Nicolas Lapierre was a conspicuous absentee from the WEC weekend in Fuji, with Anthony Davidson and Sebastien Buemi taking victory in the Japanese WEC round despite the Frenchman’s absence from the #8 Toyota Hybrid squad.
Now it appears that Lapierre will miss the three remainding races of the season due to family illness. A mutual decision between Nicolas and Toyota had been reached for Lapierre to take a break from competition for the immediate future.
A statement from Toyota read: "Based on its experience in Fuji, the team considers it is the best option to continue with a two-driver line-up of Anthony and Sebastien in Shanghai and for the remaining races of the season."
Toyota Team President, Yoshiaki Kinishita wouldn’t go on record to confirm Toyota’s exact driver line-up next year, only to state that Lapierre was considered to be a “long term member” of the WEC program. Lapierre has recently been linked to a place on Nissan's wish-list of drivers for its 2015 LMP1 program.
“Nicolas is taking a break due to his personal circumstances and the team will support him during this period.” Said Kinishita. “This was a decision we have taken together. Our driver line-up is close to completion for 2015 and beyond, and Nicolas remains a long-term member of our team.”
Kazuki Nakajima returns to his regular seat in the #7 Toyota Hybrid alongside Alex Wurz, and Stéphane Sarrazin after missing the last race in Austin due to his Japanese racing commitments.
Lapierre’s absence no reflection on 2015