Toyota denies Alonso and Kobayashi Sebring 12H drive

What sane person thought for a moment Toyota would let their drivers race a Cadillac at the same track on the same weekend?

Both Action Express Racing and Wayne Taylor Racing have been forced to revert to backup plans to fill its third driver seats at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, with Toyota electing not to release its LMP1 drivers for the race.

Mike Conway, and either fellow Toyota Gazoo Racing teammates Fernando Alonso or Kamui Kobayashi had initially been anticipated to complete the lineups in the No. 5 Action Express Cadillac DPi-V.R and No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac DPi, respectively, although have been ruled out due to the FIA World Endurance Championship round at Sebring that weekend.

A Toyota spokesperson confirmed to Sportscar365 that its drivers will be focused exclusively on the 1000 Miles of Sebring race, which takes place the evening prior to the 12-hour IMSA enduro.

“We thought we had this covered but clearly we can’t expect those two guys to come to us when they’re running Toyotas," Wayne Taylor told Sportscar365.

“In the beginning, we thought there was a chance. Now there’s no chance."

Taylor said he’s close to finalizing a replacement driver for Sebring that will join full-season drivers Jordan Taylor and Renger van der Zande behind the wheel of the Konica Minolta-sponsored Cadillac DPi.

“We are negotiations with a third driver," he said. “I’ll only know [next week] because of his commitments now."

Action Express team manager Gary Nelson, meanwhile, said they have two different options on the table for its No. 5 entry, alongside Filipe Albuquerque and Joao Barbosa, with a decision likely to be made following the Rolex 24.

“We’ve talked to a couple of guys and they’re both ready," Nelson told Sportscar365. “But the conversation was if Conway can’t do it, are they available?"