Toyota was on course to "marginally" beat Rebellion
Toyota believes it would have beaten Rebellion "marginally" in Saturday's Bahrain FIA World Endurance Championship round had the Swiss team had a clean race.
Pascal Vasselon, Toyota Motorsport GmbH technical director, claimed that the Bahrain 8 Hours would have been a tight race but for the gearshift issues that cost the solo Rebellion R-13 six minutes in the third hour.
He suggested that the Rebellion shared by Bruno Senna, Gustavo Menezes and Norman Nato could have come back from first-lap spin without the transmission problems.
"Without their stop for the gearshift, it would have been tight," he said. "We would have won marginally, really marginally."
Read Also:
Senna, who criticised Ginetta driver Charlie Robertson for his part in the Turn 2 incident, and his teammates eventually finished three laps down on the winning Toyota TS050 Hybrid and two behind the second of the Japanese cars.
Vasselon pointed out that the Rebellion was faster on the lap averages than both the TS050s.
"They were genuinely faster on average — though not by much — but we were faster in the pits," he said. "We were expecting to be slower but it was within the margin where we felt we could recover if we had the perfect race.
"Finishing one-two was not what we were expecting, but it was the target we gave to the team."

#1 Rebellion Racing Rebellion R-13 - Gibson: Bruno Senna, Gustavo Menezes, Norman Nato
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
Buemi rues tough race for #8 crew
Reigning WEC champion Sebastien Buemi claimed that the Bahrain race went "from bad to worse" for him and his teammates in their bid to take the fight to the race-winning sister car.
The Swiss driver, Brendon Hartley and Kazuki Nakajima finished a lap down on winner Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez after running into a sequence of problems through the eight hours.
Buemi was tagged by Paul di Resta in the United Autosports LMP2 car after he took to the run-off to avoid the clash between Senna and Robertson at Turn 2 on the first lap.
The incident resulted in a damaged nose, which though changed at the first pitstop had a knock-on effect through Buemi's initial double stint in the car.
"I drove with the damage, so I destroyed the tyres basically, which made the second stint on them really hard," he explained.
Nakajima subsequently had a minor clash with a GTE Am car, which damaged the tail section of the car and the underfloor.
Toyota gambled on putting Buemi on the soft-compound Michelin when he got back in the car in the fifth hour, but the tactic didn't work and he had to abort his stint after 15 laps.
"We were 1m15s behind, so we thought let's go for the softs," said Buemi. "We hoped it might work, but it didn't, so that was that.
"The race unfolded badly for us from 500 metres in; we had a bad day, but we still managed to finish second."

#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota TS050 - Hybrid: Sébastien Buemi, Kazuki Nakajima, Brendon Hartley
Photo by: Toyota Racing

Previous article
Davidson admits United was “untouchable” in Bahrain
Next article
Yamashita fastest rookie in Bahrain WEC test

About this article
Series | WEC |
Event | Bahrain |
Teams | Toyota Gazoo Racing WEC |
Author | Gary Watkins |
Toyota was on course to "marginally" beat Rebellion
How Ferrari's Hypercar project could bolster Leclerc's legacy
Ferrari's planned return to the top category at the Le Mans 24 Hours has further heightened anticipation for the 2023 race. Few concrete details are currently known, but already it has a high-profile superstar angling for involvement, which would make a refreshing change
Why Ferrari is ending its 50-year top-flight sportscar racing exile
Making a return to top-flight sportscar racing after 50 years away, Ferrari will enter the Le Mans Hypercar ranks in 2023. The Italian marque denies the link with Formula 1's new cost cap that frees up resources, but it's certainly no coincidence...
The GTE dilemma that IMSA has created for the WEC
The IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s decision to scrap its GT Le Mans class for 2022 raises the question of whether the FIA World Endurance Championship should phase out GTE cars. But it's a much harder decision than it appears on the surface.
The ground-up refresh behind Toyota's new Le Mans challenger
Toyota's new GR010 contender for the World Endurance Championship's Hypercar era has little in common with the LMP1 TS050 that preceded it. But within the confines of the scaled back new rules, its latest challenger will be no less formidable a prospect
The tiny increments that decided the final LMP1-era WEC
The system of success handicaps devised by the FIA World Endurance Championship to level the LMP1 playing field in the category's swansong season ended up having a counterproductive effect, as COVID cancellations also played in the champions' favour.
Why Audi’s shock return promises a new age for sportscars
OPINION: The news that Audi will return to Le Mans means we'll at last get to see the fight promised in 2012 against Peugeot and Toyota. It also gives LMDh a tangible form, which could open the floodgates for more like-minded marques to follow suit…
The eternal debate revived after the 2019/20 WEC season
It may have been missed amid the clamour over Lewis Hamilton's seventh F1 title, but Britain had another world champion crowned last weekend. Mike Conway's WEC crown raises an old conundrum - does title glory make up for the pain of Le Mans defeat?
The 10 greatest LMP1 races ranked
As the LMP1 class prepares to bow out of top-line sportscar racing at the World Endurance Championship season finale in Bahrain this weekend, Motorsport.com looks back over the past two decades to pick out the 10 of its best contests