Vasselon WEC exit came early

Pascal Vasselon’s departure from the top engineering job at Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe was suddenly brought forward, it has emerged. The Japanese manufacturer has confirmed that a plan was already in place for the 60-yearold to be replaced by David Floury as technical director of the Cologne-based organisation that masterminds the World Endurance Championship programme.

The admission was made last week by long-time chief engineer on the WEC team Floury, who has been given the technical directorship on an acting basis for the moment. “The transition was expected anyway, but the timing may have been a bit different,” he said.

What he didn’t reveal was the reasoning for the move, which he would only say “came from top management”.

Vasselon was removed from his job after nearly 20 years on the eve of the first test of the year at Motorland Aragon in January. He subsequently didn’t travel to Spain and his “involvement in day-today operations temporarily paused”, according to a statement issued by TGRE.

Its timing points to some kind of fall-out between the top management at TGRE, which has so far only said that the reshuffle is part of a strategy “to develop the next generation of company leadership”. It was implemented by TGRE president Masato Hirai, vice-chairman Kazuki Nakajima and managing director Rob Leupen, according to a statement.

Toyota’s original plan involved

Vasselon (below) segueing into a role on the programme designed to put a Toyota powered by a hydrogen combustion engine on the grid at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2027. The statement from Toyota announcing his replacement by Floury said that it “expects him to resume an active role soon”.