Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez went into Saturday’s decider with a 16-point deficit in the championship standings, but any hope they had of beating the sister Toyota to the title was wrecked when Bamber locked up and hit the right-rear section of the #7 GR010 Hybrid at Turn 1.
The contact dropped Conway dropped all the way down to 11th and allowed the #8 car shared by Buemi, Brendon Hartley and Ryo Hirakawa to take an easy win and with it the 2023 Hypercar title.
Toyota technical director Pascal Vasselon was unimpressed by Bamber’s driving at the start and felt he could have taken out both of the Japanese manufacturer’s car from the race.
He said: “Incredible. When you see a Cadillac locking tyres for 100 metres, you wonder where you are. Is it club racing? It's absolutely unprofessional.
“We've seen it coming. It was 100 metres before and he has... fortunately, our car resumed. But it could have been the end of the race. So here we have no words.
“It happened in Fuji. Our two cars have been pushed out of the track. And here is the same. It's absolutely unprofessional.“
He added: “It's sad that these kind of things happen at that level. It's really sad. You can have locking wheels the last five metres, yes, but a hundred metres… it's amazing.
“I could do that if I was [in the car].”
Source: Autosport