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The Latest Breaking News from Pascal Vasselon

Toyota WEC boss Leupen stands down with immediate effect

Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe race director Rob Leupen is departing the Cologne-based organisation that masterminds the Japanese manufacturer’s World Endurance Championship campaign.

Autosport

Long-time Toyota technical director Vasselon replaced

Vasselon, 60, has been succeeded on a temporary basis by David Floury as the technical chief of the Cologne-based organisation that masterminds Toyota's World Endurance Championship programme, develops the engines for its World Rally Championship GR Yaris Rally 1 and builds the GR Supra GT4 customer racer. The move announced…

Motorsport

Some drivers unimpressed by WEC's shift to two-class structure

The Automobile Club de l'Ouest announced last year that it will not be able to accommodate LMP2 cars in standard WEC rounds in 2024, restricting the class to the Le Mans 24 Hours and regional championships such as the European Le Mans Series.

Autosport

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Winning #8 Toyota threatened by "critical" clutch issue in Bahrain WEC finale

The Japanese manufacturer has revealed that problems with the clutch were the reason why the race-winning #8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercar lost a handful of seconds at each pitstop to the second-placed sister car over the closing stages of the eight-hour race.

Autosport

WEC manufacturers set to reject Hypercar BoP revamp

A meeting was called by WEC rule makers the FIA and the Automobile Club in Paris late last month at which changes to the current system for 2024 were discussed.

Autosport

WEC manufacturers reject proposals for Hypercar BoP revamp

A meeting was called by WEC rule makers the FIA and the Automobile Club in Paris late last month at which changes to the current system for 2024 were discussed.

Motorsport

10 things we learned from the 2023 WEC 6 Hours of Fuji

The World Endurance Championship's two-month summer break ended with its annual trip to Fuji, where Toyota continued an unbeaten stretch dating back to 2016 with a 1-2 finish. But the Japanese marque didn't have it as easy as the result on paper suggested, as Porsche emerged as GR010 HYBRID's closest…

Autosport

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Toyota says Ferrari held back by driver inconsistency at WEC Fuji

The Japanese marque's technical director Pascal Vasselon made the comment after wrapping up the 2023 manufacturers' title with a 1-2 finish on home turf, having overcome a stiff challenge from Porsche.

Autosport

Toyota says Ferrari held back by driver inconsistency at Fuji

Motorsport

Miyata: Last-minute Fuji WEC call-up "really good" for my future

Miyata will share the #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari 488 GTE for his first race experience of the WEC with Takeshi Kimura and Scott Huffaker, replacing an absent Daniel Serra.

Motorsport

Toyota and Ferrari predict tyre wear will decide WEC Monza battle

The WEC Hypercar frontrunners who led the way in qualifying on Saturday made the claim in the knowledge that track temperatures will hit in excess of 50C over the course of the Monza 6 Hours and that they will have to undertake double stints on a set of Michelins over…

Autosport

Toyota reveals cause of Hirakawa spin at end of Le Mans 24 Hours

Pascal Vasselon, Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe technical director, explained that the Japanese driver who shared the second-placed GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercar with Sebastien Buemi and Brendon Hartley was caught out by a rearward brake balance setting at the tight Arnage right-hander.

Autosport

Could 'unfair politics' at Le Mans benefit Toyota in the long run?

One minute and 22 seconds. That was all that separated Toyota from a sixth consecutive victory at the Le Mans 24 Hours. And what shouldn’t be forgotten is what a historically slim margin that is in the context of the French enduro that was celebrating its centenary running.

Autosport

#8 Toyota received "big damage" from squirrel hit at Le Mans

In the 16th hour of the race, Ryo Hirakawa was seen rapidly losing time to the chasing #51 Ferrari of Alessandro Pier Guidi, the Japanese driver’s entire 12s advantage being wiped out in the course of a single stint.

Motorsport

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IMSA drivers defend ‘Americanised’ Le Mans safety car changes

Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe technical director Pascal Vasselon caused a stir following the official Test Day when he described the new rules, which will see the entire 62-car field packed up behind a single safety car following full-course cautions for the first time, as a “big step towards the Americanisation…

Motorsport

Toyota feels years of hard work “nullified” by Le Mans rule changes

Leupen expressed his frustration at both the Balance of Performance changes made to the Hypercar class in the run-up to last weekend’s Test Day, made without the consent of the manufacturers, and the decision to bring back tyre warmers for Le Mans only.

Autosport

Toyota: Le Mans win possible with hydrogen prototype from 2026

Pascal Vasselon, technical director of Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe, is confident there is “no roadblock” to achieving WEC promoter the Automobile Club de l’Ouest’s target of having hydrogen-powered machinery competing on equal terms with the existing cars in the Hypercar class from '26.

Motorsport

Toyota blasts “Americanisation” of Le Mans with new safety car rules

Instead of neutralising the race with the use of three safety cars, as has been the case in the World Endurance Championship’s blue riband event in recent years, a new procedure has been introduced this year that will see the whole field packed up behind a single safety car prior…

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Motorsport

Toyota in "tough situation" ahead of Le Mans

The driver of the #7 Toyota GR010 HYBRID made the comment after the Japanese manufacturer could do no better than third across the two sessions of Sunday’s official test for the double-points round of the World Endurance Championship next weekend.

Motorsport

Toyota: Le Mans BoP change could open door to sandbagging

The new BoP guidelines thrashed out by the FIA, the ACO and the manufacturers competing in the WEC’s Hypercar class this year allowed for only minimal changes over the first four races of the 2023 campaign, up to and including Le Mans on 10/11 June, as part of a drive…

Autosport

Toyota: Le Mans BoP change could open door to WEC "sandbagging"

Pascal Vasselon, Toyota Gazoo Racing’s technical director, said the decision of WEC rule makers the FIA and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest to unilaterally make revisions outside the scope of the new BoP rules introduced for 2023 has set an unwelcome precedent.

Autosport

Conway: Early WEC laps on slicks at wet Spa about "trying to survive"

The Briton, who secured a second WEC win of the season with Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez, explained that he knew the call to start their Toyota GR010 HYBRID on dry-weather Michelins was “the correct one even if we knew it was going to be a bit tricky”.

Autosport

Toyota "on the back foot" for WEC Spa after practice issues, Hartley crash

Pascal Vasselon, Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe technical director, described the opening two days of the Spa 6 Hours meeting “as not our best race weekend so far”, despite Kamui Kobayashi taking pole position in the #7 Toyota GR010 HYBRID.

Motorsport

Kobayashi concerned by "crazy dangerous" WEC out-laps on cold tyres at Spa

Poleman Kobayashi, who inherited the top spot after Ferrari's Antonio Giovinazzi had his best lap deleted for a track limits infringement, made the comments after Brendon Hartley crashed the #8 Toyota GR010 HYBRID on his first lap out of the pits at Raidillon.

Autosport

Kobayashi "concerned" by "crazy dangerous" WEC out-laps on cold tyres at Spa

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