Toyota's chances of victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans have been dashed by a half hour of madness at the Circuit de la Sarthe.
Having led the majority of the race, the No. 7 car encountered a clutch problem with Kamui Kobayashi behind the wheel during the 10th hour.
Kobayashi was preparing to take a restart following a safety car period caused by a spin for Olivier Pla's Ford GT, but the TS050's power cut out and the Japanese driver was forced to complete a lap of the 8.47 mile circuit at a crawl.
The No. 7 car lasted until the Arnage complex before Kobayashi finally pulled off in resignation.
A second safety car period was called a few minutes later when Simon Trummer spun the #25 Manor ORECA out from fifth in LMP2.
That bunched up the field again, and at the ensuing restart disaster struck for a second time when as the No. 9 Toyota had its race ended by an incident at the Dunlop chicane.
Nicolas Lapierre, who was trying to return the car to the lead lap after a door problem forced an extra pit stop, made contact with the LMP2-class Villorba Corse Dallara and skidded into the gravel.
That meant the Frenchman also had to trundle round the entire circuit, with the car's dislodged left-rear tyre causing considerable damage to the surrounding bodywork.
Lapierre stopped three times on his way round, eventually abandoning the car on the run down to the Ford chicane.
The drama leaves Toyota with one car left in the race – the #8 driven by Sebastien Buemi, Anthony Davidson and Kazuki Nakajima – although that sits 29 laps down following an earlier front hybrid issue.
Nick Tandy currently leads the race overall for Porsche, having taken over the #1 919 Hybrid from Andre Lotterer.
The sister Porsche lies 19 laps behind after recovering from a front hybrid problem of its own.
In LMP2, Rebellion Racing runs first and second with a realistic possibility of finisshing on the overall podium.
