During his first stint at Silverstone in the #7 Toyota TS050 HYBRID, José María López made an error on the wet track. Though he managed to get the car back to the pits, the Argentinian driver had to withdraw from the following round at Spa which cost him the opportunity to run the car in preparation for Le Mans. As a result, Toyota has decided to modify its driver line-ups for the 24 Hours next month.

Consequently, Stéphane Sarrazin will reunite with Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi - with whom he claimed the second step on the podium at Le Mans last year - in the #7 Toyota TS050 HYBRID, while José María López takes the wheel of the #9 with Nicolas Lapierre and Yuji Kunimoto.

The trio Sébastien Buemi, Anthony Davidson and Kazuki Nakajima, winners at the first two races of the season, will once again share the #8 car for the 24 Hours and the other rounds in which Toyota will enter just two cars. After Le Mans, José María López will retake the wheel of the #7 Toyota TS050 HYBRID.

Team President Toshio Sato: "Our circumstances have changed over the last few weeks as a result of the injury to José María. He is in the unfortunate position of having completed very few racing laps this year in WEC, so we all felt it was appropriate to adjust the driver line-up. I am very confident that Stéphane will fit well into a #7 line-up which can fight for the win. José María, like Yuji, will learn a lot at Le Mans this year, familiarising himself with the track and the event in general, and this is an important step for the future as well."

Quotation from team press release.

Photo (Copyright - Laurent Cartalade/VSA): Only Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi shared the wheel of the #7 Toyota TS050 HYBRID at the WEC 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps.