Formula 1 News

Toyota: statement on Glock incident at German GP 

The Panasonic Toyota Racing F1 team has determined that a car element carried over from the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, was the main cause of Timo Glock‘s crash last week during the German Grand Prix. While on lap 35 and after having just entered the main straight section of the Hockenheim circuit, Glock lost control of his Toyota TF108 and hit violently the pitwall as the rear right suspension had suddenly collapsed.

Timo Glock’s crash at the 2008 German Grand Prix in Hockenheim

The following is an official statement issued on Monday by Toyota Motorsport, explaining the cause of Timo Glock‘s incident in Hockenheim.

Following Timo GlockÂ’s incident during the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim, Toyota Motorsport initiated a thorough investigation.

This initially established that a rear toelink (trackrod) gave way causing Timo to lose control of the car, but confirmed that there were no exceptional circumstances before or during the incident in the German Grand Prix.

Further investigation has established that damage sustained in the British Grand Prix two weeks earlier was the cause. During that race Timo suffered several incidents.

As is normal practice, some parts from the British Grand Prix were carried over to Hockenheim, including most of the rear right suspension. Although the parts were subjected to the normal test and screening process following the Silverstone race and passed fit for use at Hockenheim, it has become apparent that it did not identify an issue which subsequently led to the incident at Hockenheim.

As a result of this investigation, Toyota Motorsport has revised its inspection processes to include such cases and is extremely confident there will be no repeat.