Toyota reveals cause of heartbreaking failure at Le Mans

Toyota lost the 24 Hours of Le Mans due to a faulty air line connector that cut control to the turbocharger.

By Vineeth Patel
The Toyota TSO50 Hybrid N°5, driven by Japan's Kazuki Nakajima, is pictured at a standstill after it suffered engine failure, in the final lap of the 84th Le Mans 24-hours endurance race, on June 19, 2016 in Le Mans, western France. Porsche snatched their 18th Le Mans 24 Hour Race victory with the Porsche 919 Hybrid N°2 in the most dramatic of circumstances after Toyota suffered engine failure with just three minutes left on June 19, 2016. / AFP / JEAN-SEBASTIEN EVRARD (Photo credit should read JEAN-SEBASTIEN EVRARD/AFP/Getty Images)
The Toyota TSO50 Hybrid N°5, driven by Japan's Kazuki Nakajima, is pictured at a standstill after it suffered engine failure, in the final lap of the 84th Le Mans 24-hours endurance race, on June 19, 2016 in Le Mans, western France. Porsche snatched their 18th Le Mans 24 Hour Race victory with the Porsche 919 Hybrid N°2 in the most dramatic of circumstances after Toyota suffered engine failure with just three minutes left on June 19, 2016. / AFP / JEAN-SEBASTIEN EVRARD (Photo credit should read JEAN-SEBASTIEN EVRARD/AFP/Getty Images)
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Toyota was set to become only the second Japanese automaker to win the grueling 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race.
But on the last lap, the No. 5 TS 050 car, which was being driven by Kazuki Nakajima, suffered a technical issue that resulted in a sudden loss of power. In a team statement, Toyota Gazoo Racing has revealed that the culprit was a “defect on a connector on the air line between the turbocharger and the intercooler.”


The defective air line connector, according to the statement, resulted in a loss of control over the turbocharger. The team isn’t sure why the connector failed and is continuing to analyze the component to get down to the root cause, the team said in the statement.


During the race, the team was able to get the No. 5 car running again by modifying the control settings. The fix, however, came a little too late as the vehicle could not complete the lap under Le Mans’ maximum final lap time of six minutes and limped its way to 45th place.


While the team is working hard to find the fix – to avoid a similar type of failure in the future – it claims there is no relation
to the engine issues that were experienced by the two TS 050 cars at Spa during the World Endurance Championship in May.


You can read Toyota Gazoo Racing’s
full statement here.


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