Toyota will make a statement on Glock’s presence on Sunday

The Toyota team will decide on Sunday morning if Timo Glock is fit to participate in the Japanese Grand Prix following his accident in qualifying. The German was airlifted to a hospital on Saturday after being involved in a heavy crash during the second part of qualifying. The FIA stated that he was complaining of back pain and had an injury to his left leg.

His Toyota team stated that a decision regarding his ability to race will only be made on Sunday morning. If Glock is unable to race, the Japanese team is expected to allow the third driver, Kamui Kobayashi, to participate in the event.

The Japanese driver has already replaced Glock during Friday practice when Jarno Trulli’s teammate was ill (high fever). However, according to current rules, Kobayashi would not be allowed to race unless authorized by the FIA: « No driver can start the race without participating in at least the Saturday practice session. »

Faced with this situation, Toyota’s driver No. 3 is in a waiting phase because Toyota fully intends to pressure the track marshals to grant the necessary authorization for Kobayashi to join the race. However, the situation could become complicated as the two sessions on Friday took place on a wet track, leaving him without any experience in the dry conditions in which the Grand Prix will take place.

« If Timo can’t, he will do it, » said Howett about whether Kobayashi would replace Glock. « It’s a bit of a gray area as to whether or not he can. The stewards can’t give us a reason against Kobayashi’s presence, but I have to say he didn’t race today, so we have to wait to see what they will say. »

Howett added that Glock’s injuries were relatively minor and he hoped to see him on the starting grid tomorrow: « I don’t know but we have to wait and see, » said the team manager. « Obviously, given the accident, it’s not looking good today but we have to wait until tomorrow morning. »

« As far as we know, he is doing very well. They did an X-ray of his back because Timo was feeling a little pain but it showed that there was nothing at all. They then did an X-ray of his leg and we are waiting to see. He has a scratch on the back of his leg, not very deep, but quite long. It’s just as a precaution, there are absolutely no complications. »

The accident was caused by a driver error. Glock was on his fast lap. He had improved his first two sectors then crashed in the last corner. Howett insists that the data shows nothing abnormal on the car: « There is absolutely nothing to prove that the accident was caused by a mechanical failure. »