Three-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Andr⛦e Lotterer has called ൩Fernando Alonso’s claim the LMP1 privateer teams are equal in pace to Toyota the "joke of the year.”

Toyota swept to its third one-two finish of the FIA World Endurance Championship season at Fuji on Sunday, beating the leading🤪 privateer non-hybrid LMP1 car by four laps.

T♎oyota’s perfect record in the WEC this year was only lost due to a technical infringement at Silverstone, where its cars had aga🎐in finished first and second.

The nature of the LMP1 regulations 🅷favour the hybrid manufacturers over the non-hybrid privateer te🐻ams such as Rebellion Racing, for whom Lotterer races.

The hybrid-powered manufacturer teams are not as fuel-limited, are allowed to run longer stints, and have quicker refuelling times, making it difficult for the non-hybrid privateers to compete. Toyota won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June by 11 laps, with its smallest♔ margin of victory so far this year being two laps at Spa.

However, Alonso was quoted by Autosport saying last weekend at Fuji how the privateer tꦿeams were just as fast as Toyota, whose a𒈔dvantage was instead down to “a race that’s perfectly executed.”

 

— neel jani (@neeljani)

didn't make the best race of your life to get P3

— Earl Bamber (@earlbamber)

Alonso has long sought to talk up the achievements of Toyota through 201ꦍ8, claiming earlier this year that its Le Mans win was on “a higher level” to any other in the race’s history due to the depth of the LMP1 field.

Alongside teammates Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima, Alonso sits at the top of the WEC 🍸drivers’ championship with a 13-point buffer ove🅺r the sister Toyota crew.