// Toyota says hitting a rogue squirrel caused "big damage" to its front-running car two-thirds of the way into this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans. The No.8 led the race at Circuit de la Sarthe when its youngest driver, Ryo Hirakawa, struck the animal. Damage to the car caused Toyota to lose all of its 12-second margin, falling back into the clutches of the No.51 Ferrari driven then by Alessandro Pier Guidi. Stan Sport is the only place to watch the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship. All the action streaming ad free, live and on demand The Japanese young gun was forced to complete his stint with the damage before it could be replaced in the scheduled pit stop. As a result, the No.51 took the lead while the front end of the No.8 was replaced. "There have been some windows where we were sometimes dominating Ferrari," said Toyota Gazoor Racing technical director Pascal Vasselon. READ MORE: Blues name Moses, shock debutant in Origin team READ MORE: 'Muppets' hammered over State of Origin treachery READ MORE: Probe launched into 'serious questions' over golf merger "There is a logic behind that. "Just after one of these moments where we were competitive, Ryo has hit a squirrel. "It was probably not a very small one because it has done big damage to the front end. "He was in trouble until the end of the stint when we could change the front end." https://twitter.com/FIAWEC/status/1667654390805676035 The incident came at the same time as the second Toyota was involved in a race-ending crash. Kamui Kobayashi was hit by a slower GTE car, leaving him with two rear punctures and a broken driveshaft. Kobayashi was forced to retire his car to the side of the road, ending hopes of his second win with Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez. After losing the No.7, the team also feared it would lose the No.8 to an overheating issue. "At that moment, we really thought we would lose the two cars because at the same time, we had the engine temperature going sky high on the No.8," said Vasselon. "We had no indication of what was happening. There was nothing visible from outside. The aero figures were good. "We decided to remove the front end, change it and have a look. "There was a big piece of Kevlar which was stuck inboard of the suspension, but blocking the flow of the cooler. We could remove it and keep going." Although the team remained competitive after the squirrel incident, the team couldn't keep pace with the leading Ferrari. https://twitter.com/FIAWEC/status/1667871493676576774 A spin in the final two hours of the race ultimately put paid to Hirakawa's hopes, settling for second with New Zealand teammate Brendon Hartley and Sebastien Buemi of Switzerland. "I'm feeling a lot of emotions right now," said Hartley, post-race. "We gave it our all and we had nothing left. We didn't have the outright performance, but we were still there, putting pressure on Ferrari all the way through. "For a moment it was getting exciting at the end when the conditions came back to us a bit and we started to close the gap. "Ryo was in the most difficult situation. He was told to go full risk and try to close the gap so there's no blame. "Right now, it feels like we came so close but were so far away. Big congratulations to Ferrari. They were quicker, and they didn't make mistakes, so well done to them." https://twitter.com/FIAWEC/status/1667926476010692610 The FIA World Endurance Championship continues on July 9 with the 6 Hours of Monza. For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here! Toyota says hitting a rogue squirrel caused "big damage" to its front-running car two-thirds of the way into this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans. The No.8 led the race at Circuit de la Sarthe when its youngest driver, Ryo Hirakawa, struck the animal. Damage to the car caused Toyota to lose all of its 12-second margin, falling back into the clutches of the No.51 Ferrari driven then by Alessandro Pier Guidi. Stan Sport is the only place to watch the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship. All the action streaming ad free, live and on demand The Japanese young gun was forced to complete his stint with the damage before it could be replaced in the scheduled pit stop. As a result, the No.51 took the lead while the front end of the No.8 was replaced. "There have been some windows where we were sometimes dominating Ferrari," said Toyota Gazoor Racing technical director Pascal Vasselon. READ MORE: Blues name Moses, shock debutant in Origin team READ MORE: 'Muppets' hammered over State of Origin treachery READ MORE: Probe launched into 'serious questions' over golf merger "There is a logic behind that. "Just after one of these moments where we were competitive, Ryo has hit a squirrel. "It was probably not a very small one because it has done big damage to the front end. "He was in trouble until the end of the stint when we could change the front end." https://twitter.com/FIAWEC/status/1667654390805676035 The incident came at the same time as the second Toyota was involved in a race-ending crash. Kamui Kobayashi was hit by a slower GTE car, leaving him with two rear punctures and a broken driveshaft. Kobayashi was forced to retire his car to the side of the road, ending hopes of his second win with Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez. After losing the No.7, the team also feared it would lose the No.8 to an overheating issue. "At that moment, we really thought we would lose the two cars because at the same time, we had the engine temperature going sky high on the No.8," said Vasselon. "We had no indication of what was happening. There was nothing visible from outside. The aero figures were good. "We decided to remove the front end, change it and have a look. "There was a big piece of Kevlar which was stuck inboard of the suspension, but blocking the flow of the cooler. We could remove it and keep going." Although the team remained competitive after the squirrel incident, the team couldn't keep pace with the leading Ferrari. https://twitter.com/FIAWEC/status/1667871493676576774 A spin in the final two hours of the race ultimately put paid to Hirakawa's hopes, settling for second with New Zealand teammate Brendon Hartley and Sebastien Buemi of Switzerland. "I'm feeling a lot of emotions right now," said Hartley, post-race. "We gave it our all and we had nothing left. We didn't have the outright performance, but we were still there, putting pressure on Ferrari all the way through. "For a moment it was getting exciting at the end when the conditions came back to us a bit and we started to close the gap. "Ryo was in the most difficult situation. He was told to go full risk and try to close the gap so there's no blame. "Right now, it feels like we came so close but were so far away. Big congratulations to Ferrari. They were quicker, and they didn't make mistakes, so well done to them." https://twitter.com/FIAWEC/status/1667926476010692610 The FIA World Endurance Championship continues on July 9 with the 6 Hours of Monza. For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here! https://ift.tt/aUp69zK //
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