Toyota finds cause of Nurburgring speed drop

Toyota Gazoo Racing has discovered that damage to the underfloor and rear wing of the No. 7 TS050 HYBRID of Kamui Kobayashi, Jose Maria Lopez and Mike Conway was the root cause of the car's drop in pace during the 6 Hours of Nurburgring.

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The car led the opening stages of the race, from pole position, but dropped back to third, struggling for pace, and eventually finished a minute behind the two Porsche 919 Hybrids which finished first and second.

"Following analysis of the bodywork on the No. 7 TS050 Hybrid after the 6 Hours of Nürburgring, Toyota Gazoo Racing has identified the specific issue which caused an unexpected change in aerodynamic performance during the race," a statement from the team reads.

"During the race this was identified as an issue with aerodynamic balance migration. Post-race investigation has revealed significant damage to the underfloor of the No. 7 car as well as a hole in the rear wing, which caused cracks in the main plane during the race.

"The team believes this damage was caused by curb riding for the underfloor and by unidentified flying debris which struck the leading edge of the rear wing main plane."

The sister No. 8 Toyota TS050 also wasn't able to challenge the Porsches in the 6 Hours of Nurburgring. It finished five laps down in fourth, after a fuel pump problem on the warm up lap before the race caused a loss of power and forced the team to pit the car for repairs.