Petrov: Toyota walkovers will erode WEC's popularity

Toyota followed up its win in WEC's Spa opener last month with a crushing maiden Le Mans 24 Hours victory, in which its leading TS050 Hybrid finished 12 laps ahead of the best of the privateer LMP1s.

Such dominance prompted Rebellion driver Neel Jani prompted to describe Le Mans 2018 "the most boring" he's been part of and a "procession", while teammate Andre Lotterer said WEC organisers would need to "wake up" and address the deficit between the Toyotas and their rivals.

In his column for Motorsport.com's Russian edition, Petrov likewise expressed his frustrations and the sheer size of the gap between the privateer cars and Toyota, and said he was surprised the organisers did not take pre-emptive action in a bid to try and make the race more of a contest.

"In qualifying the nearest of the privateer teams was four seconds off Toyota, and in the race they pulled away immediately and fought only between themselves," wrote Petrov, who shared the #11 SMP BR Engineering BR1 with Jenson Button and Mikhail Aleshin at Le Mans.

"They accelerated so much faster [because of their hybrid systems] that they could pass other cars in packs on the straights, losing a lot less time in traffic as a consequence.

"The most surprising thing is, this was all well-known in advance. In Spa they too fought exclusively among themselves, and it was clear to everybody that nobody could take the fight to them at Le Mans.

"I don't know why the organisers didn't try anything, to make for at least some sort of intrigue, because the race turned out to be one of the most boring of the past few years.

"Again, this will have an effect on the popularity of the championship itself. Who would want to watch six more races like this, where only two squads compete for victory and they don't even have to fight among themselves?

"I think the organisers need to weigh things up again and reconsider a bit this aspect."

Petrov, whose #11 SMP car retired at start of the final hour at Le Mans with engine trouble, went on to question whether there would be much satisfaction in victory even for Toyota itself when it had such an enormous margin over its nearest adversaries.

"When there was Porsche to fight Toyota, that was interesting, but now I don't see what the point is even for Toyota themselves," he continued. "Do they really need a victory like this?

"I don't think it's particularly satisfying for the drivers to win like this either, when there's no resistance. It's not a pretty win, it's not a pure win.

"They could do whatever they liked during the race: they could swap positions, could allow their cars to fight or forbid it. And I'm certain, of course, that they in no way showed their maximum.

"Yes, many will say that anything can happen in a day-long marathon, but when you have a power advantage like that and such a margin of safety, allowing you to focus on reliability and not speed, it makes it easier."

Translation by Valentin Khorounzhiy