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Toyota Racing technical director David Floury explained the late hydraulic issue that denied Nyck de Vries, Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi Lone Star Le Mans victory was a problem that came without warning and that it had never encountered before. The No. 7 Toyota TR010 Hybrid was seemingly on course to win the FIA World Endurance Championship contest at the Circuit of The Americas after a surging stint from de Vries catapulted it into the lead in the fourth hour. However, the Toyota retired with just 12 minutes left of the six-hour contest when a hydraulic issue caused de Vries to lose power-steering and he was unable to continue. The result was particularly frustrating for the Toyota crew as they had been on course to build a 25-point lead in the drivers’ championship as their nearest rivals, the No. 20 BMW M Hybrid V8, did not score either. To compound the misery, the No. 8 Toyota’s offset energy strategy was negated by a virtual safety car and it also picked up a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane, which consigned it to sixth place. “When you fight for a championship you need to have everything perfect and today we had a problem with car No. 8 which led to a drive-through and a problem on car No. 7 which led to retiring the car so we cannot be happy,” said Floury. “To fight for the championship you need to take every opportunity and we failed to do that here. We should not blame anyone else but ourselves for what happened today. “At the end of the day we come back with not much, not enough.” De Vries described the late disappointment as a “very sad end to a great day” and that “you don’t believe it initially.” He added that the problem “came quite sudden” with little warning that anything was wrong. “The lap prior I started hearing and feeling a few odd things but wasn’t thinking too much at the time,” he explained. “And then coming out of Turn 9 I lost the power-steering and picked up a hydraulic alarm and you lose the power-steering and the gear shifts and that was it. “We were there when it mattered, we made the moves when it counted and we put ourselves in a great place to score good points for the championship but, unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be. “It was just a shame for everyone to miss out on this opportunity but, unfortunately, it’s a technical sport and these things can happen. “It’s racing and sometimes the coin falls your way and sometimes it doesn’t. Very disappointed and unfortunate but you have to accept it and move on.” Floury would not go into the details of the issue with the No. 8 car that led to the speeding penalty when Ryo Hirakawa was at the wheel, but said: “Whatever the cause is, we shouldn’t have this issue.” The sixth-placed finish meant Toyota marginally extended its manufacturers’ championship lead over BMW to nine points with three races remaining. It also meant that the No. 8 crew of Hirakawa, Sebastien Buemi and Brendon Hartley was now fourth in the drivers’ standings, 11 points off the lead, which is still shared by the No. 7 trio and BMW’s Rene Rast and Robin Frijns.