Toyota Racing yesterday 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 finalise 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 - TS is an acronym for ToyotaSport. It’s worth noting that Toyota is the
first manufacturer to confirm its participation in the FIA World Endurance
Championship using a hybrid system, emphasising 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-litre
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 fibre 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 at night in darkness, the TS030 HYBRID completed several hundred
kilometres, showing an impressive level of reliability and performance for this
very early stage in the car’s testing programme.
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.
STORY BY TOYOTA
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