Toyota trio now second in World Endurance Championship

Toyota drivers Stéphane Sarrazin (France), Mike Conway (United Kingdom) and Kami Kobayashi (Japan) are up to second overall in the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) after finishing third in the latest round at Mexico City’s Autódrome Hermanos Rodríguez race track over the weekend.

Their TS050 Hybrid finished on the same lap after six hours of racing as the winning Porsche driven by Palmerston North’s Brendan Hartley, Mark Webber (Australia) and Timo Bernhard of Germany.

The multinational crewed Toyota might have even been second, but Englishman Mike Conway had to serve a drive through the pits penalty after making contact with a slower car, while lapping the back marker.

As it was the Toyota was just eight seconds behind the second placed Audi of Marcel Fassler and Andre Lotterer.

The series is still led by another Porsche crew, Marc Lieb, Neel Jani and Romain Dumas who have a 41 points advantage over Kobayashi, Conway and Sarrazin. The German car finished well back at Mexico after a long pit stop due to repair accident damage.

Four six hour endurance races remain taking place in Texas, Japan, China and Bahrain to complete this year’s championship.

RESULTS:

Mexico City 6 Hours, Round 5 FIA WEC Championship

1. B Hartley, M Webber, T Bernhard (Porsche 919 Hybrid) 230 laps;
2. M Fassler, A Lotterer (Audi R18) 230 laps;
3. S Sarrazin, M Conway, K Kobayashi (Toyota TS050 Hybrid) 230 laps.

Championship points:

1. M Lieb, N Jani, R Dumas (Porsche 919 Hybrid) 118 points;
2. S Sarrazin, M Conway, K Kobayashi, (Toyota TS050 Hybrid), 77 points;
3. L Duval, L DiGrassi, O Jarvis (Audi R18) 74.5 points. 

Images: Sourced from Adrenal Media via www.fiawec.com