in trouble until the en꧒d of the stint when we co꧑uld change the front end.”
The #8 did, at least, finish the 24 Hours of Le Mans but Toyota saw their other car retire ea🌺rly.
The #7 of Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez endured a premature end when Kꦰobayashi was involved in a multi-car incident.
Toyota had won five editions in a row of the 24 Hours of 🐼Le Mans before this past weekend.
James was a sp🌃orts journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, tꦬo F1.
