Pascal Vasselon, Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe technical director, argued that it was unfair that the #7 GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercar was forced to make an 11-minute pitstop after torque sensor mandated by the FIA and the Automobile Club de l’Ouest on the left rear driveshaft failed early in last weekend’s Portimao 6 Hours.
"We have to find better solutions to not force cars to park and repair for the failure of a sensor that is nothing to do with the team," he said. Vasselon argued that the issue was “very serious” because even with what he described as a “remarkable” pitstop in which the entire left-rear corner was changed in only 11 minutes it meant “the race was dead” for #7.Toyota won the second round of the 2023 WEC on Sunday with the #8 car driven by Sebastien Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa, but Vasselon stressed that it"could not [be] happy with the weekend when one car only scores two points".
The #94 Peugeot 9X8 that finished fifth in the hands of Loic Duval, Nico Muller and Gustavo Menezes also suffered a failure of one of the FIA sensors in the closing stages of the race.