Toyota Racing today announced more details of its forthcoming FIA World
Endurance Championship participation, including an intention to race two cars in
specific races.
The new team, which is based at Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG) in Cologne,
Germany, will make its race debut on 5 May in the Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps,
the second round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Toyota Racing intends to enter two TS030 HYBRID cars in the subsequent Le Mans
24 Hours (16-17 June). Participation in further rounds is yet to be confirmed.
A driver line-up of Alex Wurz, Nicolas Lapierre and Kazuki Nakajima has already
been confirmed for one car while discussions are still ongoing to finalize the
driver line-up for the other. Additionally, Andrea Caldarelli, from Pescara,
Italy, has joined Toyota Racing as a junior driver.
The TS030 HYBRID is Toyota's successor to the iconic TS010 and TS020 cars which
participated at Le Mans with podium success during the 1990s, with TS an acronym
for ToyotaSport.
Toyota is the first manufacturer to confirm its participation in the FIA World
Endurance Championship using a hybrid system, emphasizing the pioneering
approach to this technology which has seen more than 3.5 million Toyota hybrid
vehicles sold worldwide.
The THS-R (Toyota Hybrid System - Racing) powertrain is designed to deliver
maximum performance and features an all-new V8 3.4-liter normally-aspirated
petrol engine and hybrid system with capacitor storage developed by official
team partner Nisshinbo.
The team will use the TS030 HYBRID's first test to evaluate the merits, within
the current regulations, of a front motor system produced by Aisin AW and a rear
motor system developed by official team partner DENSO. Those regulations limit
hybrid systems to recovering a maximum of 500kJ between braking zones whilst
restricting deployment to only two wheels.
A brand new carbon fiber LMP1 chassis has been developed and produced at TMG,
where the complete car was assembled for the first time in preparation for a
roll-out on 11-13 January at Paul Ricard.
During an exclusive test session at the French track, which included running in
darkness, the TS030 HYBRID completed several hundred kilometers, showing an
impressive level of reliability and performance for this very early stage in the
car's testing program.
Alex Wurz and Nicolas Lapierre both put the TS030 HYBRID through its paces at
Paul Ricard, joined by 30-year-old Japanese driver Hiroaki Ishiura, who is a
candidate to join the driver line-up at races where Toyota Racing participates
with two cars.
