Toyota stripped of Silverstone 1-2 as both cars disqualified

Toyota Gazoo Racing has been stripped of its one-two finish in Sunday's FIA World Endurance Championship round at Silverstone after both the #7 and #8 Toyota TS050 Hybrid cars failed post-race scrutineering.

Toyota swept to a dominant victory at Silverstone, led home by Fernando Alonso, Sebastien Buemi and Kazuki Nakajima in the #8 car, with the Japanese manufacturer enjoying a four-lap buffer over the best-placed privateer car, the #3 Rebellion entry, in third place.

However, in a stewards' notice issued four hours after the race ended, it was confirmed that both Toyota cars failed post-race scrutineering after both the #7 and #8 cars did not pass a front skid block deflection test.

The stewards confirmed that on the #7 car, "the front part of the skid block deflected 9 mm under the specified 2500 N load on both sides of the skid block", while the race-winning #8 car "deflected 6 mm on the right hand side and 8 mm on the left hand side under the specified 2500 N load at the front of the skid block".

The stewards also added: "Although there are no reports of the car being involved in any specific incident, the competitor stated this his only explanation for the non-conformity must have been as a result of the car running off-track and sustaining some sort of damage to the internal stays that fix that portion of the car.

"The stewards considered this possibility, but determined that the design of the car must be able to withstand the normal rigours of a 6 hours endurance race."

Toyota was reminded in the stewards' notice of its right to appeal the ruling.

As a result, both cars are disqualified from the event, with Rebellion Racing claiming a one-two finish led by Gustavo Menezes, Mathias Beche and Thomas Laurent, with the sister #1 Rebellion shared by Neel Jani and Andre Lotterer taking second place. The podium is completed by the #17 SMP Racing entry, driven by Stephane Sarrazin and Egor Orudzhev.