Toyota boss on Le Mans BoP shock: 'We lost to politics'

Balance of Performance. We all knew, as soon as it became the cornerstone around which the Hypercar regulations were built, that it must be handled with care, that only a spirit of cooperation and consensus among the ACO, FIA and manufacturers would make this work. It’s been said, written and discussed many times. And yet, nine days before the start, a BoP revision was announced, to general shock and surprise. It didn’t just affect Toyota – along with its 37kg weight addition, Ferrari gained 24kg – but it was immediately obvious which team would be tagged back the most. In that moment, politics was shoved front and centre at Le Mans 2023 – and no matter how dramatic and exciting the race turned out to be, nagging reservations remained. Could we believe in what we were watching?

Pre-race, Toyota team director Rob Leupen had not held back. He acknowledged Toyota was not the only team singled out and gave full credit to Ferrari for Antonio Fuoco’s pole position – but was troubled by the process of how the change had come about. He didn’t used the word specifically, but it appeared he and his team felt mugged.

“There is within the regulations always a kind of force majeure situation which can be created,” said Leupen. “Apparently the FIA and ACO saw themselves in that position to make not a so-called platform BoP [change], but make a manufacturers’ BOP to let racing be allowed. We think within the tools we have you could have done it differently. If you are working with partners is this the right approach?

“From my point of view [whether] somebody who has been here for three races or for 60 races, the level of experience is there, so how do you want to nullify this, more or less bring the others much closer by what they have done today? As a sportsman I have a problem because we are here for the sport and we have to be predictable in how we manage the sport. That’s why I have an issue with this.”

I put it to him that it felt like success ballast, which is not what BoP is supposed to be about – or so we are told. “I would not contest that,” he replied.

Now, as it turned out we got a fantastically competitive race, one in which all five manufacturers led the way at one point or another. So from that perspective, job done? Yes – but at what cost? “Potentially the fans get a better race,” acknowledged Leupen pre-race. “But we know the others are not so far away [anyway]. You get more show, but is it a show or a competition? Is it a sport? This is the question everybody has to answer for themselves. For us it’s important that [BoP management] is predictable, for us it’s important that respect is there for everybody and this is handled in a way that we compete in a sport, not a show.”

Earlier on, he and the team had been delighted by a subtle and clever show of support from their big boss. Akio Toyoda’s presence at Le Mans was significant and he made a very public appearance at the traditional Friday ACO press conference, to launch Toyota’s H2 hydrogen concept racing car – the power-form upon which so much rides for the future of sports car racing. “The other major benefit of hydrogen is just how light it is – less BoP!” he quipped with a glimmer in his eye. The room erupted in laughter. Along the desk, ACO president Pierre Fillon offered a thin smile. The reference had been oblique, but was clearly intentional. Toyoda, despite his gentle humour in public, was said to be deeply unimpressed by how his company had been treated by the ACO.

Later, a brief interview with Toyota Times (an internal publication) was translated and released. Toyoda was asked one question: what do you think about the BoP? This is what he said. “I thought, do you want other teams to win that much? Everyone in our team thinks so, and maybe a lot of fans thought so.

“Audi withdrew from Le Mans in 2016, and Porsche has been gone since 2018, and only Toyota has remained in the top category of Le Mans. We were very happy that other manufacturers finally returned from this year. What we are doing is ‘sports where athletes compete’. That what motor sports are all about… I wanted drivers, engineers and mechanics to race in a place where they could look ahead to the next 100 years. When I was watching the qualifiers, I thought ‘I lost to politics’.”

A couple of weeks earlier Toyoda, a true racing enthusiast, had driven Toyota’s hydrogen-powered Corolla experimental car at the Fuji 24 Hours, a race Fillon himself attended in support of the push for no-emissions motor sport. It’s said no mention had been made of a BoP change for this year’s race during their time together in Japan, and yet a few days later…

At Le Mans, Toyoda demoed the Corolla before the race and was honoured by the ACO as the 2023 recipient of its Spirit of Le Mans Award. Toyota has invested a great deal in Le Mans, for its own gains but also to the benefit of the race. In the ACO press conference, Toyoda spoke with passion about the future possibilities surrounding hydrogen propulsion. “Personally, my goal is to achieve carbon neutrality in motor sport without sacrificing performance or excitement, and by the way we wouldn’t be investing in this technology if I didn’t think we could win with it,” he said. “I do have my priorities after all. I really want to encourage our competitors to consider hydrogen, not just because it is good for the environment but because it is an exciting option.”

But despite that passion, Toyota has yet to sign off on its future commitment to remaining a competitor at Le Mans. Gauging the mood before, during and certainly after its defeat at the weekend, I fear how much damage has been caused to a crucial relationship at the heart of endurance racing. Manufacturers hate surprises. While we can reflect and bask in the glow of a fantastic motor race, playing fast with BoP regulations is a dangerous game. We saw such late rug-pulling in the GTE category in the past, but were assured it wouldn’t be the case in the brave new world of Hypercar. Yet here we are. What a shame.