Kamui Kobayashi has accepted blame for the clash with Porsche’s Matt Campbell at the Fuji 6 Hours that effectively removed Toyota from contention in the World Endurance Championship drivers’ title race.
The Japanese told Motorsport.com after the penultimate round of the 2024 WEC on Sunday that “the penalty came to me, so obviously it was my fault”, in reference to the suspended drive-through awarded after the race to the #7 Toyota GR010 HYBRID Le Mans Hypercar he shared with Mike Conway and Nyck de Vries.
Kobayashi and Campbell were battling over seventh place late in hour five at Fuji when they came together at the left-hand Turn 3 that leads into the fast 100R corner.
Campbell had pulled alongside the Toyota into the braking zone for Turn 1 at the beginning of lap 163, got the cutback on Kobayashi through Turn 2 and appeared to have sealed the move by the time they arrived at Turn 3.
Kobayashi hit Campbell as he tried to regain the position, with the cars making contact for a second time as they spun across the asphalt run-off. Both cars immediately returned to the pits where they were retired.
Toyota offered a similar interpretation of the late incident, with its technical director David Floury commenting: “It was our fault: we have nothing to complain about. Clearly we were too far behind and we made contact with the #5 Porsche — we were a bit too aggressive.”
Meanwhile, Campbell described Kobayashi as “obviously the one who was at fault”. He added: “I was completely clear: that wasn’t a passing opportunity from that far back and he just hit me in the rear.”
#5 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963: Matt Campbell, Michael Christensen, Frederic Makowiecki
Photo by: Andreas Beil
The Australian rued the luck of Porsche Penske Motorsport’s #5 car crew at Fuji. Team-mate Frederic Makowiecki was hit up the rear by the the customer AF Corse Ferrari 499P LMH when Robert Kubica locked up at the start of the second lap of the race.
Campbell suggested that he and Makowiecki, who shared the car with Michael Christensen, were “innocent bystanders both times”.
The non-score has left Kobayashi and de Vries 37 points behind Fuji race winners Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor and Andre Lotterer in the #6 Porsche 963 LMDh, with just 39 up for grabs in the Bahrain 8 Hours on 2 November.
Kobayashi and de Vries had gone into the Fuji event only 12 points behind Estre, Vanthoor and Lotterer and tied in second position with the factory Ferrari crew of Antonio Fucoo, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen.
Ninth place for the Ferrari trio means they are now 35 points behind the leaders ahead of the Sakhir round.
Conway lies fourth in the Hypercar class championship because he missed the Le Mans 24 Hours in June through injury.